Welcome to the March 2012 Bead Soup Blog Party!

What is a Bead Soup Blog Party?

 Each beader was paired up with another jewelry designer and tasked with sending the following:

A focal

A special clasp (not just a lobster claw)

Some coordinating spacers or beads

Using the focal and the clasp was mandatory, but we could use anything from our own stash to round out the rest, and choose to use the coordinating beads or not.

Here is another picture of the beads I received from my fantastic Bead Soup partner, Melinda Orr:

With so many amazing beads to work with, I barely had to add anything from my own stash, and I didn't even use up all of them!

I am sure the design process is different for every one of us, and so I'll give you a little insight into mine in this post:

Originally I had wanted to create three necklaces that could all be worn together or separately.  This seemed like a great plan, but after starting to work on the designs, I ended up throwing that idea out of the window and instead created one earring/bracelet/necklace set and 2 other necklaces.  

Here's the first necklace I made, using the  lovely Sue Beads lampwork beads from Sue Kennedy, the sweet bird charm from Lisa Petraka, some of the amber resin beads, the handmade bead caps, some of the copper and the stone beads:

"Bird"

A close-up of the bird charm

Originally this was going to be the shortest of the three necklaces, and I wanted it to be fairly simple, which it is.  It is actually the one I will probably wear the most, as I tend to wear simpler designs myself.

The second necklace took on a life of its own, and it was during the construction of this piece that I decided to create three very separate designs:

"Forest"

I absolutely love the handmade clasp Melinda made, and knew I wanted it to act as a focal in one of the designs, and it fit perfectly with the beads I used here.  The coin pearls and jade are both large beads with the holes through the middle.  I wanted to show the height of these beads and not the width as much, so I had to come up with a way to wire them to "stand up", and here's what I came up with:

Basically I put a small length of wire through the center of the beads and created a simple loop on each side of the bead.  Then I created a kind of wire cage by putting a length of 16g wire with loops on each end on either side of the bead and wrapped wire around each end, effectively sandwiching the beads between the wire lengths:

This added heft to each link and gave the necklace substance.  I worked in the large hammered hoops from Melinda to break up the links.

The last design I made incorporates the beautifully patinaed components from Melinda, along with one of the glass domes and one of the beautiful photographs she sent:

The colors in the patina and the photograph are truly amazing, and reminded me of out trips to Rocky Point, Mexico.  For the focal I riveted the handmade bands Melinda made to the patinaed copper base plate, sandwiching in the domed glass piece with the applied photograph.  I knew this would be a long piece, and I felt that the focal needed more substance, so I added strips of antique lamp banding to the top and bottom of the pendant and used that to dangle some charms on the bottom.

"Rocky Point"

Then I started in on an asymmetrical design that features the patinaed circle and square links on one side and  wire-wrapped stones on the other side.  The necklace measures about 35", so there was no need for a clasp in this design.

I had tons of pieces and parts left over, so I decided to make coordinating earrings and a bracelet:

I love this set, and will be wearing it to church this weekend!

Melinda, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sending me such a treasure trove to play with in this bead soup.  I loved being your partner, and can't wait to see what you made with the beads I sent you!

Lori Anderson, thank you for being the mastermind behind this phenomenal event.  I know you put endless hours into making sure we are all taken care of, and I appreciate you so very much!

Please take some time to check out Lori's blog, Pretty Things, as well as the other participants in this blog hop:

Hostess, Lori Anderson Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5.  Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6.  Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8.  Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9.  Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10.  Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery 

11.  Andra Weber and Christine Murrow

12.  Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13.  Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14.  Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17.  Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18.  Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19.  Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20.  Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23.  Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26.  Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27.  Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28.  Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29.  Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30.  Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31.  Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34.  Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35.  Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36.  Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38.  Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40.  Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42.  Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday

44.  Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46.  Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47.  Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49.  Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50.  Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian

51.  Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52.  Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53.  Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56.  Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57.  Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58.  Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59.  Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60.  Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan

61.  Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62.  Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63.  Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64.  Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67.  Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68.  Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69.  Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70.  Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71.  Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

 72.  Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73.  Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74.  Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75.  Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77.  Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79.  Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80.  Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry

81.  Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander (you are here!)

82.  Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)

84.  Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85.  Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86.  Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87.  Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88.  Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89.  Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson

90.  Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91.  Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94.  Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96.  Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99.  Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100.  Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum