The Big (Blog Hop) Reveal

By: ornamento.blog
Art, Bead Soup Blog Hop, beading, beads, BeadSoupBlogHop, Collaboration, Design, Pretty Things Blog, problem solving, , , , 68 Comments on The Big (Blog Hop) Reveal

It’s time for the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal! Here is what I made from the beads my parter Marta Grabalowska sent me. Her blogs are http://galeriakota.blogspot.com/ and http://wilkmademe.tumblr.com/.

My bead soup was not my typical color palate and I consider that a good thing! I realized that I had some pink seed beads in my stash that I thought I would never use. They were almost identical to the ones  in the soup. I mixed them with  beige and tan beads of a similar value  and threw in some turquoise  beads to make a bead crochet pattern. I used the remaining beads as embellishment.

1a

The copper clasp holds the rope closed. I beaded around the focal cameo and went for an asymmetrical look. I am very happy with the result. Thank you Marta!!!

Here are some more pictures.

Thank you Lori Anderson for making another great beading experience possible!! You can find a list of all the participants on Lori’s blog.

Sneak Preview!

By: ornamento.blog
Art, recycling, repurposing, soldering, , 3 Comments on Sneak Preview!

This Saturday is reveal day for   group three in the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party.    I thought I would give a sneak preview of some of the things I made.  The rule is that you must use the focal and the clasp that your blog partner sends you.  In my case,  my partner Miranda Ackerly sent me a great focal and clasp and I am using them both-but in different pieces.   So decided to make a clasp for one of the necklaces out of brass

Start of Toggle 1The pieces cut out

toggle2

The brass disk  was part of the bead soup and I textured it and the loop and toggle clasp

Texturing toggle

Another View

Toggle Soldering

Ready for  soldering.  You’ll have to wait for reveal day to see the finished clasp.

b7-6

This is a clasp I made for another piece you will see on reveal day.   It’s made of stripped electrical wire and a section o ring from a 5 gallon plastic bucket which resembles thick buna cord and it’s free when you find it in the street!

And here are some more preview pix!

The Big Reveal

By: ornamento.blog
Art, , , 90 Comments on The Big Reveal

Earlier this week, I wrote about the difficulties I had designing a necklace for today’s reveal even though my partner, Kristen Latimer of MJM Jewelry Designs, sent me so many beautiful beads and a silver toggle clasp. But I persevered

And ended up making two necklaces! With different designs. I’m not sure what happened. I started out to make necklace number two (below) and ended up with necklace number one. (Further down in the post). I used the focal bead in necklace number one and still had a lot of beads left along with the clasp. So I used the clasp as a jumping off point for a new focal piece and built necklace number two around it. I am happy with the results although I would not want to wear necklace number two in the hot weather we are having right now on the east coast of the U.S.

Necklace Number Two

There’s a lot going on in necklace number two and I wanted the components to hang correctly. I actually sat in front of a mirror for part of the process to make sure the components hung the way I wanted.

The dapped forms have a little pattern on the back made with a rolling mill.

The circle between the two beads on the focal is fused fine silver. The sterling silver dangle with the soldered ring was from a component I made and took apart. I was going to make bullet ends to finish the necklace but then I decided to wire wrap and chose steel wire over silver.

I used a combination of metals including brass, copper, sterling silver and iron. The tube beads are etched copper. I used scrap fabric and ribbon, but the blue is the ribbon that my partner Kristen Latimer of MJM Jewelry Designs used to wrap the package of beads. I dyed it blue and cut it down the middle.

And now for the piece where I used the focal bead and the steel wire I found on the sidewalk.

Necklace Number One

You can see how I used the piece of steel I cut from the round I found on the sidewalk. I capped the ends with brass washers and silver beads. And I did end up trapping the focal bead in a trapeze-like setting. It’s hard to ball the ends of wire when you have glass beads on them, but I had to do it to get the look I wanted. I was very careful because I had already tried this in an earlier version of the focal and did not want to push my luck! The pendant is on a thick rubber cord with a magnet closure. It does not need anything else.

I balled and wrapped all kinds of wire.


I made the lentil bead from copper I had etched. Them I wondered whether I could coat the bead with silver. I looked for information online and couldn’t find anything concrete. Well, since no one told me not to do it, I went ahead and did it. The other side if the bead is entirely silver coated but I like this side because you can see that the two metals together.

This was a learning experience! I doubt if I would have made either necklace if not for the Blog party. Thanks to Lori for organizing it and Kristen for picking the right beads!

Check out all of the other participants revealing their creations today. Press here for a list of the participating blogs.