Sunday, May 22, 2011

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:







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.


 

9 comments:

  1. Hey Lori! I love the colors and look of your new blog "clothes"(I just noticed my nails match your blog- nyc"lincoln square lavender") :)

    I love what you did with the headpins and chain. The chain part is nice and simple leaving the elaborate details to the way you fashioned the dangles together for the pendant :)

    I haven't gotten a chance to use my rubber tubing from Yvonne yet either so I will be excited to see what design pops out of my head. I do think you were on to something. Sometimes I think time constraints stifle creativity. I'm sure something will come to you later ;)

    Good luck to the lucky winner!

    xo Genea
    I really love the "criss cross" wraps you did on the wing dings along with the Hill Tribe Silver beads(Hill Tribe is my fav!!) :D

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  2. Love the wing-dings bracelet.Not sure what I would do with the tubing either, so I hope I am not the first person to comment. Happy Sunday!

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  3. wow, such pretty things. Can't wait to see what the winner does with that bead.
    Shannon C

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  4. I'm not sure what I would do with that either. I'd have to think about it for a while. And unfortunately, I seem to do my best thinking about the time I fall asleep and then can't remember. But it would be fun to try something with it.

    Love the new blog look.

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  5. Wow, that is a challenge! Maybe the tubing/wire could be shaped into a cool chandelier-type finding for a necklace with the beaded dangles hanging from the ends or the middle? It will be interesting to see what the winner does with it!

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  6. So do we actually have to say "I WANT IT"? to get them or have they already been awarded? :)

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  7. Wow! Lori, what a challenge! I do have an idea for the tubing so if you would like to send it my way I will gladly take a shot! I can email you the idea I have before you decide to send it, but I think it would work and look very cool! I will gladly take up the challenge, if you haven't picked someone yet!

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  8. No ideas for it the tubing - but it looks like Sally already got it anyway :) I love the bracelet and the necklaces!

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Thanks so much for commenting! It always makes my day!