Bead Soup Blog Party! Time For The Big Reveal!

Today is the day! You get to see what I made with the fantastic stash Tina Bosh  sent me. First, instant replay. Here is the luscious focal from a souvenir swoon, I mean spoon. There was also a fabulous sterling toggle clasp. Those pearls are to die for and there were oodles of vintage goodies (note the hematite facsimile glass in the lower right -- one of my favorite vintage beads.)

Drum roll please! Oh, wait.

Here is a close up of the beads. I used the vintage pink crackle glass rounds she sent with some Chinese gemstone cuts in a hematite finish. I also found some of my own hematite facsimile glass in an oblong shape, and there are some titanium plated hematite stars sprinkled here and there. There are seed beads in a gray AB finish. I used the larger vintage beads from the soup and the pearls. Two strands are knotted but the one with the bird is strung.

This is the clasp. I added a couple of links from an acid etched brass chain in a silver color. It made it easier to combine all three strands. I am loving this clasp!

© 2014 Theresa Buchle "Fly Me Home"

Now for the drum roll! Open the photo so you can see the details, like the stars and the tiny faceted beads that add a bit of sparkle. I included a silver finish brass bird and I called the piece Fly Me Home.

The inner strand is 19 inches long, the outer strand with the pendant is 23 inches. The pendant strand and the center strand are hand knotted on gray silk. I used silver-plated copper core wire to make the loop to hang the pendant. The bead tips for the two knotted strands are plated silver. The crimp beads have nickle colored crimp covers over them. All in all I wanted a slightly vintage look for everything so I tried to stay away from bright, shiny silver. The only beads sent to me by Tina that I did not use were the bronze seed beads. I am in love with what I did. There, I said it, fully admitted it.




Now, a little about my partner, Tina Bosh. She has traveled all over the country (47 states!)  but has spent most of her time in Northern California. She's very much like I am regarding Texas -- she wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

She has two children, a boy and a girl, both in their 20s. They have done their mama proud with their degrees. He went into Industrial Technology and she went into Event Planning. And Tina was a school librarian for a while, which explains her love of books. She has been married for 27 years and has four dogs: three dachshund mixes and a chihuahua who help fill her now empty nest.

Now for the other thing she and I have in common (the thing other than beads, of course):  finding other people's junk and making something else out of it! You know, junktiques, upcycling, repurposing. Only she has actually made a teensy bit of money doing so. Also, for the past four years she has made it a point to take an art class each semester (and a P.E. class which puts me to shame!). I love all of this about her.

This part is in Tina's words: "I love making jewelry. I have taken college classes in casting, making wax models and then casting in metal. One semester I took glass fusing and enameling. I have made many focals in the classes. For beads, I pick up thrift store necklaces, deconstruct them and make something new.  I work in stone, gem or glass beads.  My style is a bit Bohemian/Hippie.  While I think seed beading is lovely it is not my thing . . . . As far as art, I work mostly in mixed media.  Collage is another favorite.  The watercolor bird on my blog is a very beginner effort.  I am taking watercolor this semester and am only a few weeks into the learning." By the way, I love the watercolor bird! What I took out was that she doesn't like seed beads. *sigh*  I just couldn't bear to see the words again, sniff!

And here is what sent Tina. I cannot wait to see what she did and to find out which soup she used. My original post about the goodies is here.

The first soup was built around an ammonite. I included some mother of pearl drops, carnelian daggers, some white jasper pillow beads and faceted crazy lace agates (I love those - saved some for me!). There is a lovely sterling clasp along with some ear wires. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The second soup was built around that sexy rose quartz pendant. I included more rose quartz beads (I love those acid etched faceted drops & have some of my own), fancy fire polish in green/gray/pink, some green glass gemstone cuts, and some tiny faceted labradorite. There is also some brass chain, a Vintaj dragonfly and a Vintaj filigree ring and toggle. Last, but not least by any means, I added a length of hand died silk ribbon in pink/green, gray. This is actually my favorite of the two. No wait, the other one is. No, wait . . . .

And I sent her a pair of earrings with niobium ear wires in copper, copper chain and bead caps, mookaite, and tiny orange glass beads on copper head pins -- just because.








Bead Soup Blog Party links are found here on Lori Anderson's blog. Warning! There are several hundred links, so be prepared.

Happy hopping! And have a Happy Mother's Day if you happen to be a mom. I have a great weekend planned and might just have pics for you next week.

Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal Time!

It's Bead Soup Blog Party time again. You can visit Lori Anderson's BSBP blog for links to all the participants. I am part of the "second reveal". And again, my partner is Julia Gerlach, editor for Bead and Button magazine. In February I posted a teaser photo of what I sent her and here is the real deal:

In that stash are a large dichroic pendant signed "Catharine", a cloisonné bead; two copper clasps, some square and cube-shaped black agate, pearlized glass in pink and green (the pink are vintage), Czech table beads with copper bevels in two sizes, faceted Czech ovals, etched window beads, faceted rondelles, and some 6/0 seed beads in black.I thought you might like to find out a little more about Julia so we did a little interview session:

T: How long have you been working for B&B and how did you get to where you are today? 

J: I've been working for B&B since 2005 and for Kalmbach Publishing since 2002. I started at the company as a part-time administrative assistant in the Books Department and worked my way up to my current position. It's been quite the journey! 

T: Did you bead before the job or did it become part of your life after you signed on with the magazine? 

J: When I started in Books, I had no beading experience but I did have access to all the back issues of Bead&Button, so I would take them home in the evenings and on weekends and I learned the various stitches and techniques that way. I worked on some of the early books and booklets in the category so I learned a lot just by reading through those. By the time I was hired as an associate editor for the magazine, I had a lot of basic techniques under my belt, but I really got immersed in the hobby at that point.

T: I've visited Milwaukee once for the B&B show, but what is it like living and working in that area? Remember, I'm Texas born and bred so the thought of living where it snows that much is alien to me. The year I was there I had to buy a sweater in June because it was so cold there!

J: Milwaukee is a great place in a lot of ways – there are great restaurants, parks, and performing arts organizations. We have an amazing art museum and there are things to do here year-round, as long as you can deal with the weather. For instance, we know that just because March 20 is the first day of spring this year, we may not get really nice weather until early- to mid-June, when it will be perfect for one day and the following day it will be blazing hot and three days later we'll need to pull out our jackets again! But like I said, we get used to it. One of my favorite weather conditions is actually when it is about 20 degrees and sunny with no wind. If I'm dressed properly, it's just awesome!

T: What is your favorite beading technique? Is there a reason why you prefer it over others?

J: I don't know if I have a favorite beading technique – I really enjoy all of it. I stitch, string, and crochet, do wirework, kumihimo, and loomwork, and I even do a little with polymer and metal clay. Maybe it's because I am always trying new things and I haven't really dug in and gotten obsessed with a single technique, but I can't seem to claim a favorite.

T: Working for a major beading magazine, what do you do for relaxation? (I get this question a lot & my answer is usually fishing) Since my coworkers and I work with beads all day, most of our customers think beadwork is what we do to relax. It's difficult to explain sometimes that beads are work; beadwork is still work & not necessarily what we do for fun & relaxation. Is that the same for you?

J: I love to garden. I also enjoy cooking for my little family (my husband and 11-year-old daughter). I do bead at home quite a lot, though, mainly because the beading I do at work is obviously work-related and if I want to create for personal reasons, then I have to do it at home. 

T: What piece of beaded jewelry do you now own that you absolutely could not live without?

J: I made a really cute – and super easy – pair of earrings with some findings that I got in a Bead Hoard Curiosities box (from A Grain of Sand). I've attached a photo of one of them as well as a picture of the findings I used.  

I love those earrings and I really want to visit Milwaukee specifically to meet Julia in person. I'll wait until the blizzards are done though. Too cold for this Southern girl. 

In March I posted a teaser photo of what Julia sent me and here's the real thing:

So, I received a beautiful focal consisting of lampwork leaves and flower by Barbara Svetlick; (oh my goodness, the yumminess!), a sterling box clasp with a peridot, the cutest 3mm green pearls, olivine green dagger beads, some 13x20mm Czech glass goodies in a gorgeous orchid, white 10mm pearls (to die for), 10mm teal and purple died agate, 6mm two-hole lentils in lime (slurp!), 4mm purple fire polished beads, 5x18mm disks in a purple/green/teal (swoon!), 5x7mm curved petals in purple AB and 4x6mm opaque lavender drops. Breathe! It's like she read my mind and discovered my favorite colors. 

I love everything Julia sent me - that was my first dilemma. The second was that I am a bead weaver - I like teeny-tiny beads put together with needle and thread, so I am often stumped by stringing. I did come up with a couple of things. First, the requisite use of the focal and the clasp:

I used the pearls (both the tiny green ones and the large white ones) and mixed them with some "pearl jade" that I picked up from the store. I really wanted to showcase the flower, and the creamy pale green mixed with those pearls really seemed to do the trick, plus I wanted that focal to be off center. It's a bit dressy but I love it. That means I am keeping this baby for myself. The photo does not do it justice - it was really difficult to capture the colors. I may get my friend Jessi to take some better photos. 

Next, I focused on those disks and the agate. I found some nylon cord in a nice teal green and did some knotting:

I had some vintage faceted Bohemian glass in a purple irid but I'm not yet sure if they work. They may be too formal looking to work with the rest of the piece. I'll look at it for a while before I decide. I need to find something to give me four inches on each side of the piece. I might get some lampwork rounds from Pam to finish this. We'll see. 

As for the rest of the stash, I've already got plans for them. Those two-hole lentils will be a challenge but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'm considering a macramé piece to work everything into. And those large orchid beads will become the base of another necklace.

And in other news I have some new classes coming up at Nomadic Notions. There will be plenty of eye candy in the next few weeks. I'm baa-aack!