Saturday, September 17, 2011

Bead Soup Blog Hop Partner


Hurrah! The day has arrived. It is the Bead Soup Blog Hop Event. Lori Anderson has done it again with another fantastic ride throughout the world connecting people together. The challenge was to partner people up and send out a bead soup consisting of a focal piece, a clasp, and/or beads and spacers. Then with what your partner had sent you create a piece of ART. Here is a link to click on to find out about the Official Bead Soup Blog Party. And here is the link to start the amazing blog hop with 362 artist.

My partner is Gaea Cannaday. Here is her blog with picture of her beautiful ceramic pieces. She has an Etsy shop with her beautiful pendents for sale. But if you really want to be amazed, then you must check out her webpage. I'm just in love with her Day of the Dead pieces and can see myself purchasing some of them in the future. Now for the fun part. Gaea sent me a lovely package with my favorite color palette. I got a handmade ceramic pendent with an acorn as the main focus. She also sent color coordinated ceramic spacer beads and a handmade clasp.



At first, I was just in a daze as I could not even wrap my brain about how to take all these lovely treasures and turn them into a piece of jewelry. Number one, I don't do any stringing at all. Number two, my abilities to do wire working is very limited. So I was stumped. Then I thought to myself, that this IS a challenge. I could possibly get some other beads from my stash, add some nice complimentary spacers, get out my book on how to do some stringing, and throw together a piece that would met all the requirements...BUT...none of that would satisfy me. Deep inside, I'm a bead weaver and that is where my thoughts went to next.



My strongest technique is bead embroidery. I thought of taking the pendent, gluing it down onto a base, doing a round peyote cage, then embellishing it with other beads, then putting it together on a strung chain with the clasp. Sounded good, but really is that a challenge. So that idea was thrown out too. Next, I played around and realized that to make this a true challenge for me I needed to plan (I know...Chris is amazed that I'm saying I planned this design) exactly how I wanted the complete piece to be finished and drawn in my new notebook. I've been having a blast since Bead and Button experimenting with Right Angle Weave (RAW), so I thought this was to be my challenge. I was going to do a whole bead weaving piece using RAW and a bit of peyote to make a necklace worthy of this amazing pendent and the blog party.



I started out by using RAW to cage the pendent. I used size 8 and 11 seed beads and short Magatama drops. Then using the same color I charted out a RAW necklace to compliment the pendent. I tried incorporating the ceramic spacers into the actual necklace design, but either my skills aren't practiced enough to give it a nice clean look, or my initial design was flawed. I had half the necklace portion completed with sections of woven RAW between the spacers. It looked horrible, so I tore it all out and got back to the planning board. I decided to forgo the ceramic spacers this time around and just go with the RAW necklace hooked into the pendent. It looked great especially when I used two of the ceramic spaces to join the RAW necklace and the handmade claps together. At this point the necklace with the joined pendent looked nice, but nothing spectacular, so I decided to add the ceramic beads along the bezel of the pendent. Wow, that really made the piece look finished. I was happy.




Yet, I still had more ceramic beads, so I decided to just the same weaving design in the necklace strap to construct a bracelet using the original design plan having the ceramic beads between sections of RAW. This time it looked better, but I still need to develop this technique a little more to make it look more uniform and smooth.



All in all, I've really enjoyed this challenge which has taken me into a new realm of actual planning a design, drawing and writing down idea, working a prototype, and making decisions on how to construct something unique and challenging to the skills I already have. It has made me want to truly start designing more pieces of art pulling in more skills I know and learning new ones to slowly develop a talent in jewelry design. This was definitely not an easy task, and I see if I do indeed want to become a jewelry designer I have to study, experiment, and be prepared for failures. And all in all, keep laughing!

So now I'm going to spend a couple weeks checking out each of these 362 Artist blogs. I hope to take my time maybe visiting 10-20 a day. Join me in circling the globe looking at some delightful pieces of jewelry.

43 comments:

moonlitfantaseas said...

very cool I love the rustic look and color of your pieces

Laurie's Jewel Box said...

Wow! That is a lot of beading. You did a great job of showing off the focal.

Gaea said...

Dot! You and your design are exquisite. I absolutely love your projects! I may have to ask where you got that lovely fossil from? If you have seen my post you'll know why! Thank you for a fun challenge! I had a great time getting a bit out of my comfort zone!

Unknown said...

Wow. Very gorgeous.

Loris Glassworks said...

Wonderful! You have created a terrific piece of wearable art. I like your use of color and texture and the seed beads really enhance the focal bead. Thank you for sharing your artistic process along the way. Cheers!
Lori

Unknown said...

Yes Yes Yes you did stretch yourself and made that piece speak volumes!!! I love the sweet bracelet too!

VS said...

What a beautiful soup you made my friend, your work is truly stunning!! Thanks for sharing & all I can say is yummmmmy!!!

Elysian Studios said...

What unique pieces you created! I love how you put your own spin on Gaea's components! Wonderful!

KayzKreationz said...

Wow, what great bead work around that focal. And on the bracelet, too. Congrats on 'planning' your design and getting it to turn out the way you wanted. :)

Riki Schumacher said...

Can't believe I'm your first comment! Yeah! Great pieces, wow I don't have the patience to work with seed beads, great job!! I'm so impressed, your work is stunning. Take care, I"m hopping! Riki

Unknown said...

You and Gaea! I knew I would love your piece, and I do.

K Hutchinson said...

What gorgeous pieces! Don't you just love the challenge? So, much FUN!

Maggie said...

What a wonderful pendant! Love what you did with it and that is a perfect bracelet.

CraftyHope said...

Let me admit that when I first saw this I thought it was a turtle. Then I remembered that turtles DO NOT have six legs. . .oops!
Either way, it really is so great. I'm glad you stuck with what you know as it turned out beautifully. The beadwork you did for the 'chain' is so very full of texture and interest! So cool!

Miri Agassi said...

Beautiful work!! I love the way you created a jewelry out of the beading soup. Well done!!

Lori Anderson said...

Your seed bead work is stunning. I just love what you did -- be proud of that!

I hope you'll join me next time! The badge and dates will be posted tomorrow, the 19th!

Love, Lori

Bobbie said...

So glad I'm your first comment - as a fellow beadweaver, I really appreciate how you stayed true to your passion and found a way to honor the beads you were sent. I should probably do some of that planning you talk about...but you cooked some delicious soup!

eva sherman designs said...

lovely work Dot! I half expected to see a bead soup doll :-)

Wendy said...

Your design is lovely and you showed off the focal in such a creative way!

Tracy said...

I love the focal, and your bead embroidery is beautiful..nice work!

Amy S. said...

I really like what you did with your soup! Both pieces are very pretty!

Alice said...

Your piece is just gorgeous! I love how you featured Gaea's lovely beads with your own bead stitching (which, by the way, I'm so jealous of anyone who can do this).

I LOVE color! said...

Here it is after 6:00P.M. on Monday and I am only 1/3 the way thru the list.
Love your designs and I love the colors The pendant is very intresting
Be blessed to be a blessing

Shirley said...

Love the colors! I know how hard it is to step away from beadweaving! I applaud you for the RAW, it's my weakest technique. Those little drops just made it! Good job!

Shay Stone said...

That's a great piece! I love how you framed the focal and how you added the coordinating bead around it. Very nice:)

Sweet Freedom said...

Beautiful necklace and bracelet! I just love to beadweave, and I am warming to beadembroidery. You have done a fabulous job with your bead soup!

Beadbug said...

I love all you have cooked up with your soup. Nice job with the design.

T... said...

very pretty piece....and I love your dolls

Christine said...

Beautiful pieces - love your bead work!

Christine Altmiller said...

love the earthy colors! so pretty!

Beadaholique said...

Dot, I love these designs!! The beaded bezel around that beautiful focal is just perfect. Bravo!!

Maneki said...

Beautiful jewellery! I really like that "bead studded" beaded bezel. And how subtle you've picked up the different colours in the ceramics. Great job!

SoulsFireDesigns said...

Lovely! And very very creative! Great showcase for that focal :)

Stacey said...

The embroidery is beautiful - amazes me - just can't seem to work with the tiny little beads - although I sure do drool over it!! :)

flyingbeader said...

FYI, this is not bead embroidery. Honest. The whole piece is right angle weave. Guess I forgot to mention that, but since BE is my main "thing"...but really, I'm beginning to really love RAW.

Ann said...

Your bead embroidery skills really carry over into the weaving category. Great cage for the focal, beautiful necklace.

Terri said...

You are uber talented lady. Wow! Love what you did with your soup mix. Such a cool earthy color pallet. You did a really Soup-er job!

Marie Cramp said...

I have never been able to do bead weaving! Great job!

Chrissy said...

Very pretty piece, love the beadwork!

Aquariart said...

I love the way you incorporated the larger round beads into your cabuchon. Nice soup, Lovely focal bead too! lucky you.

DaviniaDesign said...

Gorgeous necklace!

Sweet Willow Designs said...

Still making the rounds and tasting all the soups! That beaded bezel is fantastic. Really great look.

EB Bead and Metal Works, LLC said...

Love the color of those seed beads, compliments the focal so well! Thanks for telling us the process we love to see how everyone else creates their pieces! Lovely work!