8th Bead Soup Reveal - UPDATED

Wow...another soup has been created and ready to show off.

Lori Anderson has done it again with an amazing blog hop with some very talented jewelry designers.

I am so very thankful for my partner Christine for all the amazing beads she sent me.  Christine has 4 young men and really enjoys spending time with them.  She told me she now sells her jewelry in 5 local shops where she lives.  I am sure that keeps her quite busy... She loves vintage and creates many of her pieces with that old antique look and feel. I love the stuff, but really have not ventured into this area with jewelry making.  So this was a bit of a challenge for me at first.  I did some drawings, some I liked and some I didn't..  If you want to take a peek at the soup she gave me before I created the designs out of them, you can find them here.

So, here is my first creation...  I think I am going to redo this piece.  I am not totally happy with it.  I love LOVE the pendent and the leaf below it..which was made by Jeannie K Dukic of JKD Studio. I drilled two more holes in it so I could put the leaf below it.  I know I can do better with this pendent, but for some reason, I didn't have the vision.  You know how it goes when you don't have the visual idea in your head...  It will get there eventually...the AH HA moment...

As you see, the pendent is beautiful and the leaf is perfect for the pendent.

I really do like how this part of the necklace turned out.

I decided to use the wooden beads, but it makes the necklace really light in weight. I used wire, perhaps that is why I am not totally in love with the necklace.  I thought the wire would be a good mix, but I think that may be the problem...  I do like the sari silk and that I added the seed beads to it to spice it up some...

UPDATED NECKLACE

Ok, So I did something a little different...I thought I would try using these fun backgrounds I got from GraphicsStock.  Let me know what you think of the updated necklace. I took off the wire and used some nice heavy CLon thread and strung on the beads.  I made some bead caps with the really pretty drop beads.  I wanted to use them and just couldn't figure out what I was going to make with them.  So finally the light came on with this necklace.  I think its much better, fits nicer and has a little more pizzazz. I made a beaded bead using the same drop beads and put it in between the beads on the left side.  I also added more of the sari silk knots and beaded those up too.  I am now happy with the results.

This may not look a whole lot different, but believe me, its much nicer...

Close up of beaded  bead...this was not an easy to make bead...it looks nice, but what a challenge...I used right angle weave to make a cube, then beaded the drop beads in between each side. 

These fun bead caps were very easy to make...I just made a simple ring with seed beads then went back around and added to drop beads. I considered making them for both ends of the beads but then they didn't hang right on the coin beads.

For the second piece, it took me some time to figure this one out, but when the idea hit...it hit in full speed!

I just took this picture today. Natural lighting is always better to show off the true colors...I think it shows off the necklace a lot better.  You can really see the two different chains I used and all the beautiful beads... Christine has a good eye for bead soups...  :-)

Love this necklace.... I used two types of leaf chains, one which Christine gave me and one I have had for a long time and I guess I was waiting for the right time to use it.

I wire wrapped the beads onto the chain.  Used the large green magnetite bead for the end bead.  This gives it the nice balance in weight.

I found this ribbon at Sams Club which was on clearance from Easter...I love clearance stuff...who doesn't?  SO, I cut it up and made a kumihimo braid out of it for the back half of the necklace... Glued the ends and added the caps and wire...  The kumihimo braid is a bit thick but I think it fits this piece rather well.  If it was thinner, I think it would not have felt right when its worn..

Look at this awesome clasp!  I love it...  At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, I don't usually use large clasps... then as I was browsing through some magazines...that...OH YEA...now I know what I am going to do...I wanted to make a lariat.  I have never made one before and it was time I did!  I laid out the beads and chain and got to work.  First though I had to attach the clasp.  It weighs down the necklace enough that it fits nicely.  The large bead fit perfectly through the hole of the clasp so I knew this was going to work for what I had in my head...  :-)

See how pretty this looks...

The colors were a perfect match for me.  You know how you can have that mental block on certain colors...well, I get that with certain colors of beads...guess I need to get past that some day...LOL

I know I know...the colors of the bead look slightly different..Well, I had to use my older camera to take the pic...so it didn't quite make the lime green pop...they are beautiful beads...

YUM!

Ok, I think you are really going to love this next piece... I am not sure if its my favorite or if the necklace is my favorite...but its quite yummy..

Now this is probably the toughest design I came up with.  Not that it was hard to make, it was more like...what the heck do I do with those amazing antique buttons!!!  I wanted so bad to put them in the right place in the design and to have them pop out somehow.  This was my biggest challenge I think.  It was the last piece I made.  First I made the bracelet...I love it...I love how it fits but...it was a tad loose.  So, I had to do some brain storming and finally I decided to use the sari silk.  Well... I didn't want it to be attached to the bracelet so I then remembered in the back of my head how one of the FB members made these great leather clasps with snaps. (Jean Campbell???)..well, mine are not as pretty, but I think the set turned out ok after 2 attempts...I used heavy gauge wire for the connection parts...the j hook and the end it hooks on.  I need to take a better picture so you can see what I mean...  :-)

See the beautiful pendent...its a vintage button glued onto a filigree backing...LOVE..

I used a flower chain I had received from ZnetShows which I took apart and re-attached. I wire wrapped the vintage diamond buttons into the center of the larger metal flower, then attached the smaller flower to the bottom of the larger flower.

I attached the small leaf beads to a ring and then put it in-between the beads.

Here is another view of the other side.

See how pretty this turned out...  

Here is the close up of the clasp I made.  I worked out fairly well through trial and error.  I used a regular ole tiny hole punch to put holes in the leather.  I didn't even need to glue anything down.  I am not a heavy fan of using glue in jewelry, but I do if it is necessary.

UPDATED

I wanted to share another bracelet I made with my soup mix...  I really like how this one turned out even though it is quite simple.  Sometimes simple is the best way to go... 

This is the same necklace I put on a background graphic I got from GraphicsStock.  I used the beautiful green beads from my soup and some really pretty agate rocks from our local rock store...I really like the greens, blues and purples mixed in.  I made the claps from heavy gauge copper.  

Thanks once again Lori Anderson for this awesome Bead Soup Blog Party...  Please check out her blog to see the list of all the FANTASTIC jewelry designers... You dont want to miss out!

Here is a link to my  page that has the entire list