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LATELY

I haven't updated in awhile, because I've been super busy, out of town, and violently ill! (Not in that order.) Three weeks ago I found myself standing in the bathroom completely bewildered as I threw up EVERYTHING ON THE PLANET, then spent the next week with a cold. Since then I visited up in Sacramento with Malvina and Sam (and ate gourmet grilled cheese from a food truck on the side of the road) and visited down in LA with Sarah and her family (and went to the Los Angeles Zoo! and took a nap – and saw my old friend Rhoda from high school for the first time since 2002!)

Since then I've been to Ikea, sliced my hand open and done a ton of laundry!

My life, it is glamorous!

Speaking of glamour, here is a prototype of bridesmaids jewelry and headpiece I may or may not make for Malvina's wedding, set in a historic former speakeasy:

I hope the girls like it, we'll see. I kind of want to go with a twenties/art deco/flapper theme, but just slightly – don't want to go overboard. The jewelry will be pink since we pretty much decided to go with black dresses and pink accents.

I have some other ideas as well (they have an art deco themed collection of jewelry parts at Michael's right now) but I just haven't had time to work on anything.

This weekend is the Bay Area Bead Extravanaganza, and so Janelle and I are headed out to that. I am getting a holiday bonus randomly early so I will have a little extra money to spend.

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LIMABEADS CHALLENGE

Awhile back I read about a bead challenge on Lorelei Eurto's blog, that she and Shannon of For My Sweet Daughter put together, and I just had to participate – the beads were so pretty! The kits were available to purchase from LimaBeads, which I had heard of but never ordered anything from before. And let me tell you, it was a treat – I will definitely be ordering through them again. Here are the beads:

Anyway, today is the big reveal day. Here's what I made!

This first necklace utilizes the stones, faceted glass, barbell chain, mother-of-pearl focal and filigree piece. I added more copper chain and findings.

This second necklace uses the purple briolettes, silk ribbon, and the clasp. I put the clasp on the side as I thought it might poke in the back. I like it there! I'm not a huge fan of asymmetry in my own work so that was sort of a step out of the box for me. I also don't use fiber in my jewelry at all, so I'm really pleased with how the ribbon turned out in this piece. It does seem a natural fit to use with chain, which I have been using a lot lately. Here's some closeups:

And finally I made two pairs of earrings:

These used the long pearls. I had actually originally incorporated them into the first necklace but I didn't like how they were looking so I took the whole thing apart. I still wanted to use the pearls in something so I made these earrings. I really think they turned out beautiful!

These earrings used the potato pearls and the off-white glass (which I loved, and I wish there had been more than 3 pieces in the kit!). As soon as I saw these two types of beads together I knew they had to be put in the same piece!

I did not wind up using the Toho beads, or the purple flower beads or faceted glass. I'm sure I will (I think the Toho beads would be great on a memory wire bracelet) but I just couldn't come up with something. I am just really amazed that I managed to make something with the ribbon!

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BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY! REVEALED!

Oh my goodness, it's time for the big reveal for the BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY, graciously hosted and put together by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. I think she deserves a huge round of applause for making this happen – 362 participants altogether, from all around the world!

My partner is the fabulous Michelle Buettner of MiShel Designs. She sent me a terrific array of beads in colors I normally don't work with, which was really exciting because I feel like I needed the challenge of neutral colors to counteract my penchant for, well, fluorescents (see previous resin entries, haha).


Look at that lovely bunch of beads! I thought and thought about what they wanted to be. I tried working in my current style, chains and headpins and dangles, but no, that didn't really want to happen (much).

So, I reached into my bucket of tricks and pulled out an oldie but a goodie: classic stringing. And came up with this:


The focal presented a challenge, as it is pretty long and even my long headpins were not *quite* long enough to run through it. So after a couple tries, I hit upon the idea of using dangles and bits and bobs to accentuate the focal – the beading wire is actually strung through the dangle and then both ends through the focal, creating an even longer pendant! I was able to use almost all the beads Michelle sent for the entire necklace – only adding in a few faceted opalites of my own. What a beautiful selection of beads!


I actually used a new-to-me technique (or trick, maybe) in making this – crimp caps! I love how the little weirdos cover up your crimps and look like a bead! Easy and yet totally streamlined. CONVERT.

Here's a close-up of the moonstone kind of glowing:


I finished the necklace a couple weeks ago, then this week decided on a whim that it needed earrings with the very few beads I had left.

And that's my bead soup! I had a blast! 😀

Here's the list of other participants if you want to check them out (behind the cut):

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