Saturday, May 10, 2014

Serving Up the Bead Soup!

First of all, for all things Bead Soup, go here. Bead Soup is the labor of love of a woman named Lori Anderson. She's been organizing it for several years now, and runs the whole thing by herself. Her marvelous book on what to do with a bead soup is here. I've been hearing about Bead Soup on the Yahoo ArtCharms group for the last couple of years, and by sheer luck managed to sign up this year. And then, I thought--what have I gotten myself into?

You will see stunning things if you go a-blog hopping today, and please, please do.

What you need to know about me is that I'm a Virgo and like to follow the instructions. In fact, I am the only person I know who does. I read sewing patterns for fun, like other  people read cereal boxes. So designing my own stuff? Not my strong point.

What was great about this particular soup (a woman named Valerie Tilghman sent it to me--see what she did with what I sent her over here) was it was in a scale I am not used to working in at all. These are big components, big beads. The first thing I did was go visit Mani Om Beads on Speedway. I knew they had tables set up, and somebody was always making something--and maybe I could get some ideas.

Co-owner Sandra Prout sat down with me, and in 5 minutes, we had this. Not afraid of designing, that one!


I snapped a picture of this, and got her stringing suggestions (put a small bead in between each large bead to get a proper "drape") and went home and tried it on my own pianola.



Hmm. I discovered if I was going to wear this and have it look good (I'm a relatively small person,) I was going to have to give up a few beads.


And the handmade clasp....I didn't want to hide it at the back of my head. So I started building a matching bracelet.



 That's nice!

And I have the world's tinest wrist....so here's how the bracelet turned out.


Now, about earrings. Earrings are my guilty pleasure. Women always have something they turn to, a cheap thrill they buy to make them feel better. For my mother, it was lipstick. For my mother-in-law, it was a couple of shares of stock. So I can't just let one pair of earrings do!


Earring auditions:


I settled on the copper components, with a light blue spacer bead, for the matching earrings.



 But meanwhile, there were those swell paper beads. I decided not to use the white beads for the main pieces, but they make nice light earrings--


And the blue crystals! I had to do something with them. But I realized I'd just run out of copper earring findings. And then I remembered an impulse purchase, a pair of Wubbers bail-forming pliers, that I'd never used--



(She can make her own findings! She's DANGEROUS!!)

A little wire-wrapping later, and I have a nice pair of primitive earrings!



I still wanted to do something with that sari silk...and the copper tubes. So I made a sumptuous fan pull, topped with one of the gunmetal wire beads in the soup--


And that's a bowlful of  fun. I didn't get to the tree discs, or the ceramic tree pendant, or the white rondells--and I still have a ton of red and blue beads. Thank you, Val Tilghman, for your generosity, and Lori Anderson, for all your hard work--and thank YOU for stopping by. Have fun hopping!!




43 comments:

  1. Aloha fellow Art Charmer :) Hehe Earrings are my guilty pleasure too! And I'm a Virgo too...but I HAVE to have photos or I can't follow directions at all :) I love your necklace and bracelet!! I can tell they were a challenge but you met it perfectly! Great the way you photographed yourself wearing the pieces.

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  2. so many different techniques! Sari silk in copper tube is very, very clever, I love necklace with these long copper tubes.Awesome!

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  3. Those primitive earrings are my favorite. Great colors and textures. Yum!

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  4. :) so glad that I got to challenge you! lol....it's funny though because I am about 5'2 and love really big jewelry. I gotta make up for my stature somehow! Love how you put all of it together and I am stealing your fan pull idea in a big way!! So glad that we got to connect during this challenge!

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  5. I really like that pull tassel!

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  6. Very pretty! I'm a big fan of that copper focal.

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  7. Your necklace came out GREAT! I'm glad you posted a selfie with it on, as it really gave me a feel for the fact it is bold but not overwhelming.

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  8. Your creations look wonderful -way to strip put if your comfort zone!

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  9. Wonderful job with your soup and I think that is first fan pull I've seen and what a wonderful idea. You would always be able to see if the fan is running because it was make the beautiful silk move in the breeze. The necklace looks so nice on you. LOL - stocks, she bought stocks? How absolutely brilliant.

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  10. I love all the pieces you made with your soup! Copper is like chocolate to me - YUMM! And a little inspiration doesn't hurt by no means! And I love the fan pull - a great way to think outside the box! Great job! Glad you joined!

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  11. I love them all, and you are right, you really needed to wear them, they look great on you!! Out of your comfort zone - you need to think now that you have a NEW comfort zone - GREAT JOB!! ~KM

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  12. I would never have thought to use red and blue together like that ! The brown of the findings and elements just brings everything together !

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  13. Beautiful pieces, the necklace with the copper just gorgeous, Great designs.

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  14. Great colours and gorgeous designs! I love the wirewrapped earrings, they are my favourites.

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  15. very nice set! I really love those huge copper cones....

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  16. WELL.DONE! Scale can be intimidating! (Check out my soup...) =) You handled it wonderfully! When I did my very first piece, someone suggested added spacers in between each bead and I've been at it ever since, so your post is a GREAT reminder to ME that not everyone knows that "trick". I love those big copper pieces too....GORGEOUS!

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

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  17. Truly lovely set! I love your mix of colors that way!

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  18. Truly lovely set! I love your mix of colors that way!

    (sorry for the wrong address above!)

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  19. Beautiful designs. Earrings are definitely my guilty pleasure. If I wore a different pair everyday (which never happens, because I play favorites, and I buy earrings for which I have no outfits) it would take me years to get through them all. I think I made some of the pliers. I want to be dangerous too.

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  20. I love the sari earrings and the wrapped wire earrings, all of your pieces are very beautiful.

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  21. Those copper links on the necklace are so cool! Love your designs! Really Soup-er

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  22. Lovely pieces. And your earrings are wonderful

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  23. Why, you didn't have to be scared of big beads at all. You did just fine with them. I have a teeny weeny wrist also (like about 6 inches) and I love big beads a lot. For myself, I usually just use 2 or 3 of the big boys and make the rest cord or kumihimo or chain. Just a little hint if you happen to fall in love with big beads. Your earrings are delicious!

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  24. Each one of your designs is very pretty, Love, love the earrings made with the sari silk.

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  25. Your creations look very nice on you! I love the idea of a fan pull, very pretty.

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  26. Valarie You chose a wonderful color combination. Great job designing your pieces. Kudos to you for making your first earwires. The fan pull is a creative and unique idea.

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  27. You made a very pretty set! Love your colorful fan pull!

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  28. That's a very pretty set!
    Alenka

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  29. Your designs look so nice! One would never know you were daunted by the size of the beads, at first. I love that you went to your local bead shop to get some ideas. Really great job!

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  30. Love your colourful designs I also have a tiny wrist unfortunately I tend to make bracelets too small for other people and have to remember to add and inch or two!
    Jackie

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  31. I have used the techniques of photographing design layouts. It is great when working on a longer necklace or with unique components. Great work!

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  32. Fantastic work...I love that necklace....what a neat use of the silk also..Ty so much for sharing your designs with us all...bye for now gotta keep hopping

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  33. Did you ever use this challenge as a learning op, Valerie! I love all your cool designs :)

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  34. Love the blue/copper set. It looks very nice♥ on you, enjoy when wearing those beauties!

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  35. Really nice work...wonderful pieces! Fantastic job with your soup!

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  36. I just love your designs. I like how you amended the design fro the store. This fits you much better!!! it looks good and the bracelet and earrings are wonderful too! Great Job!!! Have a Blessed Day!

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  37. It does look like you had some fun, learned some new techniques, and broke in a new tool. Oh, and then you also got some beautiful jewelry out of the whole she-bang. Cool beans!

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  38. Love the coppery feel to the whole group. Nice selectin of earrings!

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  39. So, you designed a necklace, made your own hardware, made a non-jewelry piece with your soup (very inventive), wire wrapped - mission accomplished, your creativity was challenged and I am sure you're more confident now in making designs of your own! I love the colors and bead arrangement and the fan pull is so fancy!

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  40. I like your necklace and I love the smile on your face while wearing it. Jewelry should always make us that happy! I also love that you tried your hand at findings, wonderful technique to have under your belt!

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