Shocking Pink Swing

Shocking Pink Swing

Today is first revel in the newest installment of Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Hop Party.  I'd like to introduce to you first off my Bead Soup Blog Hop Partner.  Jane Michael Stallings creates unique Beadwork and if you check out her blog you'll find that her work is being used by the retro Japanese band JOSY.  Jane Michael sent me an amazing group of beads, finding, clasp, cabochons, and a whole lot of other things to work with.

Everything nicely labeled

Jane Michael made these cabochons for me to use in this challenge.  The colors are just amazing AND they are also glow in the dark!

Naturally I went with a bead embroidered center piece.  I decided to glue the polymer clay cabochon down onto a piece of black Nicole's Bead Backing.  Using Right Angle Weave to cage the cabochon, I added size 11 matt white pearl seed beads for embellishment.  Then I chose a few Rivoli's that could further emphasize the colors of the Bead Soup.  From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to use the shocking pink size 8 seed beads as they matched perfectly to the polymer clay cabochon, and the color just made me happy since I could only see weeks of snow cover from my studio window

At this point, I began to work with design.  My first attempt was to use the focal cabochon with an odd number of Rivolis for the central piece of the necklace. 

After completion, this sat on my worktable for over a week as I turned it, twisted it, held it up in the air, trying to "see" the symmetry and imagine it as a completed necklace.  For that whole week, I tried to let it just be, but then in a quick mad click...I cut it all into individual pieces.  It made me happier to see it all taken apart, but still I had to let everything simmer in my unconscious mind waiting for the right answer to submerge.

Using the center cabochon and 4 of the RAW caged Rivolis, once again, I played a game of design.  I decided to use the size 8 Shocking Pink beads to embellish each of the 5 component.  To connect them all, I used the Super Duos in a herringbone type of bead weaving to connect the 5 components.  They I did a simple stringing with the bottom 2 component with one piece of quarts for my central focal point of the necklace.  During thie time, I played with the idea of having it swinging from a larger peyote tube, but no matter how I tried to connect the two components together, the swinging focal and the peyote tube just would not work well.  So back to the drawing board

I then decided to not rock the boat too much, so I decided to just ditch the peyote tube and make a tube of RAW using the size 8 Shocking Pink beads.  With a little embellishment, I connected the swing to the tube.  Jane Michael sent me two clasp to also use for my challenge.  One was a vintage yellow toggle and the other choice was a big snap.  I liked using the yellow toggle as it tied together the yellow color of the polymer clay cabochon.  Two small ropes using CRAW (cubic Right Angle Weave) completed the project with a simple loop for the toggle.

The Polymer Clay cabochon has multiple layers of embellishment worked off the original Right Angle Weave cage.

The piece of quartz gives the whole necklace a counter weight which gives it a visual symmetry.

This was a fun project to work on.  I got to hone my RAW skills and worked with some components that are new out on the market.  I just hope that Jane Michael enjoyed my challenge as much as I have the one she sent to me.  Plus, I'll be able to wear this at night which will give it another special element as it does glow in the dark.

Now that you've seen my Bead Soup challenge and how I took a jar full of components and beads to create something unique, take some time and join me on the Bead Soup Blog Parry Hop and visit the more than 500 other blogs that will be revealed in three separate time frames. 

As an additional incentive, Lori has created a special Pinterest board where we all have been encouraged to post our creations.  There is going to be a judging with prizes.  Luckily I have until 4/19 for that as I've had to take all my pictures with indoor lighting.  HOPEFULLY, the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to take better pictures of Shocking Pink Swing later on.