Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Bead Souper Reveal! Yay!!!!

Ok, first things first, I confess to being a bad Blog Party citizen.  I was so excited about both sending and revealing my party packs, I totally forgot to take their "before" pictures.  I'm kind of new to this, but no excuses, I was spacey.  Fortunately my lovely blog buddy, Pat Haight, was not so twitterpated, and photographed both!  So, check her blog at http://wigglebuttblog.blogspot.com/ for both "befores", and, of course, her "after."


With that out of the way, when I received Pat's Party Pack, I was really excited for a couple of reasons.  First, I have never used much polymer clay in my work.  I have tried, and continue to try to make clay beads for myself, but I never seem to like the ones I make.  So, I was delighted to get this opportunity.  Secondly, I have been in an earth colors rut, sage greens, browns, brick reds, golds, your basic autumn palette.  Pat's lovely blues and greens and steely grays just leaped out and said, "Remember us?"


So then, what to do?  I decided to make a collage-y component piece to try to use lots of her elements, and add a few of my own.  The first thing I did was to decide to stick with the steel, and immediately made a couple of giant full Persian weave components with these cool steel rings I had laying around.  Unfortunately, the smaller rings were the wrong size to make the weave, and I ended up with GIANT components.  So, I moved along and made several other maille components to use instead.  Gradually, the flowers design kept poking itself into my head, and I started with the focal and just kept going.  I also decided to stick with mostly blues and greens, and added some bright orange and more delicate yellows and golds for contrast.


Time to post the pics and let them tell the story for themselves, and thanks again to my blog buddy for her cooler than cool parts.  Here is "Parts & Flowers" with close-ups and leftovers at the end!











59 comments:

Clayworks by Lisa Boucher said...

Wow - What an awesome blend of incredible parts! They all go together perfectly! Such fun detail - your bead work is amazing. :)

Unknown said...

I love your happy flowers. What a great work!

Cindy Gimbrone said...

Gorgeous! Each part of the necklace makes it feel like a whole new piece! Love it!

Pat Haight said...

OH Shannon! I LOVE it! What awesome beadwork! Great piece!
This party has been so much fun, Thanks for being a great partner☺

KayzKreationz said...

What a wonderful soup. And you really did it justice. Very nice. I love the happy flowers.

Laurel said...

Cool beans! Oops, I mean, beads!

m.e. said...

WOW!!!
This necklace is a Lush and Colorful Garden of beady delights!!!
GORGEOUS!!!
Great soup !
m.e. :)

Unknown said...

I have to second the WOW. I want a bracelet like the sections-deeply blue,wiggle squggle & the pebble & coils( come on, you know you can totally see that as an armful of bracelets!). The chain & wire work is incredible.Like you I work in a lot of natural & earthtones & agree about the pop of colour really getting you to think. I think you accomplished everything you set out to do.

Nicki said...

Now that is a statement. Wow, all this detail you put in this piece, chain maille, and some heavy wire work. Impressive.

Unknown said...

Your Bead Soup pieces are just beautiful.

Thoughtfulhands said...

Love your necklace looks like a lot of hours such detail, great job.

CraftyHope said...

Holy Smokes! I love all the bits of eye candy all over this necklace. You really made a conversation piece. It's stunning to say the least!

Michelle Mach said...

Wow! I especially love the focal with your beadwoven touches and the section you call "deeply blue." So pretty!

Pretty Things said...

I am SO sorry for being late — today our internet provider decided to crash. My stress level is through the roof, to say the least! They’re still working on it, but it’s like dial-up.

I love how you laid everything out to show your process, and the finished piece is wonderful!

I hope you’ll participate again!

Love, Lori

Cynthia said...

Such a fun necklace. love it!

Jo said...

What a lovely mix of colours! A great piece of jewellery.

Myléne Hillam said...

Wow, what a collection of treasures. They're all beautiful!

Christine Altmiller said...

everything you did is fantastic! i am especially in awe of your beadweaving! i love the freeform style but haven't been able to accomplish it. Beautiful, bright, happy jewelry!

Pam @ The Blue Between said...

it's like a bead soup "sampler" - what a lot of work - it came out great!!

Cindy Cima said...

Very intricate work - great job!

Sweet Freedom said...

Love all the various components. I wanted to work chainmaille into mine, but simply ran out of time! I love your squigglewiggles, and the beadwork! Nice job!

Loris Glassworks said...

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

SoulsFireDesigns said...

WOW! That is a seriously incredible piece! Wonderful!

Ann said...

Nice, a great showpiece of both the soup mix and your command of techniques.

Anonymous said...

I just found a new blog to follow! Wireworking and beadweaving talents combined with a fun play of color and shape! And you joined the Sari Ribbon Party...bonus points. I CAN'T WAIT to see what you make for that blog hop! Cool!

Anonymous said...

your attention to detail is amazing!

Christals Creations said...

Lovely creations. I hope the surgery goes well. Xx

Terri said...

This is beyond my skill set and I can only admire your. Wow! You just Rocked this bead soup mix. Terrific!

Steph L. said...

I love all of the little special extras that you added to your necklace, great job!

Holly said...

Ahhh, now that's incredible! What a great piece!

Cillaw said...

Works of art!!

Bobbie said...

What a happy, happy mix! I really like the happy flowers part - I'm partial to beadweaving....but what a great job of combining such an eclectic soup.

Cory said...

I love your design and your presentation. What a fun stash of soup ingredients.

I will be sending healing prayers your way for a speedy and safe recovery.

Thanks for visiting and leaving nice kudos. We are neighbors, I'm in Peoria.

Sandra said...

Such a detailed piece, and making use of so many different techniques~! Half of which I have on my list to learn now. *laughs*

coffeeaddict said...

your piece is more like a mosaic, with each section telling its own story :-)

Maggie said...

You call it a collage and before I read that I was thinking it was like a sampler. I love the concept, it brings me back to when I was learning macrame and needle arts, and the outcome is so unique and beautiful.

Beadaholique said...

So many gorgeous elements - I especially love the super focal and the all the bead weaving. Such an interesting design, great job!

Julie and Andrea

I LOVE color! said...

I am so sorry for being so late my computer was resisting too labor intensive:^)Totaly amazing designs. And there is still time to sign up for the give-away, Just go to SandysColoringBox.blogspot.com Sept.16th blog and leave a comment
Be blessed to be a blessing

Third Eye Gypsy said...

Wow I love your pieces and the creative ways they were assembled!

Shirley said...

You've got a lot of awesome skills going on there! Love that blue chain maille segment. And of course the freeform beadweaving, since I also beadweave. :) Great job!

Riki Schumacher said...

First of all, wow! Your pieces are stunning. Amazing bead work, I don't have the patience. Secondly, best of luck on your surgery, hang in there and bounce back, okay? thank you so much for stopping by my soup. Riki

I LOVE color! said...

I am so sorry I am so late hopping your way. My computer dug it's heels in and said Not gon'a go thaat fast.:^)
Your designs are nothing short of amazing.
Be blessed to be a blessing

Terri said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Terri said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Terri said...

I just realized I had already left a comment..could thing I can't spell for nothing today ..sorry about the deleted comments...it hasn't changed it is still an awesome piece of jewelry!!!

LeeLu Creations said...

You seed beaders never cease to amaze me! Love what you did the bird pendant and the happy flowers are awesome.

Tracy said...

Beautiful beadwork, I can see why those flowers are so happy...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful necklace, all of the elements come together perfectly.

EmandaJ said...

What FUN! We’re all being pushed outside our comfort zones — with amazing results!

Enjoy the hop,
Emanda
http://artemisiastudio.blogspot.com/2011/09/bead-soup-reveal.html

Maneki said...

What a fun necklace! A great sampler of your creativity, that one. I liked looking at it and discovering all the different techniques, materials and styles in it. Great job!

Tammy Jones, JewelryMakingDaily.com said...

WOW that's such a fun and whimsical necklace! I love how you tied so many of the party pack pieces into it but still created a unified piece. Very very fun!

Jennifer Cameron said...

Wow. That is a necklace that tells a story. Love how you took everything and made it a whole. Lovely!

Geanina said...

What a fun, eclectic and colourful necklace! I love how you combined all those beautiful components. Great job!
Geanina :)

Melissa said...

WOW What a soup!!!! you did a wonderful jog on putting everything together. I think that would have been very challenging but you pulled it all together very well. I love the look and feel of the entire piece!

I hope you are feeling well soon after your surgery. good job on the weight loss. I am totally struggling in that department now and it is always nice to see someone succeed! Keep up the great work and rest up well!

Melissa
http://design.kcjewelbox.com

Lola said...

Wow! What an awesomely unique design! I love it!

Patsy Evins said...

Wonderful eclectic necklace you created. I loved how you pulled it all together so beautifully!

I've lost 70 lbs over 4 years so I know you can do it!!

Thanks for visiting my blog and your wonderful comments!

I don't know if you had time to watch my new video while you were at my blog? I'm not sure if you are familiar with glass lampwork but my video explains what glass lampwork beads are. Would love for you to check it out and help me share it with others if you enjoyed it. Working on getting the word out about glass lampworking.

http://www.PatsyEvinsStudio.com/blog

Patsy

Anonymous said...

You could get lost looking at all those many details! Great necklace.

Ambra

Serena Trent said...

Lovely soup and an awesome focal you made

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