I was one of the lucky ones as a recipient of the Kalmbach Bead Soup Party to coordinate with the release of Lori Anderson's new
Bead Soup book. Kalmbach asked bead shop owners to make a delicious bead soup, and then partnered them up with willing Party goers. I was surprised to see that my bead shop partner was Carole Ohl who owns
Bead Stash in Kettering Ohio. Why was I surprised, because out of all the bead soups sent in to Kalmbach and sent out, I actually got my bead soup from a person I know. I haven't been able to get to her new store yet, but when I get back into a weekend rotation, I definitely want to check it out and take my necklace for Carole to see.
Dragon Heart
I started out with my bead soup and added cranberry colored beads for the necklace from a find in a local thrift store. I started with the focal piece and glued it down on a piece of green
Nicole's Bead Backing. I liked the look of the green with the Bead Soup sent to me by Kalmbach. With Nicole's Bead Backing you don't have to worry about totally encrusting the piece as you use the color of the backing as an enhancement. Next I got out some Rivolis gifted to me by my friend Liz. Then I just began beading using complimentary colors. I also wanted to pull out the cranberry color so I decided to make a bail using a pattern from Marcia DeCoster's book
Beaded Opulence. One of most subtle additions from the Bead Soup was the greenish curved daggers. I decided they looked like claws or possible veins coursing the Dragon's blood through the heart. I had to reinforce them three times to make them stand out without drooping. I added a dark blood red crystal from the fringe as a drop of the Dragon's blood which in some incidents has mystical powers.
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| Bead Soup from Carole Ohl |
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| Beaded Bail from Marcia's Beaded Opulence |
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| Close up of the focal piece and Rivolis |
Progress photos of Dragon Heart:
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| Green Nicole's Bead Backing |
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| Plastic cranberry beads with some of the pearls and seed beads in the Bead Soup |
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| Attaching the bail to the pendent |
If you would love to see other pieces along with the Bead soups sent to Kalmbach, go to their
Pinterest site and enjoy browsing around.
11 comments:
Wow! Beautiful job!
oh WOW! what a beautiful piece! and such gorgeous beadweaving you do!
Beautiful necklace! Love what you did with your soup1
Yep I love what you did with your soup now I just need to start mine!
Wow! I love this piece. Your work is so amazing with each new piece.The skull piece is awesome too.
Absolutely love what you did with your soup! Very nicely put together. Lovely blend of color and texture - rich and vibrant.
Dot, Great story of how you came to pull it all together and your piece is wonderful!
What an incredible necklace! I can really appreciate the time and consideration it must have taken to design such a detailed piece!
Now THAT isn't just a piece of jewelry; it's a piece of art! :)
It's so intricate and detailed! Actually, I received some of that bead backing from a giveaway a little while back and your necklace has inspired me to do a little experimenting with the backing ^.^
I think you did an incredible job!
Um. WOW! Speechless. THat thing is amazing.
Wow!! Amazing work !!
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