BSBP7

Today is the day I have been waiting for. It's my reveal for Bead Soup Blog party (BSBP). First I want to thank Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ who spends many, many hours and puts on the best blog party there is. In case you don't know about the BSBP Lori pairs us up with another beader and we exchange beads. We make something with the beads we receive and post what we made on our blogs for everyone to see on our reveal day. I participated last year and I anxiously waited for this years party. My partner this time around is Cris Peacock. Her blog is  http://www.crispart.blogspot.com/ She is very talented and you should check out what she made. She poured the resin and assembled the focal in the first necklace. She also fused the glass pendant in the second necklace. Besides being talented she lives in Hawaii. How cool is that? The first pic is the soup I received.She used alcohol inks on the can and colored the wrappers and included a beautiful note.

When I opened the beautiful package that Cris sent and saw it had a flower in it I immediately saw a lei. Since Cris's beads are probably as close as I will ever get to Hawaii I decided to make a lei with her beads. The necklace has 105 components in it. The flowers are lucite, glass, metal, and vintage plastic. I tried several different ways of attaching the flowers, leaves, and pearls unsuccessfully. I ended up wire crocheting four rows of 24 gauge wire. Next I laced the wires together with more wire. It formed the base which I attached the flowers to. I took the focal apart because it just melted into the lei and I wanted it to standout more. I started with sheet copper and brass. I cut, textured, dapped, patined, and waxed the metal flowers that surround the focal flower from Cris. I punched a new hole and reattached the resin bottlecap at the bottom. I also made 5 small metal flowers which are used throughout the lei in the components. This is my first metalwork and I am proud of it. The crocheted section ends with brass flower bead caps. The part of the necklace at the back is a peyote rope made with green seed beads which was part of an earlier attempts at a base for the flowers. I put green seed beads on wire and wove it through the necklace to make it look like vines. I also made the clasp.

The second necklace I used the beautiful fused glass focal Cris made and the clasp. The straps are made with right angle weave with sizes 8 and 11 seed beads. I embellished it with size 6 beads in black and clear AB. Then I picked up the pink and purple in the glass and used those colors to add another layer of embellishment. There are picots with size 15 seeds on the edges. I tried to make a wire bail several times but none of them look how I wanted it to look so I peyote stitched a tube and finished the ends with Swarovski saucers in black. I stitched 2 sets of straps to the tube. One set goes around the base and one set goes around the focal. Then I used 2 of the silver beads Cris sent to add a little interest and draw your eyes to the focal. I am pleased with the outcome.

The small boro drops that Cris sent are wonderful. I attached 5 of them to a small copper flower component. Above it is a faceted rectangle also from my soup, flanked by small blue lined clear AB peanuts which complete the focal. The topaz seed beads in the strap match the drops very well. And I chose the peanuts because the boro glass has streaks of blue in it. A tab type copper clasp finished the necklace. I also made earrings to go with this necklace.

My last necklace started with the two handmade links Cris sent. I took the purple and aqua colors from one link and the blue from the bottlecap link. I also used the 2 green tubes, purple coins, cathedral beads, and transparent blue faceted glass rounds from my soup. I made the felt bead and added the rest of the stuff from my stash including 1 mood bead that changes color when touched. I wanted this necklace to be fun so the middle strand is blue chain. The inner strand has 20 different different seed beads to pull it all together.The links are all hooked together with 2 jump rings and they all have small silver spacers from my soup.  A silver toggle finishes this necklace.I want to thank Cris for being a great partner and sending such a wonderful soup. It challenged and inspired me. If you want to see what everyone else made Lori's link has the list.