The beads I received from Hanna Rossner.
I knew right away I would be making two necklaces with these beautiful flame worked glass bead focals that Hanna made herself. The blue flower bead reminded me of a bell so I decided to use it as one of the dangles from a lariat necklace. The freshwater pearls she sent were really fun and I will work them into something at a later date. I made sure to use pearls in my necklaces as a nod to the ones Hannah sent.
What I love about a lariat is that it can be worn so many different ways. There is no clasp. It’s like wearing a long scarf made with beads. The necklace is 52″ long so there is a lot of potential for variety. But the length made it a challenge to photograph in different styles of wear.
While I did not use some of the smaller handmade glass beads that Hanna sent, I made sure to add in several other lamp worked beads that I had been hoarding. The little carrot-like beads at the end of another dangle are from an experiment of mine with translucent polymer clay. (I wasn’t trying to make carrots!) The faceted yellow bi-cone beads that Hannah sent were what inspired me to work with the blue/yellow color scheme. The larger yellow bead at the end of the 4th dangle is a ceramic bead from Greece that I’ve had lying around for at least 20 years. I had so much fun embracing Lori Anderson’s hoarding theme when using the beads I had on hand.
(That is not dandruff on the mannequin’s black shirt. She has no head or hair! I ran outside to get these last minute photos and it was snowing. March in Maine, oh well.)
The next necklace is actually the first one I made the day after Hannah’s beads arrived. The beautiful glass heart was such a necessary reminder that spring was going to get here eventually. I knew right away I wanted to use some silk ribbon I’ve had for several years. The clasp is a slider bead I designed from silver metal clay to use with these cords, so it too had been sitting around waiting to be considered again. (Hoarding theme!) The slider bead allows the necklace to be worn at several different lengths. I knew that pearls would really make the flower on the heart stand out so I used some large hole pearls I bought last year. The dark and light pink beads are resin, there are green flame worked beads (in this case not Hanna’s, but only because the holes in these were big enough to accommodate the silk ribbon), the pink and green saucer beads are unakite, and all of the silver beads are ones I made from precious metal clay.
Last of all the little brass dangles. Who doesn’t love a dangle?! I would hoard them too. They said “earrings” to me. I used two more of my translucent polymer experiment beads along with some pearls, glass and some of my handmade silver discs.
What a fun challenge this was. It did exactly what I think the Bead Soup party is intended to do. It got me back to blogging, stirred up some creative juices, and introduced me to new friends who love to design and make jewelry. Below is a list with links to the other participants of the BSBP. I’ll be spending the weekend browsing through everyone’s work. Starting with my partner, Hanna Rossner, of course! (You can click on her name first too!)
Many many thanks to our wonderful hostess Lori Anderson. She is an inspiration in countless ways, not the least of which is her ability to stay upbeat and connected while fighting a ferocious battle with Lyme disease. Hooray for her energy to revive the Bead Soup Blog Party!
All the rest of the lovely participants:
Maria Rios
Babette Cox
Natalie Davidson
Brenda Ballou
Christina Hickman
Heather Gunther
