Cooking or creating?

Some can cook with such skill and artistry that they really are creating a meal. That’s not me though.

True story – tonight I texted a picture of the meat I was about to cook to my husband to make sure it was good.  It was fine.    I really have so little experience, I was worried.  “This is scary” I sent as I started to cook it with what I felt was not much instruction.  Me and this cooking thing – we are still sizing each other up.  Tasted good enough and we are both still alive so all is good.

Yes, I would much rather be creating.  I haven’t been up to much of that lately.  I’m loving the gorgeous e-course Aspire to Wire that is filling my head full of good ideas.  I am patiently awaiting more supplies and tools to really get traction and try some things.  One thing is for certain I sure am going to miss my daily dose of Kerry as a teacher when it ends. 

Speaking of cooking and creating, prepare yourself for the all you can eat buffet of food puns coming your way!  Lori Anderson, top chef extraordinaire, invites us to reserve our table and sign up, this weekend for the next instalment of the Bead Soup Blog Party, woohoo!

Allow me to whet your appetite (yeah, I said it) with what I sent my partner Lois Moon de Padilla for the last BSBP.  I actually have more peacock feathers on my worktable at this very moment just waiting for me to play some more. 



It was so much fun to see what Lois came up with  - go see! Of course I also got my own awesomely curated bundle of beads that I loved working with.  I loved seeing everyone sharing their soup as it arrived.   I would always be mentally designing away and end up quite surprised at reveal day.  I took my time to make it through all the blogs and it was such a treat, eye candy overload.  I really couldn’t pick a favourite part, it’s all so much fun.  I’m so happy that Lori keeps on inviting us back for more helpings… hope to see you around the table.

It's time to get your fill of bead soup!

Hello, hello! Welcome to reveal day for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party!  This is my first time joining in so if you’re new here I work with polymer as my primary media.  If you haven’t heard about the BSBP I’ll let the inspired and impressive Lori Anderson describe it in her own words.
Here is the beautiful and thought provoking soup that my partner Lois Moon de Padilla sent me



Isn’t that pendant, made by Tracee Dock incredible? She has similar palette/pattern pendant here and here as a brooch.  I love how it’s suggestive of a flower, but the colour of the “petals” could make you think of them as leaves.  I stayed in that vein, creating floral referencing polymer pieces to accompany my soup.  This is what I finally ended up with.



I say finally since I think this was one instance where I had too many ideas going on and this is the scaled back version, seriously.  I struggled with wanting to use more of the lovely selections from Lois all in this piece but “more is more” didn’t hold – frankly it just looked a mess and too busy with earlier attempts.  I ultimately played by the rules and used both the clasp and focal but only ten other beads from that whole bounty above. 

I created the three polymer components you see in teals, browns, and pinks.  It may be hard to make out in the dead on shots, but the mottled cafe-au-lait coloured parts are raised and hollow, to spare some weight (not that this is heavy be any stretch).  The recycled sari silk is so lovely to wear, and really helped simplify this necklace. Although I fought the idea for a while as too easy.  There is no wire in this, only the silk, waxed linen to tie it all together and “cotton suede” I used for the bail.  All this textile allows for easy movement with the length short enough not to interfere with scoop necks but long enough to just be seen as I look down.  That’s how we all measure necklaces right?

Time for some closer looks



The little pink polymer petals are applied individually at the final stage of this multi-cured component.  Notice too there are three colour layers so you get some nice interest from the side.  I had never heard of cotton suede but I guess my local bead store has a moral objection to leather products.  It knotted beautifully and looks plenty strong.



Above is the close up on the clasp and a few of the beads Lois sent.  To the right, I’m pointing out that ribbed copper bead which is a minor detail here but really launched so much more.



That copper bead inspired the purchase of that vintage yellow bead, which is about an inch across, and that bead became the tool to create the texture you see on the polymer sheet on the left.  I used the resulting veneer to make the two pendants on the far right.  The process muted the colours so they no longer go with the remaining soup however I will be drilling a hole through one shortly to put on a simple sterling chain for my mum, for her birthday – today!

Ok if I didn’t lose you in that last photo hopscotch I have just two more.  Right now I kinda feel like the kid who picked out all the cashews from the mixed nuts and walked away… since I’ve only the one completed piece to show you.  But I have so much more in the pipeline with all the rest from Lois, and the rest I picked up on my shopping trip (I have a truly awesome plan for the delicas I just got frustrated and had to rest it a bit)



These are going to come together with all the as-yet-unused beads I created from this inspiration



Those ones in front on the left, did you guess yet where that texture came from?

So it seems my soup has regenerated.  I know, it was a big batch and I froze the rest to bring it out on a rainy day.  Really, I’m going to work with these bits and baubles and hope to reveal the rest say on the 25th tagging along with the third reveal.  I hope you will stop back then or consider following along since I’m sure I might change plans a few more times between now and then.

I’m glad I didn’t promise any brevity with this post, but they aren’t all such marathons.  Please be sure to check out my very creative partner Lois and all the other amazing participants (scroll down for the second reveal).

Lastly, I am so very thankful for the spark from Lois and the incredible fuel for the fire from Lori – how does she do it?

The sweetest friday

Wow! Where did the week go? It was a busy one, but it ends today and brings on three weeks of vacation form my day job – hells ya!  We won’t be doing any globetrotting unfortunately, but it will be nice to have a break and soak up more of this great summer we are having.

I’m happy that I ended up with the second reveal for the upcoming Bead Soup Blog Hop, this means I have lots of time to play before showing off next Saturday.  On Monday I took hubby and Averleigh bead shopping with me to pick up a few beads in person.  Lois sent wonderful options but I just couldn’t help wanting to go look for what more I could bring to the table.  She does such beautiful work (check out her latest – gorgeous!) with the itty bittys I just couldn’t get it out of my head, I’ll have to figure out a way to bring them in to the mix.



I missed Finally Friday over at Shannon’s blog – again. But just look more gorgeous blues for next week, courtesy of Design Seeds



Come on back tomorrow for reveal day for the Thrift Store Blog Hop!

Time to show off some ingredients!

Well, what happy news I got from Lois this morning that her bead soup has arrived!  What a relief, as I had that little seed of doubt when the post office tried to confuse the heck out of me.  So without any further ado let me tell you all about my partner and the soup I sent her. 

I didn’t tell you all about Lois Moon de Padilla before, since one of the things I was immediately drawn to on her blog directly inspired the soup I sent.  I saw this peacock cuff and just couldn’t resist.  Seriously gorgeous.  I’m not sure what kind of Voodoo Lori Anderson gets up to with her pairings, but whatever it is that magic is well honed, with this the sixth Bead Soup Blog Party.



When we connected by email basically Lois and I discussed that we were open to possibilities.  Actually, I did say that I don’t care for yellow but if it was part of her plan I would take on that challenge.  Lois quickly and rightly summed up that we both have interest in poppies and peacocks.  Since I had been working with poppies that felt too easy.  Her mentioning peacocks just cemented the initial idea in my mind.  So I plucked a peacock feather from off my wall (it was tucked behind a little framed elephant) and used it as my jumping off point.  I figured it would be hard to go wrong with something as lovely as a feather, right? I did worry a bit about how robust it would be, but really how gentle are birds with their feathers? So I jumped in and made the focal and some coordinating pieces with the feather – hope for the best, right? why not give it a try, right? Can you tell how nervous I was to start!

You see I felt a bit wide eyed rookie paired up with Lois, who already has three bead soups under her beady belt.  Just check them out -  this one is first up


Yummy! Then there was this one



This last one she made, amazing!



Here is where I come in, leaping big, here we go with the focal and accents I made from the feather


Since I was being so daring I really pushed the envelope with the clasp.  This started as a purchased bezel clasp which I embedded some feathers, from lower down the plume, into the clay.  I kept the rest pretty simple clay wise, just a dash of turquoise and a little texture.


Now I’ve followed the BSBP for some time and I’ve seen how much some people add, and while it’s really awesome I wanted to leave some room for Lois to add her own treasures so it wasn’t just “all me”, ya know? I opted for a bit of restraint with the rest of the coordinating bits and bobs.  Here’s all the polymer I made except for some little ones I found in my stash in the next picture.



Here’s the whole soup



I can’t wait to see what Lois does with this starting point.  I can’t wait to see what she sent (note the watched mailbox is an empty one!) and of course I can’t wait to see all the beautiful soups grow up into full meals of wonderful jewelry.