Welcome to Lori Anderson's Annual Bead Soup Blog Party

Welcome to the Bead Soup Blog Hop. 

My main piece (using the Melanie Brooks focal) from Shannon turned out great.  I made the breast plate with "Home Tweet Home" to pull it all together in a flourish of silver to go with the clasp Shannon made and added my own lampwork beads to compliment the colors and theme.  It was a great challenge and, as always, fun.

This montage might be easier, than having to go back in posts, to see my original soup and what I did for earrings.  I'll leave the browsing for some time when you have a leisure moment.  And considering the largesse of this hop that might be a while.  These are my components from Shannon LeVart German (Miss Fickle Media).  She was my partner for this hop.  In all there ended up being only a small amount of my soup I didn't use.  Even as I took the theme I created for myself - Home Sweet Home - because of the house shaped ceramic focal, I found a dozen ways to accomplish this challenge within that theme. 

 

You can see from the drawings I was working on several ways to use some of the components for earrings.  Shannon gave me the greatest ear wires I've ever worked with and although I make ear wires I have to say I wouldn't hesitate to buy more.  I used them for the alternative earrings because I knew they wouldn't go easily on these hunky sized ceramics (that's what's cool about ceramics - they can be large and weigh nearly nothing!). 

 

Since the theme (for me) was re-invented to "Home Tweet Home" (see a previous blog post on Creativity) I decided these earrings might benefit from staying with the same theme.  For the longest I couldn't figure out how to do that and then in a late night lack of sleeping escapade it came to me as I was drawing. There is a saying in Latin - Alis Volat Propriis  which translated is: She Flies With Her Own Wings.  It was perfect.  I stamped the sayings on silver. One saying for each ear. 

 

This ceramic is thick so I made ear wires especially for the earrings by soldering an earring sized wire to a large silver ring.  I threaded the ring through the hole in the ceramic, closed it, and bent the ear wire.  I like the length - they're definitely statement earrings but needed the pearls to break up their length just a bit.  It never hurts to add something smaller to a large piece, or vice versa.  It breaks up the space and gives the eyes a bit of a pause.

 

 

That left some extra pieces - like those great ear wires, two nice chunks of squared and hammered PMC and more pearls.  I love working with tin and had some roman glass from last years foray to Bead and Button that I knew was close in color but funky enough to go with the tin.  These earrings are another good example of size without weight.  Two pieces of tin topped with the PMC square (to use as a reflector for the glass), the roman glass, a piece of Bali, Shannon's head pin to thread it together.  I decided to go fancy on the top and rolled the tin several times over a matching piece of silver I bent and hammered into submission and hung them from those ear wires Shannon sent.  Didn't I say they were great?

 

 

Both of these earrings are listed on Etsy at Right Turn ArtWerks - proceeds will go into the bank fund for Daisy's Hip replacement.  I kept the price reasonable despite the fact they are full of silver.  So if you are interested my Etsy is listed to the column to the right.  (Sorry, they are sold!)

 

I know this list of participants is substantial - take your time and try to visit us as you can.  I'd be delighted to have more friends so if you have time - please join my list of followers.  I love blogging and passing on as much artsy info and tips as I can.   Enjoy the hopping...Sharon

 

Here is the permalink to the list of participants for the blog hop -

 

Lori Anderson's 8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Hop

 

 

The End  :-)

Happy 8th Bead Soup Blog Hop

Well, not quite the end...
I'm going to take Shannon's lead on this and add a sweet giveaway to my post.  These pieces are the orphans I didn't use in the creation of these pieces.  If you leave a comment you will be automatically entered.  Don't forget about Daisy either...and a personal thank you to Lori Anderson for both pushing through her illness to get this years hop going for us and for her generous support of Daisy's cause.  Yes, in all her pain and agony she was thinking of others and I was one of them.  Bless you Ms. Anderson and may your trials soon be behind you. 

And I could be persuaded to add a bird to this mix if you asked :-).
Drawing will be on May 15th.

Best Wishes - Sharon

 

 



Bead Soup Is Coming...

I've been working my little butt off getting my pieces ready and I thought you might like to see what I did.  First, I couldn't sleep last night - really, it was a total loss.  I was up until 5:30 am.  I wasn't obsessing about anything but when I get a lot of creative things on my mind I really have a problem turning off the juice to my neurons.  How about you - does that happen to you too? It really begins to run amuck up there in my head - but at least it was productive and I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby tomorrow  This is my 3am drawing spree and a set of earrings that came out of it all.  They're for the Bead Soup Blog Hop.  Looking good, huh?  Sorry, they'll have to stay as scrambled as my poor brain was last night until Saturday's reveal but they'll be worth the wait.  They're in that drawing....really they are.

It's like it's written in Sharon shorthand - LOL

It will make a lot more sense on Saturday's reveal when you can go back and see which piece looks like which drawing - hahahaha.   Right now it's pretty cryptic but you'll see the method in my madness.  I was wondering how you decide on your jewelry details.  Do you draw it out, just go for it, what's the preferred work method?  You can kind of see what I do - The squares represent the ceramic squares by Melanie Brooks that Shannon sent.  I kept drawing the square with the intention of decorating each one and then inspiration hit and off it went.  I do that frequently - redraw the shape of something in repetition and if an idea doesn't hit I go back and start decorating the drawings with possibilities.  And mostly then an idea will hit and it won't fit into the doodles and I'll be all over the page.  You're seeing the pattern in my scribbles, right?  All of my drawings kind of look like this, in a way.  Scribbles and notes to myself....I wonder what this is all a sign of and if I gave all of my drawing books to a psychologist what they'd make of it all.  Probably sincerely nothing but if they'd discover some secret super power it would make my day.  Uh, maybe I have to quit watching Marvel, Agents of Shield and get some sleep.

 

I've been drawing and drawing for the Bead Soup Blog Hop.

What Shannon (Miss Fickle Media) didn't realize was that she gave me a challenge of the first order without even knowing it, blue's aren't exactly my color.  I'm a warm red - orange - kind of girl.  then, there is the shape - Hmmmmmm.

I love the pieces - the color the material (clay - pearls - silver).  The artist who made the pieces is a divine person and artist.  How can you go wrong with that....I was given Melanie Book's ceramic pieces and an absolute pile of pearls to match and Shannon's hand wrought silver.  Not just a piece or two but and small handful full of it.  I did many a happy dance.

After I looked at the pendant I was in shock.  It's a house.   It's not just any house.  It's MY house.  Well, my house isn't luscious blue/ brown and raku-ish but the shape is unmistakable..  It's a hard shape to miss in a neighborhood.  It's a saltbox style house.  We aren't a big house but we are tall and have lots of open ceilings and sunlight.

I'm working fairly fast on the actual piece now but I drew out plenty of drawings - this is one of the pages and since the finished idea isn't totally represented on these pages I thought I'd let you go ahead and look at how I process these challenges.

My ceramic piece evoked those feelings so quickly I just had to go with the "Home Sweet Home" theme.

This is about as far as I can take you through the process for now so I do hope you will all stop  by on Saturday (we are postponed until May 10th - oh thank goodness!) and take a look at what I've completed for the hop.  There are over 500 members hopping around this year - what an incredible amount of willing and wonderful artists.  

 

So while you are hopping around and get to Lori's don't forget to tell her what a wonderful person she is...because that is oh so true.  Lori has also lent her assistance to Daisy's problem with her hips.  Now think about that!  With that is going on in the Anderson household (Lori fighting Lyme disease with all of her strength/ being in the hospital/ being in bed/ being in flux with her life) she took the time to read our family story - she responded to me personally - made a donation and then took the time (while ill) to pass the information on via Facebook.  There are many people in the world like Lori - and Mallory Hoffman, Jean Wells, Mary Ransom, and so many many more that I know I am forgetting so many names to put here. Forgive me if I've forgotten to add yours.

They've taken time - money - they've cheerlead me around so I could post in more places....and they've all reposted many times when I have been stalled. I feel confident that Daisy is going to get this hip and that she has gained an extended family of animal lovers from around the world.  She's a lucky pup and we feel blessed - truly blessed.

 

Sleepy girl resting on the recliner...she loves the recliner.  Home Sweet Home :-)

 

Back to work on my project - I'll get it - I promise.

 

Revealing My Soup

As you already know I've drawn Shannon VeVart (German), Miss Fickle Media.  I'm underscoring her sites so you can access them quickly.  Shannon is a great designer and has an outstanding on-line presence where you can purchase so many of the parts we use to create our designs.  She is au courant in her designs and supplies so how can you go wrong.

This is the soup she sent me to work with.  Are you kidding - I'm like over the top with this.  First, I love Melanie Brooks pieces.  I've been an admirer for years and have several things in my stash.  And what's not to love with what she matched that with - it's like pearl heaven.  To top all of that off she sent me a plethora of silver findings, links, earrings, and headpins - and, and, and....holey crap. 

Am I a lucky gal or what?

 

 

I don't think I'll put anything yellow with it - gosh I hate that kitchen counter.

 

If you need inspirations for your work you don't need to look far.  Shannon has many images online that will guide you through your own designs and processes.  Some times you just need a little eye candy to get you going. 

 

Miss Fickle Media:

 

 Blog

 Facebook

Etsy

 

There you go - check her out - you'll love what you see.



Take a Winter Break and participate in Bead Soup

It's getting to be that time of year again.  Lori Anderson is gearing up for this years Bead Soup Blog Hop.  I'd say it's time to get your designing shoes on and join in the fun.  Here are the links so you can take a "lookie lou" for yourself and see what you've been missing.  Just click on the name below and it will take you where you need to go:

Bead Soup Blog Party

 

 

And...if you are on Facebook you might want to join Lori's Bead Soup Cafe  HERE !

 

These are great times for beaders so take advantage of one of the great opportunities open to all of us.



Bead Soup Reveal

When I received these beads from Raida they reminded me of one of my favorite books, “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Gardens were a huge part of my life as a child.  My Grandfather grew vegetables and my mother cultivated roses, lilacs, and flowers of all kinds.  To add to this array my Bubba (Grandfather) also grew sunflowers which he’d harvest for the birds and for us.  Our yard was large but not rural.  But, there were hedges, gates, and arbors, it created a magical get-a-way. 

To Raida’s Bead Soup I added tiger eye semi-precious rounds, a stone frog, some pewter, and C-Lon. I decided to keep it in a fall palette and maintain the dark tones of the beautiful focal.  It brought back such fond memories of the fall gardens.  The roses were dark (my mother preferred the lush colors of burgundy to pink), the holly was coming on strong, and the sunflowers were turning a deep golden shade. 

For the bail I used the C-Lon to finger weave a bail.  I learned how to finger weave ages ago from one of Robin Adkin’s on line tutorials.  You can find it here.  It is where I saw the first and most beautiful treasure bracelets ever created and emulated by many an artist since. 

After finger weaving the bail I fed the thread through the bead cap and then the bead – I used a noose type knot to finish the bottom and leave the threads free for stringing as a tassel.  Once the focal of the necklace was complete I arranged an asymmetrical design of the remaining beads to make a full and lush necklace.   I’ve used my entire soup in this necklace except the beautiful brown silk tie that was included.   If I hadn’t wanted to use that great floral button I’d of considered making finger weaved loops on both ends of the necklace and using the silk as a closure by tying a bow.  It would have made it adjustable and given it a kicky kind of twist that would great with short hair.

I finished the back off with that perfect button closure that Raida had sent in the soup mix.  It makes a great closure with a loop.

My necklace is an elegantly planned out garden and I’m very proud of the collaboration between Raida and I. I hope she and you like how it turned out as much as I do.  Thank You Raida for the beautiful mix you sent.

Here is the list of Bead Soup Paticipants - Start Hopping!

Hostess, Lori Anderson, PrettyThingsBlog.com

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles

Alicia Marinache, All The Pretty Things

Amanda Tibbetts, Amanda Made

Amber Dawn Goldish, Inventive Soul

Annita Wilson, AW Jewelry

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool

Birgitta Lejonklou, Create With Spirit

Candida Castleberry, Spinning Spun Sugar

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Cassie Donlen, Glass Beadle

Cheri Reed, Creative Designs by Cheri

Cheryl McCloud, One Thing Leads to Another

Cheryl Roe, BeadRoe

Christina Hickman, Vintage Treasures Jewelry

Christine Hendrickson, Clamworks

Cilla Watkins, Tell Your Girlfriends

Cindy Wilson, Mommy's Dream

Cindy Wimmer, Sweet Bead Studio

Cory Celaya, Art With Moxie

Cory Tompkins, Tealwater Designs

Cris Peacock, Cris' Page

Cynthia Deis, Shiny Little Things

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Cynthia Wainscott, Exotic Peru

Dana Hickey, Magpie Approved

Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Designs

Dana Lang, Tumblestone Handmakery

Debbie Price, Green Shoot Jewellery Designs

Denielle Hagerman, Some Beads and Other Things

Diane Valasek, Dragonfly Close

Doris Stumpf, Glaszwerg

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell, Dee-Liteful Jewelry Creations

Elaine Robitaille, Too Aquarius

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Enikö Fabian, Perl-eni

Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found

Heather Davis, Blissful Garden Beads

Heidi Post, Ex Post Facto Jewelry

Hilary Frye, FryeStyle

Ilenia Ruzza, Ilenia's Unique Beaded and Painted Jewelry

Inge von Roos, Inge's Blog

Jami Shipp, Celebrating Life

Jayne Capps, Mama's Got to Doodle

Jean A. Well, Jean A. Wells Handcrafted Artisan Jewelry

Jean Yates, Snap Out of It Jean! There's Beading to Do!

Jennifer Cameron, Glass Addictions

Jennifer Pottner, Rock Candy Beads

Jennifer VanBenschoten, Jewelry, Art and Life

Jenny Davies-Reazor, Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jenny Vidberg, Shyme Design

Jessica Dickens, My Jewelry, My Life, Me

Jessica Klaaren, Beadful-Things by Jessica

JJ Jacobs, Coming Abstractions

Joan Williams, Lilruby Jewelry

Judith Johnston, Judith Johnston

Judy Riggs, Rigglettes

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Julie Anne Leggett, The Peaceful Bead

K Hutchinson, Jumbled Hutch

Karen Meador, Dreamcatcher Ranch

Karyn Bonfiglio, Plus Size Bangles

Katherine Gale, Terra Beadworks
Kathleen Lange Klik, Modern Nature Studio

Katja Benevol Gabrijelcic, Slovonske Technobe

Kelli Jacobson, Creative Moon

Kelly Ramstack, Adventures with Kelly

Keri Lee Sereika, Pink Lemonade

Kim Ballor, Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity

Kim Bender-Hora, KimmyKat

Kirsi Luostarinen, Kirsi Luo Korut

Kitty Bozzini, Kitty Lampwork

Laura Demoya, The Bead Therapist

Laurie Hanna, Laurie's Jewelbox

Leah Curtis, Beady Eyed Bunny

Lesley Watt, The Gossiping Goddess

Linda Inhelder, Must-Haves Jewelry

Linda Landig, Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings

Lisa Liddy, Metal Me This

Lori Dorrington, Lori's Adventures in Etsy Land

Lori Poppe, Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

Mallory Hoffman, For the Love of Beads

Marge Beebe, Rock Creek Creations

Marianna Boylan, Pretty Shiny Things

Marion Simmons, Shade Tree Studio

Marla Gibson, Spice Box Design

Marta Weaver, Marta Weaver Jewelry

Marti Conrad, Marti C's Clay Blog

Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens, GlassBeadArt, Lampwork Beads

Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studio

Michelle Hardy, Firefly Visions

Mikala Coates, Maybe Just Perhaps

Mowse Doyle, HoCArt

Nan Emmett, Spirit Rattles - Spirited Earth

Nancy Boylan, Snazzy Doodle Designs

Nancy Peterson, Beading From the Heart

Nicole Rennell, Nicole Rennell Designs

Niki Meiners, 365 Days of Craft

Niky Sayers, Silver Nik Nats

Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas
Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs
Pamela Gangler, She Always Loved Pink

Patricia Johnson, Patricia L. Johnson Glass Art

Patti Vanderbloemen, My Addictions ... Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti

Perri Jackson, Shaktipaj Designs

Raida Disbrow, Havana Beads

Renetha Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

Shannon Hicks, Falling Into the Sky

Shannon LeVart, Miss Fickle Media

Sharon Driscoll, Right Turn ArtWerks

Shelby Foxwell, Sundown Bead Designs Rhetoric

Shelley Graham Turner, Fabric of My Life

Sherri Stokey, Knot Just Macrame

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Skylar Bre'z, Brising Beads

Stacie Florer, Soul to Substance

Stacie Stamper, Park Avenue

Stacy Alderson, Iridal's Attic

Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs

Stephanie Stamper, Rainy Day Designs

Sue Hamel, The Bottle Cork and Crystal

Suzette Bentley, Ellie's Bijoux

Szarka, Magpie Gemstones

Tammy Jones, Jewelry Making Daily

Tania Tebbit, Glass, Craft, & Artful Goodness

Tanty Sri Hartanti, TJewellicious by Tanti

Terry Matuszyk, Pink Chapeau

Tina Bosh, Every Good and Perfect Gift

Tracy Bell, Copper, Glass and Recycled Trash

Vonna Maslanka, Just Vonna

My Beads Arrived!

Actually - My beads have been in the post office while I was in Chicago with my daughter and son-in-law.  Today it was a wonderful surprise to receive them and see all the goodies.  Look at that flower - it's a button and it's going to make a great closure.  And the colors - Whoa, what a great combination....I'd of never thought of it, but I love it! 

When I wrote to Raida about how much I love this set I had to tell her that my Grandfather grew sunflowers in the yard.  I didn't explain that he loved the birds and sunflower seeds and every year we'd cook and salt them and then dry them in the oven.   He'd keep unsalted ones for the birds and we'd nosh on the cooked ones all winter ourselves.

This is the soup I sent to Raida.  She said she felt "spoiled".  Frankly, I think we both do!  I sure hope I can do her beads justice and don't forget - We'll be having that Blog Hop on July 28th so you'll be able to see what Raida and I did with our exchange.

Soup is in the mail - HUH?

Yikes, early deadlines.  This was fun last year and will be fun this year too but why did I chose an early deadline.  It's retorical.  I can do it and I hope my BSBH partner will be pleased.  I was shopping for some of the parts on the deadline mail date.  Why the last minute?  Because I just didn't want any old mix sent out from my stash.  I wanted a PERFECT mix sent out from my stash and to do that I had to do just one more little tiny thing. 

Polychronic?  Why yes mamam, I am.  My time is linear and never ending.  I'll pack it up tomorrow and send it via priority so it will get there lickity split.  I would have normally sent it first class but since I'm doing this one day late we'll have it jetted away.

So do want to see from this batch that is going out to Raida?  Sorry - Raida gets the first totally great look as she unwraps the packages.  But if you are one of those decoder kind of people I'm sure you would be able to decifer what is in these photos   As soon as my soup arrives I'll put up a better picture of mine and a photo of what Raida has sent in this direction.  After that we've got to create our little hearts out.  It has to be quick, especially since the designing, work, photography and marketing all has to be ready for the first reveal date.  Our creating is followed quickly by the first scheduled blog hop on July 28th. 

Don't worry.  I'll post a better pictues when Raida's mix arrives and then I'll post hers and the "more viewable" version of mine.  Then it's onward and upward to the design.  We don't have long since the reveal is going to be July 28th.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I don't ususally design this fast.

Bead Soup Sale

I was supposed to get these earring listed on Monday and the past couple of days have just gotten away from me as I'm been rolling beads and glazing little things.

I've posted them on Etsy at the bargain price of $23.95. They're light on the ear but still tend to make a statement. Just over two inches in length from top to bottom and the disc is 1" round.

Back to the bead making....

Finishing Your Disc Earrings

On to the front of my BSBP earrings. Here is where you can go wild. You can finish your earrings off with a stamped piece of metal on the front (such as a round) – or just about anything that will cover the earring nut. In the case of these earrings I wanted to use the wonderful butterflies I was given. To do this I needed to make a loop to hold the butterfly charm in place. I wanted it in front of the earring nut and to swing freely.

Since I always want the earrings to hang at the same height I measure and mark where I’m going to bend the earring wire. You can also see in these photos where I have bent the catch in the back.

Bend the earring wire with bail forming pliers or across a dowel (ink pen, etc.) at your lines. Put the wire under the catch and adjust as necessary. Trim your wire. I usually go about 3/8” – ½” below the catch. File or use a cup burr on your trimmed ends, polish, and antique.

I hope you enjoyed how I made these earrings. The discs are ceramic and very light weight. And from the butterfly hang some nice pearls and antique glass beads. Now that the BSBP is over I’ll be putting these up for sale on Etsy, with special pricing. Look for the listing on Monday if you are interested. And be sure to make a bunch for yourself – I wouldn’t have put this tutorial on the web site if you couldn’t feel free to use it. Enjoy!

Disc Earring Tutorial

This is the first part of the tutorial for making the disc earrings. To make these earrings I used:

Round Nose Pliers
Chain Nose Pliers
Bail Pliers/you can use a 3/8" dowel.
19 gauge full hard sterling silver wire
Files /or a cup burr tool for the earring wire ends
Decorations to hang from your earrings
Discs with a hole of 3mm
White Rubber Earring Nuts.



Bend your wire at a 90 degree angle. Grasp with your round nose pliers and make your first spiral.



Change to your chain nose pliers and grasp the wire as shown in the photo. Spiral your wire around several times tightly. Note: For each earring since I wanted the backs to be a mirror image of one another I spirled each wire coil in the opposite direction. Also, I am using full hard wire - this wire is not easy to bend - this helps the earring keep it's intended shape. You can use a soft wire but then you will have to hammer or harden you earring wire when you get to that point.



This is the secret I alluded to when I was writing about the Bead Soup Party. If you purchase or create a disc with approximately a 3mm hole. Into that hole you wedge (and it wil fit very tightly, they should fit tightly or or use a different size nut) a rubber earring nut. These nuts are the type you purchase to keep your french hook earrings from getting nudged out of your ears. That always seems to happen with me when I'm wearing my favorite coat.

Tomorrow I'll continue on with this tutorial and we'll finish off these earrings. It's a very useful way to make these types of earrings if you want the disc to remain in a specific position and centered in your design.

Enjoy!

New Work Wednesday

Ahhhh, a day without a mega post. Hip Hip Hurrah. I kind of figure you’re about read out. While I was working on my BSBP necklace and talismans I decided to try a few more of a different kind. Working in clay has been an inspiring change for me.

The talisman necklace makes a pleasant sound as it moves around while you walk. That thought stuck with me and I moved to making spirit beads. These beads, as of yet unfired, are full of ceramic balls that will “sound off” as needed. They make me smile and remind me to listen to my inner spirit.

A Little More Necklace Symbolism

Yesterday I talked about the process for the Talisman of the necklace. To me it makes even more sense when you consider it with the necklace top.

A speckled ceramic bead seemed, at first, to round out the top of the design…but as these things go one new addition leads to the thought of the next. Speckled? – why that brings to mind a bird. A perfect possible addition to the large ring I was sent.


My usual bird of choice is the Raven. A Raven did not seem to suit my theme but I knew what would. Again, I am a Michigander (LOL – don’t you just love that unique reference to my state of origin?). Robin’s are our state bird. But, better yet, they are a very spiritual bird. Native Plains Tribes attribute the return of the sun (the inception of Spring) with Robins. Now if that isn’t how I feel when the first robin of Spring shows up around here nothing is. Omaha Tribes believed the sun rose and set on the wings of the Robin. Iroquois and Shoshone lore indicates that the white ring around the Robin’s eye was a symbol of prophetic vision, clarity and great wisdom. Yup, that’s me! (wink, wink).

Now that I have the bird – what about the feather? Well, hell yes feathers. I pick feathers up all over the place…my grandfather and I used to do that in the yard. I have them tucked here and there around the house so finding some evening winter was easy. They represent new beginnings to the Celtic. It invokes the sky god. In Christianity feathers represent the three virtues and there are many rings and signs with three feathers for faith, charity, and hope. Dreaming of feathers can represent a desire to move more freely in life. Again, for me, all of the above struck a definite heart string. I stacked three symbolic feathers together for extra strength before I began the tether for them.


And all of that brought me back around to the leaf and the general theme of what I was doing. Another look at the top of the necklace brought about the solution. The leaf, the tree, the branch. I work with sticks quite a bit. I cast them into silver all of the time. This wasn’t the place for a cast branch. My branches are in a small wash tub on top of my bead stashes. Perfect! An oak twig. Robin’s make their nests in the oak trees around the yard. The oak in the yard I grew up in takes three people to circle…all kind of like the red wool thread. It’s all interrelated – past, present, future.

Thank You Lori – It’s like Bead Soup was my own little personal coming back party and thank you Rebecca for providing the stimulus for the fruitfulness of all of it.

Don't forget - coming up in the next posts: Where to find your personal symbolism/and tailsman meanings. Plus, a tutorial on how to make the Bead Soup disc earrings and how to do that without the discs slopping around. And, "New Work Wednesday".

Still Bead Soup Blog Hopping...

Bead Soup is great stuff! The copper leaf is what immediately struck my fancy and since I know how to fold form I decided to put a little twist to it. It spoke to me of a natural theme and so it grew. First with the ceramic quote I made from William Blake, “Art is the tree of life…”

Once those two pieces were together it began to have a talisman kind of look – and sound. As you walk or move the ceramic and copper make a gentle sound as they move against one another. That is why I began working on a “Natural Talisman” – something that speaks to me softly but succinctly. An initial drawing was made and I kept it rough so it wouldn’t confine any further ideas.


We had large copper mines in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan – copper made sense as a metal to use thoughout.
Second, I have a bit of Sari silk here (another natural product) so I pulled that out. That is where I hit my first design snag. I had pulled out pearls to go with the beautiful bits and goodies and the icy blue of the cat’s eyes that Rebecca had sent. My stash contained not one blue strand of silk in the correct color range….crap! I pulled the blue from the soup and will save it for another piece. In went green and gold. Out came the color wheel. Best color choices according to that – Gold is a tint of yellow orange, so it seems logical we could use kind of a triadic color scheme (add greens/bluish greens and possible touches of reddish purple/purple). Yikes, not much natural coloring there but what the heck. I didn’t want to do all browns.You remember the soup - what my bead soup partner – Rebecca Sirevaag sent me (It’s pictured in the last post and was full of this wonderful icy blue).

So on to the talismans. I had the natural earthy browns - plus silk, copper, pearls, earthenware clay, and glass. That’s when the search began in earnest between design and spiritual meaning. Who knew I wanted back on this designing bike so much….


What to hang the possible talisman from came next and it came easily. I’m Irish and Russian, what a combo. Irish waxed linen. What I have seemed thin and not complicated enough to hold a large talisman so I braided several strands right on to the lovely toggle clasp in my soup.

From there I continued the theme. If it was going to be red or reddish purple it needed to be natural and have meaning. Ah ha, I have some felting wool tucked away and a red wool strand would work. The Kabbalah says a thin red wool string will ward off misfortune brought about by the evil eye. The Chinese belief is that a there is an invisible red thread that connects each of us to those who have been, are currently, or will be in the future important in our lives. I had mixed wool roving and worked up a strand of mixed red and purple.

Tomorrow I will post more about this necklace and some photos of other pieces that were inspired by the soup mix. I hope you’ll join me again.

Back to my blog hopping….the link yesterday’s post is interactive and contains a link to all of the BSBP participants. Enjoy the eye candy and be sure to say Hello and leave a comment. I know everyone will enjoy hearing from you too.

It's Finally Here! - Bead Soup Blog Hop.

Welcome to the Fifth Bead Soup Blog Hop and what I’m turning into “Bead Soup Week”. I decided as I created these pieces that there were many things to talk about while creating them. Everything from a tutorial on how to make those earrings without having your discs slop around to using the symbolism of various objects to your designing advantage. It will be a full week so I hope you’ll hop back here again.

Besides posting all of these photos of what I created I’d also like to introduce my partner in this challenge Rebecca Sirevaag . She sent me some wonderful pieces to work with. I so loved the colors she sent but when I couldn’t find matching additions in my stash I had to drop one of the colors (that beautiful ice blue) and find a different route. (You can hop on over to Becca's blog to see what she made with the stash I sent her.)

From Rebecca’s soup I had plenty to work with despite dropping the blue from the palette. I used the copper stamped leaf, the butterflies went into the earrings, almost all of the brown beads and spacers, all three of the copper beads (two in the smaller necklace, which is meant to wear alone or as a duel piece with the longer necklace and a different one in the large necklace), plus the toggle, and the gold aventurine discs.

To Rebecca’s stash I added a ton of miscellaneous items and went wild. It was her copper leaf that sent me on this earthy combination full of symbolism. You can see the silk, the linen thread, feathers, pearls, seed beads, and several ceramic pieces I made for this piece, my lampwork bird, and many others.

I’m not going to go into what possessed me to go in this direction or what it all means. I’ll save all of that and several close-ups of how I put it together for tomorrow. For now, enjoy the hopping around this list from the Fifth Blog Hop and don’t forget to leave a note or two along the way. Just click below and it will take you to the list. Have Fun.

Lori Anderson's Fifth Bead Soup Blog Hop