Remember the bead soup that I received from my lovely Indonesian partner Lilik, as a part of the 8th BSBP organized by Lori Anderson, well here are the details My Bead soup jewelry and how I made them.
I have always experimented with techniques, color combos and materials and but the one color combo that I have never worked with in my 6 years of jewelry making is that of Orange/red with brown. It seems like a no brainer, but I am uncomfortable with those colors particularly if they are paired with white or blue. However, those were the major colors of my bead soup. As my priority, while signing up for this bead soup was to get me out of my comfort zone I didnt want to settle and make an easy all white or all brown pieces which no doubt would have looked classy. So I decided to take it up as a challenge and make something in Orange, brown and white as my primary piece without adding much from my stash.
BSBP rules state that I need to use a special clasp and focal provided in the soup in my design, together or in separate pieces. Choosing a clasp was easy as all three were adorable but I struggled a lot with the focal. I couldnt bring myself to use the human head, brown shells or the fish due to my beliefs. The Rama puppet was too thin, I was baffled by the big triangle and I had reserved the white shells for another special occasion. So I planned to go with the flower until Radhika of hobby crafts sent me a sketch for a necklace, where she had wire wrapped the pink stone and used it as a focal. Actually Radhika was sweet to send me not one but three ideas when I told her I was at a dead end with my soup. When people are constantly fighting over copyright or stealing each others’ designs, this was an extremely nice gesture. Radhika, you are a sweet heart!!
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| This is what I made -Sarongs & Sunflowers necklace |
Making of the Bead soup jewelry – my Design Drama
I picked a beach theme – a tropical, flowy, floral thing and planned to make a long necklace to be worn with Tank tops and sarongs (Indian Beach wear)
I chose copper as my base metal to go with the theme and wrapped the white stone instead and then looped together what my partner Lilik refers to as spicy ingredients in here reveal post – onyx and marble beads with thick coated copper wire. Result – a Sarongs and sunflowers necklace I wasn’t fond off 🙁 I kept adding and deleting elements, till I did a complete redo using the same elements. Here are both the variations, isn’t the second one more streamlined?
Sides – to complete the meal!!
While I was struggling with this self appointed challenge, I made a sweet pair of earrings for myself – something that is far out of my personal style, but I really like them now. – Dont they remind you of the cute sakura flowers?
In the next piece I wanted to do justice to Lilik’s beaded clasp so I made a simple chain necklace using the beaded clasp, some wooden beads from my stash and wire. I added some matt gold glitter washi tape to the cylindrical bead to give it some sparkle and texture. The concept of using wire to connect the clasp parts is from Pearl’s tutorial on her blog thebeadinggem but I have done it very differently by employing S/Z twists commonly used in threads. I think it looks like an ‘pointed arrow’ so I call it “Whats the point?” necklace 😛
Finally A rudraksha Ring – made possible by the reveal postponement. I have always wanted to wear a real rudraksh but its expensive and here generally its the guys who wear rudraksh beads at the neck and I didnt really want that. So I took this opportunity to make a simple and smart (looking) rudraksh ring for me. However, Its not very comfortable as the indentations prick (its supposed to do that but I have ‘princess and the pea’ skin) so I am not sure if I’ll wear it a lot.
That is the end of my bead soup journey for now. I still supplies left and I am planning to use them in my subsequent works. Staying true to my original decision I havent used much from my own stash excepting chain, wire and a couple of beads. These designs might not have been my best work till date, but guess what, I am so comfortable working with oranges and reds that my latest collection Pixie dust has lots of them
So what do you think of these pieces? Cartloads of thanks to Lori for organsing such a huge event even when she is not keeping well. Wishing you good health Lori 🙂
Hope you find it interesting
Cheers
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