Final Genea Beads Cup of Bead Soup -- and an Auction!

It's that time -- time to say goodbye to this month's sponsor for the Cup of Bead Soup project, Genea of Genea's Beads.

Genea sent me some gorgeous handmade lampwork glass beads that were absolutely in my favorite color palette, but were in shapes and styles that challenged me.  You can click here and here to see the other goodies I made with the cheerful beads I received.  Today I'll show you the last three pieces, and you'll have a chance to bid on all three in a very special auction.  More on that in a bit.

The first piece was made with the bits-and-bobs bag Genea sent from Yvonne of My Elements.  I've had a lot of fun using these little bits of fun in my other pieces, so I made a delicate necklace that would work well for a fun-loving adult OR a teenager.

This is called "For Caylin", and you'll see why in a minute.  The sterling silver necklace is 16" long, and the painted plexiglass, crystal, and anodized aluminum pendant is 1.75" long.

The next piece is a pendant I named "Ballerina" because it reminds me of those amazing, long tulle creations I always longed to wear.  The handmade glass is 20mm tall and I added a cluster of glass flowers beneath, along with a gorgeous sterling silver star.  The bail will take up to a 6mm chain, and the pendant measures 2.25" in length.

Lastly, I have a chunky necklace made with one of Genea's amazing hollow beads, nearly 1" in size, in berry colors with subtle purple polka dots.  I added two of her purple lampwork glass spacers, four vintage lucite teardrops in a glowing hot pink, and two luminous purple glass beads.  The beaded length is 7", and the remainder is made up of matte dusty rose seed beads.

The necklace measures 16-18" with the sterling silver chain extender and lobster claw clasp.

Now for the auction!

I became acquainted with Kristina Proffitt recently and her work with increasing awareness of Type 1 Diabetes.  Her daughter, Caylin, was diagnosed on March 2, 2011, and now the Proffitts have created a fundraiser to not only help fund diabetes research.

Caylin

The first part of the Caylin's Cure fundraiser raised over $2100 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I think we in the beading community can raise even more.

 

Why do I care?   I have a lot of friends with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2.  I've made awareness jewelry on my web site for diabetes for a long time to help support research.  It runs in my family, and I get tested often.  But mainly, I can't imagine a child having to deal with needles and pain and everything that goes into this.  I can't imagine a family that has to worry about something like this.

Here's the first phase.  

I'm auctioning off all three of these pieces, with 100% of the proceeds going to Caylin's Cure.  Then in a few days, I'll post about how you can join a blog hop to auction off a piece of jewelry at whatever percentage you choose.  You can pick something out of your existing inventory -- you don't even have to make anything.  

 How to Bid

To bid, just leave a comment with the name of the piece and a price.  I'm going to take comment moderation off, which means we'll probably get some icky spam, but it's the only way to be fair on the bids.  

Anonymous bids are welcome -- 

just give yourself a name, and if you win, email me for payment information.

Bidding ends

Saturday, June 4th, 3pm

Thank you.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Cup of Bead Soup with Genea Beads

Today I'm going to show you several things I made with Genea Beads, this month's Cup of Bead Soup contributor.  And there's something I must admit about this exhibit -- I just got totally, utterly stumped on one piece, and I'm going to give it away to the first person who wants it to see if they can make something better out of it!

But first, the things that turned out quite well, in my not-so-humble-opinion.

Genea sent me a batch of her lampwork head pins, and along with some rubber O-rings, seed beads, and a few of my own tiny lampwork spacers, I made charms.  The charms are all about .75 - 1" tall, and I attached them to their copper chains in two different ways.

First, we have "Summer Rain".  I connected the three charms to a large bronze ring, a smaller purple rubber O-ring, and another bronze ring to the copper chain.  This makes the pendant measure about 2" total.

Next, the second charm necklace, called "Summer Raindrops" (see a theme here?).  This time I added a lot of tiny bronze jump rings to a large purple O-ring, along with the charms, and another smaller, lighter purple O-ring.  This pendant measures a little over 2" before being connected to the copper chain.

Finally a bracelet made with Genea's iconic Wing Ding beads, so I named the bracelet, well, "Wing Dings".  Nothing else would do!

I wrapped three of the Wing Ding beads with sterling silver, capturing them in a sort of cage, but left them in bright silver rather than oxidizing them.  I fiddled around with the order of the colors -- each bead is slightly different in hue from the other, but my OCD mind had to have them ordered just so for balance.  (Is anyone else out there like that?).  One Thai silver bead helped lengthen the bracelet, and I'm never afraid to mix metals, so I used a pewter toggle from my last BeadFest trip to finish it off (along with some cute bead charms).

And now for the one that got away.

On one of the many nights when I couldn't get to sleep, I got the brilliant idea of poking holes in the tubing Genea sent me, sticking her lampwork headpins through it, and creating an incredibly awesome, totally unique SOMETHING.  Now, I was starting to fade out into the Land of Nod, so that "something" was rather  nebulous, but I woke up and at least remembered:

a) stick holes in the tube, and 

b) stick decorative headpins through the holes.

And that's where things went creatively stupid.

I used a needle to make a hole in the tubing.  I added a bead to the headpin and stuck it through.  I made a wrapped loop.  Now what to do with the danged wrapped loop?  

Then I realized the tubing needed shape, so I stuck copper wire through the tubing (and luckily around the headpin wire).  Now the tubing could be twisted and bent.  But now what?

After DAYS, this is all I could come up with, and it's awful.

Dude.

Not my best moment.

So the first person who comments THAT THEY WANT IT

(and remember, I have to approve all comments, 

so they WILL have the time stamp on them from when

YOU wrote it, not when *I* approved it)

will get this.

I just want to see what you make with it, and I'll post your creation right here!

I have two more beads to use, and have only a week to work with them, so stay tuned!  In the meantime, please visit Genea:

Store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Genea

Blog:  http://www.geneabeads.blogspot.com

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

 

What is a "Cup of Bead Soup"?

What is a "Cup of Bead Soup"?

Well, I wanted to continue the exciting challenge of the Bead Soup Blog Party, but this time for myself, challenging my skills by working with one artist a month.  I receive a package of beads from a new artist each month, sight unseen, and then I create with them.  I blog here about the creations for a month, explaining techniques, thought processes, and obstacles I meet along the way.  It's also a great way to introduce you to new and exciting beads!

Interested in participating?  Email me for details!