Last Cup of Bead Soup with Lutka and Co.

Today is the last day of the month, and that means the last Cup of Bead Soup with Lutka & Co.  Lutka & Co. makes lampwork beads, and if you remember, sent me these four sets:

You can see what I made with the big purple dotted beads by clicking here and what I did with half of the pink strand by clicking here.

OK.  Up first is the other half of the pink strand.  My first instinct was to go to my tried-and-trued, the dangly charm bracelet.  I love anything with dangles, as we all know.  However, that would be sort of like cheating.  So I did the unexpected -- I decided to do dangles, but stole the green leaves from the purple flowers for the dangles.  I added an errant silver dragonfly, and you get "Garden Party".

The dragonfly is purposefully off-center because that's how I roll these days.  It sits quite firmly on that leaf and don't ask me how I did it because frankly, I couldn't tell you but it required wire and a bit of swearing (no children or pets were harmed in the making of this necklace).  

And there you have it.  I split two sets into two.  And just realized I shot the photo with the leaves flipped the wrong way.  Dang.  But trust me, it's gorgeous when worn correctly.

Next is the perfume bottle.  This was a challenge.  I cut off the wire that came wrapped around the bottle because I had another idea, which quickly failed a miserable death, so it was back to wire.  I quickly learned just how DIFFICULT it is to wrap these bottles -- or, at least, for me.  Took a couple times.  I then decided to give the bottle cap a more Victorian flair and redid the top with a long headpin I had.

The rest, I left mostly chain, but with bits of silver, rhodonite,  and amethyst and a tiny bit of pink ribbon.  I saw SO much fiber and ribbon in the Bead Soup Blog Party and I've always wanted to try it but have just failed miserably, so I thought I'd start small.  So here is "Amphora".

Now, this last piece is hands down my favorite.  I don't know if it's the style or what, but I'm pretty sure it's the color combination.  It's (to me) unexpected.  I really wanted to rock those purple flower beads and this entire concoction came about so randomly.  I started with one idea and ended up SO far in left field for lack of the proper elements -- but I really, really, love it.  It needs a name -- anyone have one?

It may not look like much, but worn, it's so cool.  That sea green GLOWS.  The flowers hang just so.  And the chain is JUST the right openness.

And to tie it all together, earrings.

Overall, I'm really tickled with these recipes of soup!

You can visit Lutka and Co. by clicking here for their shop and clicking here for their blog.

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 and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.