Sunday, May 11, 2014

Bead Soup Blog Party 8: Revealed!

AND late, so sorry about that. -_-; Things didn't quite go as planned, in between working a double shift yesterday, returning home an hour before midnight so worn out that I slept in until noon today, which hasn't happened to me in a very long time. So then I scrambled to get all things household done, because I've got another super busy week ahead of me. It wasn't until I finally got to sit down and work on my weekly review post that I noticed my reveal post was still sitting in Blogger's drafts folder, and hadn't gone online as scheduled. Because I forgot to hit the "publish" button, no doubt.

My sincere apologies to all who came to this site only to find nothing's there, especially my super sweet partner Melissa. As a reminder, this is the bead soup she sent me:
I didn't use all of this soup, but I definitely got my jewelry mojo back, as I ended up creating four pieces with it, two necklaces, and two pairs of earrings:
What gave me the most trouble, was this gorgeous, but huge, huge focal Melissa sent me:
I almost ended up not using it at all, because my original plan for it didn't work out. I wanted to create a beadwoven bail for it, but since I'm no seed beader, of course I didn't have the beads required around. And while I do acknowledge that Miyuki beads are of superior quality, I refuse to pay €5 for 6 grams, when I know I can get them for less than half of it online. Needless to say, those beads appear still to be stuck in postal limbo, even with the one-week-delay for the reveal.

Then I tried pairing the focal against pretty much every brass stamping I own, and while many of them make for great bails, none of them worked for this pendant, due to the relieved surface. But! Just when I was about to give up, I stumbled across a very simplistic bail in my collection, which had been in one of B'sue's Facebook Friday Muse lots. Too bad she no longer offers them, sigh. In any way, this is what I came up with:
It seems that, whenever I've got to deal with unusually large pendants, I reach for my spool of memory wire. *laughs* This necklace is still missing a clasp (and it definitely needs one, due to the weight of the focal and those large turquoise colored beads in the front), but otherwise I love how it came out. It has a very rich feeling to it, with the warm gold, the pearl, and the faceted "gems".  
The other focal was an easy one to deal with. It's sunny, warm yellow demanded to be paired with copper, and since the chain I picked, also had golden components, it allowed me to bring in the cloisonne beads for an added pop of color. <3 p="">
This is where the dainty wire rose clasp ended up, by the way. I'm pretty sure this necklace will turn out to be a summer favorite of mine:
I also ended up creating two pairs of earrings, the first using hand-painted brass components: 
 And the second using copper plated filigree connectors, with earhooks I created from the leftover lengths of wire from the headpins I used for the orange frosted beads:
I'm a little sad I didn't use more of Melissa's bead soup, but I always can do that later. Those yellow beads she sent, would look great paired with copper, and I've already got plans for that lampwork bead.

Now, off you go, head over to Melissa's blog Beadrecipes and see what she created with the bead soup I sent her, and then to hostess Lori Anderson's blog Pretty Things for the full list of participants and links to their blogs.



26 comments:

  1. Hahah, I just realized, I kept using the donut shape in the earrings ...

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  2. Good girl, you are a real fighter. :D

    How lovely pieces you have made from Melissa´s soup. I love especially your `summer necklace´. It´s really stunning.

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  3. all creations are great, but the first necklace is absolutely stunning!!!

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  4. I'm a big fan of the necklace with the yellow focal. It's gorgeous. Different strokes for different folks, and all that. ;) Beautiful job!

    <3,
    Andrea Glick

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  5. You created some super fabulous designs, lady! I am especially in love with the larger focal that gave you such trouble. The bail is way cool, and I do love that shade of blue. Everything looks fantastic. Glad to hear you got your jewelry making mojo back.

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  6. I do love how the huge focal necklace turned out, it's so awesome!

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  7. I've been trying to find time all day to comment! First of all, I'm glad it was just a Blogger fail-to-publish-as-scheduled, not something more serious!
    Now, onto the soup! I love the pieces you have made with the soup I sent you. The summery necklace is just beautiful, and I love the little pops of colour dangling along the chain, and the way you've mixed brighter and more muted colours.
    And well done, you used the trickiest of focals! The bail is such a creative way to deal with it and it balances the size of the focal beautifully. I'm sure you'll find the right clasp for it. I think it is absolutely stunning!
    Beautiful earrings too, love the painted filigree in the first pair.
    I'd say you definitely got your mojo back, thank you for doing such a great job with the soup I sent you! I thoroughly enjoyed being your partner!
    XXX Liss

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  8. i think the necklaces turned out great! the summer necklace is especially pretty and i'm glad everything worked out fine for you. better late than never right?!

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  9. The summer necklace is so wonderful, great design. But the necklace with the huge focal is an eyecatcher, I love it.

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  10. pretty pretty! i love the yellow piece and how you used the dangles to increase the scale of the small beads. great job!

    Linda A.
    http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
    http://cherryOnTopDesign.co

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  11. Hi darling, sorry im late. Drama and my uterus trying to kill me. You know, the usual.

    You rocked your soup, though ! See, you had nothing to worry about. That yellow focal would have murdered me. Then danced on my ashes. But damn girl, you rocked it hard ! And I dig all that colorization, unsurprisingly :)

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  12. Hallo Sandra - spät aber doch habe ich zu Dir hier gefunden (war auch nicht so einfach, denn der link funkte nicht richtig). Schönes Süppchen hast Du da gezaubert, mir gefallen vor allem die fröhlich bunten Ohrringe, und die erfrischende Sommerkette. Das Gelb der Fokalperle funkelt sicher ganz toll in der Sonne!

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  13. I love all your "donut" designs, Sandra! I kept thinking each was my favourite, then I would scroll down and love the next one, too :)

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  14. Beautiful designs. Both necklaces are fabulous and the earrings are lovely. Nice idea with the bail for the large focal.

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  15. Love the yellow focal. Your finished piece is beautiful!

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  16. That gigantic focal is awesome. Great bail. Your tree of life charm necklace is great too with all those festive dangles. (I also love your blog background image)

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  17. Love the necklace with the floral embossed pendant. I've never used memory wire for a pendant - never used any memory wire before this hop lol Love the look! It's sort of a torque feel to it. Great soup!

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  18. Great job, how you ended up with the focal, a stunning decision to finish it that way! ♥ Beautiful necklace... the earrings too. I can imagine that the 2nd necklace will be your Summer Favourite (-:

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  19. Your soup creations are wonderful. I love you came up with for the large donut focal. It's perfect! And I love the beads you chose to accent the yellow focal. It's such a sunny, happy necklace. Both pair of earrings are cute - I especially like the hand painted one!

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  20. Wonderful creations. My favorite would be the first necklace. It turned out beautifully.

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  21. You made some beautiful pieces with your soup! My favorite is the first necklace. I love how the colors complement the focal.

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  22. Wow that is an awesome focal that your partner sent you..both of the necklace turned out fabulous! And your earrings are just delightful. Really Soup-er job!

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  23. All of your pieces are so great! The necklace with the toggle focal caught my attention first. I really love it. And, I wouldn't have realized it was memory wire if you hadn't mentioned it. Excellent work.

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  24. I definitely love the large focal necklace and the beads you paired it with! I admit I've never seen this kind of bail before and it's always good to know things :) The second necklace is very airy and playful, very summery with contrasting colors that give it a feel of dynamics! The earrings are very pretty, I love the colors of the second pair and the interesting use of connectors!

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  25. Hi Sandra, I know that I am very late to still be hopping but several things kept me from finishing earlier. Your first necklace is summery, colorful, and fun. I can see why it would become a favorite of yours. The necklace with the large textured pendant is very rich looking and you did a wonderful job of showcasing it. Your handpainted brass earrings are my favorite of your BSBP pieces. You did a fine job of using your bead soup.

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