Soup’s On!

By WeaveABead

The wonderful Lori Anderson is hosting a Bead Soup Blog Party today and you are invited to visit all the blogs participating. Lori personally matched up 362 bead bloggers with a partner. The partners swap a focal, clasp and any other coordinating beads they wanted to send along. We then created something using at least the focal and clasp. The rest was up to us. The last requirement was for all of us to blog about it today.

My partner is Karyn Bonfiglio. She sent me a wonderful selection of Mookaite stones, some seed beads, wooden beads and a beautiful leaf clasp. The colors in the Mookaite are really something. The natural color ranges from browns and mustard to ivory and a light purple.

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We were asked to stretch our creativity to try our partner’s style. Karyn and I have very different design styles so this really was a challenge. I’m a seed beader and Karyn uses a lot of gemstones in her work. She really wanted me to combine our styles and come up with something unique. I hope she likes it!

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You can see I bezeled the focal in seed beads. The necklace can be worn with either side of the pendant to the front.

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I tried to use the leaf clasp that Karyn sent in the necklace but didn’t want it hiding at the back of the neck. So, I made a companion bracelet with the clasp as the focal. I used the additional small Mookaite beads as charms. I used almost all of the beads that Karyn sent and only added the chain, some wire and a few seed beads from my stash.

I can’t wait to see what Karyn did with the Bead Soup I sent to her! This has been such a wonderful experience. I have already made new friends and have been exposed to some great blogs that I now follow.

Here’s the link to all of the other blogs participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party. http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/

Enjoy! And, pace yourself. There’s no way you can look at all of those blogs in one day!

111 thoughts on “Soup’s On!”

  2. I didn’t know Mookaite stone but I think I will soon buy some, it has great colours! I think you did a great work bezeling the focal with seed beads and made the right choice using the clasp for the bracelet. I really love both pieces.

    Ambra

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  11. Oh, I knew when I saw your screen name that I’d found a kindred spirit who like to play with the seed beads — and what a lovely job you did of combining the bezel with wirework to blend your style and your partner’s. Very pretty!

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  17. love how you did the focal..and for a seed beader you did an awesome job on the rest of the necklace..love it all…your wire work is great.( I KNOW I could not do any seed-bead work!) love the mooakite and the colour combination.
    jenni

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  18. I think you did a great job stepping outside your comfort zone! The seed bead bezel looks great, too, so there’s still a touch of your aesthetic in there.

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  19. Wow! You artists that weave the seed beads like that never cease to amaze me. I can barely pick them up! I really like that you wove them around the pendant and created what looks to me like an amulet. It almost looks like an old piece. Love it!

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  20. I am so sorry for being so late my computer was resisting too labor intensive:^)Very nice 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

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  21. What a beautiful soup you have created from your mix! I’ve always loved the colors of Mookaite, and the composition of and techniques in your designs highlight those colors perfectly. Great job! 🙂

    P.S. You’ve inspired me to teach myself how to make seed bead bezels for a couple of cabs I’ve been collecting!

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  22. The seed bead bezel for the focal is wonderful. It really makes the focal pop. I like all the texture and the dangles in both the necklace and bracelet. Wonderful colors together.

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  24. Love how the bezel brought out the colors in the focal. Beautiful work! As a fellow seed beader, I had fun reading your archives. I’ve been following Bead Line Studio’s updates on the Urban Stripes group. So nice to meet one and read about your journey.

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    • Thank you, Lori! This was the first time I have ever participated in any kind of challenge or swap. I was petrified. But, I’m happy with what I ended up making. It helps that I had a great partner for the swap.

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  26. Yep, you definitely got the wire wrapping part a lot better than I did! Love that bezel, is it just peyote around the sides? I haven’t quite mastered bezeling yet, yours looks awesome. All those dangles are just perfect, and the colors are rich and luxurious. You did a great job on these pieces!

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    • The bezel starts with right angle weave and then you use peyote in smaller seed beads to pull it in and capture the focal. I didn’t want to cover up the focal too much, so I did the minimum beads that I thought was safe to hold the focal.

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  40. You did SUCH a good job! I love the pendant bezel, and you did a good job choosing to put the toggle with the bracelet.

    I hope you’ll join me again! The new badge and dates will be on my blog tomorrow, Sept 19!

    Love, Lori

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  52. AWESOME! You really made that pendant shine with the seed bead bezel. The beads in the links and dangling are all so delicious. Fabulous job! Oh, and I was so happy to see one of my focals in your partner’s design :o) That was a big ole happy surprise

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  61. My first thought when I saw the soup was “i would have struggled with these”, then I saw your piece and thought…”OOOH, thats what you can do with them!” You made a really beautiful piece!!

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  62. Karen, wow! I am in love with your soup! I love mookaite, and you really showed the stones off, and the dangles are so playful and feminine. And the focal looks SO GREAT captured in the seed beads! I have got to learn how to do that. And the bracelet is so cute too! A perfect set for fall. I love the combination of our styles. And I’m so glad we were paired up. Thanks for being a great partner and an inspiration into styles I haven’t tried yet. *hug*

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