To learn more about the Cup of Bead Soup Project, click here. You can view past Cup of Bead Soup participants and the designs I created by clicking the button right below my blog banner. Also, I'll be creating a new Cup of Bead Soup program next year, where three of YOU will join me in creating a piece using a designers set of beads! So stay tuned for the full explanation in December.
I really, really couldn't wait to work with Sue's set of etched black and clear lampwork beads.
When I went to the Bead and Button show, I bought a lot of lucite flowers in all shapes, sizes, and colors. When I saw frosted white and black ones, I immediately got an idea, and put them together in a bag and stored them for when the right set of lampwork came my way.
Well, these were the right set of lampwork.
I added lucite flowers with Swarovski crystals nestled inside, and white frosted lucite beads. All are vintage, which I thought was apt as, to me, this looks like a Victorian piece.
Even though as of today silver has dropped from $50/oz to about $35/oz, that's still a far cry from the $15/oz I'm used to working with, and the $4/oz I started with! So to help make things a bit more palatable for the customer, every other bead has gorgeous (but more expensive) bead caps, and the others have equally pretty but less expensive (relatively) large spacers. The small bead charms are Tierracast pewter (I sometimes mix sterling with pewter) and the toggle is a spectacular sterling silver (whose price has gone up hugely, and I cry). These bracelets take a long time to make, too.
There's a fun story about this bracelet. I took it with me to my craft show this weekend. I am fortunate to have some amazing repeat customers, ladies who even take a day of vacation to come be the first in the door on Friday. One lovely lady got to my booth within five minutes of show opening and snagged this bracelet immediately. Then my second group of ladies came to the booth and wanted to know if I'd made something with "those pretty beads we saw on your blog".
I pointed to my other customer and said, "She beat you by fifteen minutes!". There was some friendly banter and customer #2 decided it wasn't her style but made me promise that for the last set of beads....
... she'd get first dibs. So Sue, your bead were a hit!
I hope you'll visit Sue's store and blog, which you can visit by clicking below:
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.
I wear Black a lot- I mean a lot!! I have been wanting to make myself some monochromatic jewelry for quite a while and you have totally inspired me with this gorgeous bracelet!! Love those beads and the gorgeous silver components!! Wow!
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