There is a party today!

Welcome friends... both new and old! Grab a cup and pour yourself a bit of my bead soup...



My partner for this exchange was the lovely Rose Noble of Lady Noble Designs. And I must say "Rose, please excuse my poor excuse for a before photo!" I dived right into creating projects and forgot to get a "pretty" shot of my goodies. I am hoping the photos below make up for it. As for the soup itself, it was filled with some of my favorite go to colors. Bright lime green, beautiful teally blue... *sigh*... dreamy...

Here is what I created...







One of the Bead Soup Blog Party "rules" is that you must use the clasp, and you must use the focal. Rose was sweet and sent a few possible focals. As for the clasp... can you find it? I decided to go a little crazy and use the clasp in earrings!! That's right, the clasp is the brass components in the earrings. I cut the two circles in half, textured the reverse side, polished back the oxidation, used punch pliers to add holes, and set to dangling them up. I think they might be my favorite project from the soup!

My second fav would have to be the heart bangle. Barbara Lewis (my partner in the first Bead Soup Blog Party last year!!!) shared some cute wire links on her blog the other day. I had those links on the brain while creating this bangle. I was astonished by the beautiful purple and pink hues that came out of the copper when drawing the beads at each end of the wire. So so beautiful. I was considering oxidizing the entire bangle, but when I saw those colors, I knew I need to leave it be.

And speaking of oxidation, I most definitely plan to go back in and oxidize the brass clasp I added to the Cha Cha style bracelet I made featuring  Rose's love link. Once darkened, it should blend right into the brass chain I used. This mix of fun mix of Czech glass. I love the little flowers and the I really don't have enough facets in my studio. Certainly something I should remedy.

Now, I know your time is just as limited as mine! You have over 200 blogs to visit if you want to taste all the soup that is being offered today! Hop on over to the master list to find out where else you are invited in to feast.

And a special THANK YOU to Lori Anderson for all her hard work and dedication to this exchange!!

Artistic Interpretation

I was recently asked by Erin Prais-Hintz if I might want to take part in a special collaborative project with her. I won't ruin the surprise and spoil her plans before she has gotten to share the details with you. I can tell you this, for my part, she asked me if I would make her set of beads inspired by the painting on the left. The piece is called "Loose Goose" by artist Brenda Wenberg. (Sorry, no link available, Erin tells me Brenda isn't online.)

If I am being completely honest with you, I must tell you, this was the project last week causing "Creative Constipation". Of course, the minute I saw the pieces I was to interpret, my mind thought of a million things. Then I had to wait and wait and wait though mass kit production, and Bead Fest, and Spring break, before I finally had the opportunity to get into the studio and play around with ideas. Once finally able to play, I had no idea what I wanted to make anymore!! Should I do discs, should I do rounds, should I do hollows, what colors should I focus on, what shapes come at me the most? After 2 1/2 hours, I literally had all of four beads in the kiln, 2 of which were simple solid color spacer discs. Yeah, the ideas were stuck in my head and none wanted to come out.

So, I sent Erin an email requesting some more boundaries. This is where I separate "art" and "design". For me, an artist can look a blank slate and know just what they want to bring to the canvas. They are frustrated by boundaries and wants and needs of the people who will view their work. To me, designers have the opposite problem, give them a blank slate and they don't know what to do with it. BUT, give them some want (make it red!) or needs (for a bedroom) and watch out! Those designers can go nuts with ideas. When being asked to visual interpret another artist's work, I am acting as a designer, not an artist (even thought the end result is a work of art). That is just how my mind works. Once I had a few more "client guidelines", lol, OH OH OH was I excited about what ended up coming from the flame of my torch.

Check them out:




Not to toot toot my own horn, but aren't these FREAKIN' STINKIN' AMAZING?!?! Oh my stars, I am thrilled with them. I didn't want to put them in the mail and send them away I was so in love. Okay, here is what I thought... I noticed in Brenda's work, no inch of canvas is left on colored. There is something happening on every inch of the piece. There as just so many layers. So, I started to think about my classic "Mod Dot" style beads. What if, I filled all the empty space between the initial layer of dots? Then.. instead of dot on top of dots, let's go with them askew, and ivory. I wondered how I would add more interest and texture like the inspiration has. I decided to make plunged dots in the ivory. Then, I made it all pop with the coral dots that are sprinkled every where. To get an size canvas I needed to make these, I went with a large hollow bead as my base. Any lampworker will tell ya, making a plunged dot on a hollow bead is no easy task. You risk completely collapsing the hollow when you poke in the spot where you will trap the little bubble. I held my breath through so many moments of these beads! And each one took 30-45 mins to make.

It will be fun to see what comes of these beads in Erin's special project.

Soup Is Served

It's today, it's today, it's today... party time!! A few weeks back, I signed up to take part in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Party. I was wicked super thrilled when I was paired with the divine Barbara Lewis as my co-cook in the beady kitchen. The ingrediants for my soup she sent were just.plain.awesome. I can't tell you how even more over the top excited it has me for the Painting With Fire workshop I am attending in DC in March. But enough gushing... on to the creations!



I knew the minute I saw Barbara's beads that I would be pulling out my own enamels and mixing them with glass. I started with a base of transparent light brown and dusted it with layers of lavender and bold blue, picking up the tones in the enamels that I think Barbara used. I thought hollows would settle perfectly into these sorta filigree like bead caps. I created a chain linking the beads together that is about 6 inches long. I attached it to a super long length of some very pretty raw brass chain. The chain is so long that you can wear it doubled up, or like a lariat, or like a long laynard. Love it.




That last photo there is seriously seriouly one of my favorite jewelry photos ever. As I made this second necklace, I using most of the extras that Barbara sent. The Czech fire polished crystals, the bead cones, some pretty little florettes, and that gorgeous focal. I knew I wanted layers, lots and lots of layer. I mixed in several different brass chains, waxed linen cording, and, to make it *me* some vintage enameled chain too. I also have had a couple Jade Scott pendants I have been waiting to use in something special. Yep, one of them is in here! Working on this got me thinking... if I did the "vintage style jewelry thing" that everyone loves right now, I would do it like this... vintage with POPS of brights. I mean really, Kerry=Color, does it not?


As if the necklaces (and the pair of earrings from the week before) weren't enough, I had so many beads that I could make some bracelets too! I told you she sent too much!! This first bracelet is styled after a Lorelei Eurto bracelet I (the top one) bought a few weeks ago as a treat to myself. I made some very think, very chunky discs in my favorite shade of transparent ink blue, rolled the edges in a few shades of enamel, and set them up on their sides like the ceramic ones in Lori's bracelet. I made a flower disc as the catch for the clasp to match the sweet Barbara flowers. *sigh* I love it, and it huges your wrist just right.



For this bracelet, I grabbed one of my big huge felted wool beads and popped it in the center of one of the larger caps Barbara sent. I made a big wire work loop, added one of my smaller hollow beads, linked to a short length of silk ribbon, the wool bead link, some copper chain, another Jade Scott charm, and a vintage enamel flower. Try to say all that in one breath, lol... it's a long sentence! Just so in love with this. It dangles off one side of your wrist, so much cooler then those springy bracelet key chain things, but kinda like those. LOL...


Okay... so now what right? You have seen the soup jewelry from me, but you are still hungry right? I just wet your whistle and you need more!! First, check out what my partner created with the beads I sent here!! THEN, pop on over to Lori Anderson's blog and just start clicking... clicking... clicking... and check out what the EIGHTY plus other artists created. It is one hellva party... my guess it is going to last for days and we will all have hangovers... but in a good way. :)

Coming Soon

Tomorrow is the big reveal for The Bead Soup Party. Stay turned. I made some stuff I am really in love with and I can't wait to share.

Ingredients for Soup

Check me out just a few minutes ago with my unwashed hair in a just rolled out of bed ponytail, all bra-less (not that you can see that!) still in my pajamas, rocking a sweet little pair of earrings.

I really lucked out in the big Bead Soup Party of 2010. I got the best partner! THE BEST! The wonderful and talented lady of the blog Jewelry Of Distinction, Barbara Lewis, is my partner. Look at what she sent me?!? Seriously, people, seriously. My soup has the best ingredients. It is as if my soup will be made with fillet mignon and organic potatoes. Heck, I have more then soup here... I have stew.

I am working on gathering my own ingredients to add to the pot. We need some onion and carrots and tomatoes too... no celery though, I hate celery. The big bead soup reveal party will be happening in just about 2 weeks. Stay tuned, it is gonna be fun! In the meantime, check out the Bead Soup Party flickr group and check out all the other goodies getting cooked up.

As for what I sent to Barbara's studio/kitchen:



I can't wait to see what she cooks up! OH, and if you want some of your own fabulous torch-fired enamel beads by Barbara Lewis, check out her etsy shop HERE. I love her colors.

Bead Soup Party

My pal, Lori Anderson, is hosting a fun Bead Soup Party on her blog! I am excited to say that I am taking part in it too and there is still time for you to sign up as well. Pop on over to Lori's blog and check out what the party is all about.