Bead Soup…Reveal

So the day is finally here.  This has by far been one of my favorite art experiences.  So to recap, Lori at Pretty Things once a year for the past 8 years has matched bead artists in an ultimate bead swap.  This year, there were around 500 people from across the globe that participated.  What a lot of work for Lori to arrange!  Wow!  This is my first year to participate, and if she has it next year, I cannot wait!

 

This year, I was paired with a wonderful artist and woman, Kay (KayzKreationz).  Kay lives in Texas with her family and creates unique pieces with glass.  I am in love with her bead pot charms.  Aren’t these adorable?

 

Kay and I have a ton of things in common; not only do we both work with animals (she is a wildlife manager), we are both love to work with copper, silver and glass. As she is from Texas, she sent me a wonderful soup with a definitively Texas theme…I couldn’t let her down, so I made a set that I thought would be worthy of all the cowgirls in Texas…I hope she agrees…If you do too, you can purchase the pieces here (KatrinaTaylorJewelry at etsy).

To recap, here is the before:

Lava beads, jasper beads, hand crafted copper components and flame patina toggle clasp, suede cord and an orange bandana (not shown…check out Kay’s blog for a great pic though)

I knew immediately when I saw the components the base for this piece.  Well, that is easy to say now…anyway, I knew it had to be a chunky copper necklace.  from there…it took shape.  The colors are very earth tone and I would say a split complementary (throwing the orange in).  This is one thing where Kay and I differ, where I am in LOVE with blues, she HATES it…For her, I didn’t add any blue…well the blue green she sent doesn’t count! hehe

Well enough stalling; here is my first finished piece (click on the photos for a larger version):

 

Something was missing.  I starred at that suede cord…although I picked up the color in the enameled beads that I made, I didn’t use the cord.   As I used everything else, this wasn’t sitting well.  Although I wasn’t required to use it; as per the rules I needed to use the focal and the clasp, I found a way to incorporate the bandana…but not a suede cord…that wasn’t making me happy.  So I turned to my stash…and guess what…I had some jasper beads I recently purchased and the earrings took off…

(Is it me, or did you just notice that I didn’t create mirror image earrings…that will change before I post them. Ugg…)

 

But a girl wants options…so I turned to my other love, clay and my newest obsession, resin…the rest is history…

 

Thanks for coming by and I hope you like the finished jewelry pieces.  I have to say a sincere and heartfelt thanks to Kay! and of course to Lori for having the patience to pull all of this together.  As the list of participants is HUGE, here is a link to the master list:

http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2014/05/welcome-to-8th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

I encourage to jump around and go to all of the other bloggers, and if nothing else, please visit my new beading buddy Kay!

http://www.kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

~ by vet1999 on May 10, 2014.