Oh … so exciting! Today is the day … the BIG REVEAL for all those participating in Lori Anderson’s 8th annual Bead Soup Blog Party! I can.not.wait. to see what everyone has designed and created!
My beautiful bead soup (if you’ll remember, from the lovely Niky Sayers) has been simmering and stewing away for a few weeks now. It has finally finished percolating, having left a delightful aroma and an amazing array of ideas to create with.
{a reminder of what Niky sent me (isn’t it gorgeous!?) Thank You so much, Niky!! }
With such a beautiful assortment, only a few extra ingredients were added to get things going … and they were;
~ a pinch of Czech glass beads, and copper beads,
~ a splash of leather,
~ a drop of chain,
~ a handful of copper rivets,
~ a pat of fabric bias tape,
~ and a little dash of brass & copper wires.
And the end result?
Similar to last year, with so many pretty components, I decided to create more than 1 piece to give them all the spotlight they deserve. (and besides that … there were just so many ideas running around in my head!) The initial reveal date was set for May 3rd, and by that time, I had created 3 different pieces … a mixed multi media wrap bracelet, a fabric and chain double strand bracelet and a prominent focal pendant necklace.
This mixed multi media wrap bracelet features Niky’s handmade coin clasp up front and centre! It is surrounded by the polka dot lampwork spacer beads by Laura Sparling, the pearl beads, some added Czech glass trumpet beads and a leather band with copper rivets and accents.
This fabric and chain double strand bracelet features the pink (possibly rose quartz or jade?) round beads surrounded by Liberty of London fabric (in a nod to where this soup originated!) and added natural brass chain & findings.
This prominent focal pendant necklace features the stunning lampwork focal by Moogin Beads, Niky’s own fancy head pins tripled up with the focal bead and also used as a design element & connector for the Roman glass bead on top surrounded by an added natural brass ring, and copper findings.
Since, the reveal was postponed a week – until now … a bit of extra time was granted, which gave a little incentive to create a few other items, so for this year’s celebration … 5 pieces materialized out of my beautiful bead soup (I guess I just wanted as many of the beads to get to go to the bead soup blog party!)
The newest editions were the butterfly dangle earrings, centered around the beautiful lampwork head pins by Earth Shine Beads, and paired with copper butterfly beads and simple natural brass ear wires.
And lastly, another multi strand bracelet (hmm … I’m sensing a trend here!) focusing around Niky’s lentil coin bead and featuring square czech glass beads, liberty of london fabric, purple leather and a mixture of copper and natural brass wire and findings.
Participating in an event such as this is so incredible. It is beyond amazing to see the creativity of such a collective group of talented participants – to see what they were sent, and how they chose to work with that to design truly spectacular pieces. It is also so wonderful to receive a package of gorgeous goodies that one would not ordinarily find, and to have been teamed up with a fantastic partner who has now become a new overseas friend 
I can not thank Lori enough for creating/ hosting/organizing such an extraordinary event, and for choosing such a perfect partner to work with! And a huge Thank You to Niky for making this so much fun! I hope you like what became of your beads!
Now … I can’t wait to see what Niky came up with, from the soup I sent her! Interested? Let’s go check out Silver NikNats …
Need more!? To see a list of all of those participating, and their amazing creations, please visit our lovely host – Lori Anderson’s site …
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2014/05/welcome-to-8th-bead-soup-blog-party.html
Have fun!
