Soup is ready!

My apologies to those of you who visited on Saturday hoping to see my Bead Soup challenge piece - as I was going to be away for the reveal I scheduled the blog post - and managed to schedule it for the wrong weekend! Ooops! And I thought I was being so organised.... 

Anyway, I'm home again now so here it is....better late than never?!

To be perfectly honest I was a little bit worried when I opened the bead soup ingredients Deborah Read that sent me as, lovely as the lampwork and dichroic glass pieces, they were on the opposite side of the world from anything that I would normally use - but that's what this challenge is all about, right? If you'd like a reminder of what Deb sent me please have a look at this post from last month. I did my usual bead soup trick of putting all the ingredients in a lovely wooden bowl that sits on my desk and every now and then I pulled a few pieces out, added some extras in and generally had a play. In the end, however, I decided to use just a focal and one of the two clasps that Deb sent, and this is a little hint of what I did.

I took part in an Artisan Whimsy challenge last year that used a tutorial by to set a flat back stone or found object in prongs that started life as rivets. The rivets were pushed through holes drilled in the backing plate and soldered into place so that they were strong enough to be pushed over the object being set. I set a beautiful Botswana Agate cabochon in silver for that challenge, and loved the technique, so I decided to use it again to set one of the pieces of dichroic glass that Deb sent me.

And this is the glass set in place. I love the contrast of warm patinea'd copper with the blues and greens in the glass. You've probably noticed that I haven't used the clasp yet. I realised once I'd made the pendant that I didn't have enough of the leather I wanted to hang it from, so as soon as the postman brings it I'll be using a clasp, promise!

Please do go and see what Deb made with the ingredients I made I sent her  - you can see her post here, and for a full list of all the people taking part visit  http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.ca/2013/04/7th-bead-soup-blog-party-2nd-reveal.html

I'm actually away this weekend (T's taking me away to Barcelona for an early birthday treat!) so I've scheduled this and I will start visiting the other blogs taking part when I get home!

Soup's ready to cook!

There was a sigh of relief on both sides of the Atlantic last week when the Bead Soup ingredients that my partner Deborah Read put together for me arrived safely. They had actually arrived in the UK over a week before that but I was out when the postie tried to deliver them so I came home I found one of those lovely "while you were out" cards. Unfortunately the sorting office had put my parcel in such a safe place that it took them a week to find it!

So, here at last are the wonderful goodies that Deb sent me! She has been so generous.

 

At the moment I'm leaning towards using one of the dichroic glass pieces to use as a focal - but knowing me I'll change my mind before our reveal on 6th April!

If you want a reminder of what I sent Deb, have a look here and here. We actually sent each other similar colours!

Canadian Soup

Deb has emailed - her parcel of Bead Soup ingredients has arrived in Canada! I have to say, I am very impressed with how quickly it has got there. There is still one UK parcel that I posted at the same time that is yet to arrive at it's destination! I showed you a teaser last week, but now I can show you more details....

 I made Deb a copper Lovebird clasp (you probably guessed I'd make the clasp!), and a smaller Lovebird charm and heart charms to match. There's also a reel of patinaed copper wire and some hammered rings in there in case she didn't have any copper wire. I am sorry to say that I don't know the name of the maker of the lampwork bead, but I love the swirls of blue and ivory inside the clear glass. The ivory spacer beads are ones a friend who no longer makes beads made me a few years ago, and the blue spacers are Mindy Macgregor's. And a final touch to bring it all together, a length of deep turquoise silk ribbon from Marsha Neal. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Deb makes with her ingredients - you can see what she thought of her goodies here. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what the postman brings me!

Bead Soup!

Unless you've been hibernating more than me over the last few weeks you'll know that Lori Anderson has been busy pairing up people from all over the world for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party. This is the fourth party I've taken part in as I took a break when Jamie was tiny, and I've been particularly looking forward to this one Lori is only running one a year now - not surprising considering the amount of work it takes to organise several hundred jewellery designers and beaders!

My partner this time is Deborah Read who lives in snowy Ontario, Canada. You have to go over to her blog to see how beautiful her home looks in the snow at the moment! It almost makes me feel jealous that our snow never lasts for very long - and then I remember that we live at the top of a steep hill and snow and steep hills don't got well together! Deborah works with so many different jewellery techniques and materials from resin and etching copper to lampworking, that I have absolutely no idea what soup ingredients she will have put together for me, but I do know that it's on its way!

My ingredients are on their way over to Canada as well. I can't show you what pretties I've put together for Deborah until they arrive so that I don't spoil the surprise, but you can tell what colours I've included from the teaser above! As soon as our ingredients have arrived I'll show them off more, and then I'll be busy designing ready for the reveal on 6th April.