Here is the link to all of the wonderful people that participated:
BSBP #8 Blog address list
Here is a reminder what I received from my wonderful BSBP Partner, Cheryl Gangle of Rock Candy Jewelry, visit her here at Rock Candy Jewelry Design
And this is what I sent her:
I have to admit, I was very excited with my bead soup but a little overwhelmed too. I had no idea where to start, I had like 20 ideas at once.
I started with the mixed strand set of seed beads and the pretty copper clasp. They had to go together for some reason, and I wanted to keep the seed beads as they were as much as possible. I ended up with my first ever super multi-strand necklace. Finishing the ends was fiddly but I kept going. I also included some of the sunstone rondelles and nuggets and copper chain from the soup, along with a strand of inky dark freshwater pearls, garnet swarovski rounds and a copper feather charm.
Next is a fun multi chain and strand necklace (I have never been a big fan of making multi strand anythings as they seem fussy but these beads demanded it. I used Copper chain, sunstone rondelles and nuggets from the soup. I also added faceted citrine teardrops, garnet rounds, faceted ruby rondelles, and copper lotus charms. I rarely if ever use stones anymore (they have achieved "Hoarding" status) and I had fun digging through them to find the right ones to go with the sunstone.
Earrings:
Necklace:
And from the bag of orphan handmade lampwork beads, of course I had to go for the fuchsia ones. Lol.
I wanted to keep the design simple and elegant so the lampwork beads would stand out. This includes 3 of Cheryl's lampwork beads, copper bead caps and filigree beads,fuchsia and indian red AB Swarovski's and vintage burgundy glass pearls.
And the focal that stumped me...for about a week the poor thing sat all by itself on my desk. I re-read the note from Cheryl that came with the beads and read that this focal was a Kazuri bead. Curious, I looked up Kazuri beads and discovered they are made in Africa by local Kenyan women as a means of sustainable income (How cool is that?!). You can read more Here . I decided I wanted the focal to stand out, at the same time I wanted to add visual interest. This is where I got stuck. At work a few days later, my friend Mary was wearing one of her (many) cheetah print blouses. She loves cheetah print. And presto! Lightbulb moment! I found a wonderful cheetah/leopard print ribbon at Lima beads and here is the result, of which I gave to Mary (she loved it.)
These next 2 pieces I posted earlier as they were also part of the 7th Annual Do-Over Challenge. Some of Cheryl's beads were perfect for the projects I was working on and ended up in a necklace (teal lampwork bead above the ceramic owl pendant and some of her copper chain)
And a bracelet (dark brown matte oval glass beads)
Whoo hoo got done with this one last necklace at 11:15pm on the 9th. Yay me! Sunstones and coin pearls from the soup. Added erinite swarovski's and labradorite.
Happy Blog Hopping all!
