Tuesday, March 5, 2013

My Bead Soup

I was so excited over the package of Bead Soup I received from my BSBP partner, Kimberly, I almost forgot that I'm supposed to post a photo of the Bead Soup that I sent to her.

A while ago I posted a photo of the Bead Soup collection that I created for Kimberly.  I disguised it because Kimberly hadn't received it in the mail yet and I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  This is recommended in the Bead Soup Blog Party rules.
     
This is what the Bead Soup looked like when I disguised it.
     
Now that Kimberly has received her Bead Soup, I can post of photo of what it really looks like.
     
These beads are much prettier when they're in focus and you can see their colors.  I decided to keep the beads the same color, except for the silver and black, which are really neutral.  That way if Kimberly wanted to add an accent color, she could decide for herself what color to use.  Personally, I would probably choose a soft tone of purple.
     
First I saw the string of glass beads that are shaped like a flat disk and I thought they were emerald green.  I really liked them and thought that, since emerald green is the Pantone 2013 Color of the Year, it would be fun to build my soup around that color.  The next beads I found were the odd-shaped shells you see in the front of the photo and they looked really pretty with the glass beads.  I knew that Kimberly likes silver, so I picked out some silver-plated, round, spacer beads.  My intention was to make a polymer clay focal bead, but a dichroic glass, lampworked, diamond-shaped pendant jumped out at me.  I loved how it looked with the other beads.  The beads were all the same basic color, but there were multiple textures, lots of "movement," and a variety of sheens that I thought were very complementary. 

When I got home I saw that the beads I had chosen were not emerald after all, but a beautiful aqua.  I was relieved to see that the color of the glass and shell beads still worked together.  In my stash I found two sizes of aqua crystal rondelles and some black crystal rondelles to add a bit of contrast.  Next I looked through my clasps and found a lovely, silver, magnetized clasp in the shape of dual shells with crystals embedded in it.  I thought that it was especially appropriate because it was shell-shaped.

I still wanted to send Kimberly something that I had made myself, so I decided to make some beaded-beads.  Time was tight, so I used the Peyote stitch on some aqua seed beads that I had been hoarding and made some tube-shaped beads.   In spite of their simplicity, the beaded tubes add another texture and shape to the soup.      

I can't wait to see what Kimberly will make with these beads.


3 comments:

  1. Beautiful soup on both sides - looking forward to seeing what you two have created!

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