joycesjoyfulgems: August 2012

This has been a fun soup. I've given myself lots of time and really like what I came up with. Here are the results. Since I had such fabulous pieces to choose from I made a set, necklace, bracelet and earrings. Marianne Baxter sent copper wire, which I used to wire wrap the bracelet. I also used silver toned craft wire in the focal piece - a challenge. Without making everything match exactly, I was able to use the pieces given to me and add some of my own to make a nice "matchy-matchy" set. Enjoy...and thanks so much for my wonderful goodies, Marianne. I used both of her clasps (one I added patina paint and the other I wire wrapped). I used all of her pearls and wire, I used her copper spacers and her creativity to spark mine. Thanks so much Marianne! Now on to the 2nd group of beautiful things she gave me - lucky me, 2 to choose from!

I said I didn't do intricate seed bead work - and I don't but these were the perfect mix for the gorgeous hand made focal so Ijust had to use them. I used her clasp in this piece - painted it with Vintaj patina, and come copper flower caps. Too pretty. Tried to carry the silver/coppery theme throughout.

Closeup of my wire wraping - mix of silver and copper.

Bracelet clasp detail - I wirewrapped her clasp to carry the silver/copper theme. Used her pearls, copper bali beads and some gorgeous lampwork that went so well with the bracelet.

Toggle wire wrap detail. Love these little seed beads.

A very fun 3 strand bracelet carrying the necklace theme.

Necklace focal top down view, claps detail, and bracelet.

Bead Soup bracelet and necklace - 2012 :-)

Last but not really last...., and certainly not least....Earrings, my favorite thing to make.

The details - the big copper bead (one) was cut into 2 pieces. Edges were pretty rough so lots of smoothing with the right tools. I tried to flatten it totally but one area separated and split. Rather than give up, like I used to do, I revamped the design. I had to break the other one too, but added a copper open ring (of course going the wrong direction for the ear wire). No problem, I just twisted the earwire 1/2 way around and it works great. Like the springs? I made them from the wire I got from Marianne - one long spring was cut into segments for use here. The Swarovski crystals fit inside perfectly. I just happened to have a few copper headpins that worked great for all 6 drops. These finished up as a really lightweight pair of earrings.

You know how it is when you buy something, then either don't like it, it doesn't work for your idea, or for whatever reason you can't/don't use it? Well, try re-creating the wheel - I was shocked when I learned this from a friend. Couldn't believe you could actually cut/paste/bend/hammer/drill/dap/flatten/ and the list goes on all metal pieces. No limits to creativity. Now if I just had fire......

Enjoy your Bead Soup Journey and I'll enjoy wearing these for sure - one of my favorite colors too! Thank you Marianne. I have another project to challenge. The 2nd focal has no hole for wirewrapping, like this first pendant did. So, I need to learn how to encase this with wire or seed beads. This is a chunky focal so will take a class to learn the technique needed to showcase Marianne's beautiful work of art. I have a few leftover beads that will work well with this focal - can't wait to get started.