BSBP BeadHoarders Blog Hop 2017

The amazing Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ is having the Bead Soup Blog Hop again. This time it is called Bead Hoarders Edition. We were asked to choose beads that we had been hoarding because they were special to us. This is one of the most important days in my year. Lori assigns us a partner and we exchange beads. Then we create something with them and post what we created on our blogs. Today is the reveal. This year my partner is Sharyl King. She will be posting on her Pinterist page which is https://www.pinterest.com/sharylk/bead-soup-blog-hop/  She makes beautiful lampworked beads. I am in awe of people who do this. I hope one day to do it myself. Sharyl sent me some of the first lentil beads that she made. She said that they remind her of spring. I agree. The picture above is what she sent. I felt honored to receive these lovely bead and I wanted to create something special with them. Here is what I created.

 

Bead embroidery is my favorite technique so that is where I started. I wanted the lentil to be able to turn inside the focal pendant so that both sides could be seen. I chose the colors that Sharyl used in the bead as my inspiration. I stitched areas of each color and combined them all in the top portion. Bead caps accent the center bead and fringe finishes the bottom of the focal. The straps were stitched in spiral rope technique. They are finished with bead caps, white lentils from Sharyl and light blue crystal rondelles. I used a hook style clasp for the closure. The light blue lentils from Sharyl became earrings to go with this necklace. I added bead caps, white fire polished rounds, light blue flowers, and white drops. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you like this set too.

This is a close up of the focal.

 

Sharyl also sent four jasper beads that she had hoarder for years. She said that she could not decide what to do with them. I started out to create a wire worked pendant, but as you know beads sometimes have a mind of their own. I ended up putting three of them on headpins and attaching them to a chandelier finding to create the focal for my second necklace. I had some tiny fire polished rounds that matched the jasper perfectly in color so by adding them and hematite colored triangle seed beads to the headpins I was off and running. I had purchased a necklace last year at the Bead and Button show that was the same mottled green as the jasper and by reworking it I had my necklace. It had gold bead caps which I replaced with silver and I changed the beads that were between the glass ovals with smoky quartz ovals and gray discs to better match the jasper beads. I again chose a hook style clasp. I also made earrings to match. I hope it pleases Sharyl. You can check out what I sent her and  her amazing beads by clicking on the link above to her Pinterist page. Please click on Lori Anderson's link to see the other participants designs. I think you will be amazed by all of the talent this ladies have. Thank you Lori for being a wonderful hostess.