Jewelry Redo Finally Complete!

Remember way on back in April when week 5 of Heather Powers' Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge was to remake a piece of jewelry?  Well, I've finally finished what I started!

With the delivery deadline of the American Library Association Annual Conference looming, I have finally gone back and finished putting together the new and improved necklace for my friend Angie.  Here's a reminder of where things started... the tangly mess of a necklace that Bob brought me to rework:

And the new and improved version:

Thanks for you patience Angie and Bob!  I hope the results live up to your expectations and trust in me!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 12: Art Inspired

I can't believe it, the final week of Heather Powers' Jewelry Making Mojo challenge is here!  For our final task, Heather has challenged us to make a piece of jewelry inspired by our all-time favorite piece of artwork from any medium.  I have to admit that this kind of stumped me.  As I've mentioned before, I have no real background in art or art history.  Sure, there are plenty of of pieces of art that inspire me and I respond to... but a favorite?  Not so much.  (Sorry if this sounds like heresy!)

So as I thought about it my mind turned to the some of the first artists whose work I admired and owned (well, in print form anyway).  Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher, and Gustav Klimt.  In retrospect, I think a lot of the appeal of Dali and Escher to my teen aged self was that they are both a little, well, weird.  And I was weird.  Not really weird enough or normal enough to really fit in with any one group.  Luckily I had a nice group of friends that fell in the same range so we made our own group that was a band of misfit toys in many ways... but I digress.

So, from there I moved onto thinking more about Klimt and how I have long been enamored with and fascinated by his work from what is known as his "Golden Phase," and especially The Kiss.  Unlike my fancy for Dali and Escher, my feelings for Klimt have endured.  The rug in our basement alcove is even Klimt inspired!

Much of Klimt's work features gold leaf and a very cool almost mosaic effect.  (See, told you I'm no art historian!)  Apparently he was influenced by both the Art Nouveau style and the Arts and Crafts movement... two things I'm also enamored with so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that I like this painting!

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (Lovers), oil and gold leaf on canvas, 1908–1909.

I remembered that I had a pillow shaped bead in my stash from my very early days of beading that I bought because it reminded me of Klimt's work.  I had intended it to be used as a pendant for a necklace but had never gotten around to it.  I initially thought that I would finally make that necklaces but then I decided to play around with waxed linen and made another bracelet instead.

I chose some walnut colored waxed Irish linen, a bunch of random glass and crystal beads, and even a couple of matte finished little spacer beads from The Spacer Bead Shop.  I also worked in a couple of gold plated beads to pull in the gold colors from the focal bead.  I kept my color palette to shades of cream, grey, and amber and finished things off with some Vintaj brass chain and lobster claw clasp.

A HUGE thank you to Heather Powers for hosting this wonderful challenge.  It's been a really great experience for me and has helped me see new ways of thinking about things. Next time my mojo needs a boost, I'll have some great tricks to fall back on!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 11: Characters Welcomed

The inspirational prompts for the first ten weeks of this challenge came from a list of tricks to regain your creative mojo first published over on the Art Bead Scene blog earlier this spring.  Luckily for us, our hostess Heather Powers of Humblebeads decided to extend her challenge for a full 12 weeks which means a couple of surprise challenges here at the end of our mojo journey.  For week eleven, Heather has come up with a fun idea... create a piece of jewelry inspired by a celebrity or pop culture character.  

The first thing that jumped into my head was Temperance Brennan from the TV show Bones.  We are several years behind in watching the show, but it's one my husband and I enjoy watching together... just not at dinner time!  Temperance is a forensic anthropologist working for a Washington D.C. institution called the Jeffersonian (hmmm... fictionalized Smithsonian anyone?) using her skills in conjunction with the FBI to solve crimes.  Hooray for a strong, smart female character who is all about science... in many ways a great role model for girls.  But, truth be told, that's not why I instantly chose her.  Temperance Brennan happens to wear great jewelry!

Seriously, I am not the only one who is obsessed.  There's a Flicker photo stream called bonesnecklaces dedicated to screen shots of jewelry from the show.  You can check it out HERE.  Temperance is a world traveler and is knowledgable about many cultures and her jewelry certainly reflects this.  She tends to wear bold pieces with natural stones that often have an ethnic or almost tribal feel to them (which makes sense what with the anthropology and all).

Oddly enough, in a fit of Memorial Day spring cleaning, I had that very day found an old earring of mine that was in heavy rotation in my middle school days.  Seriously, I can't believe I used to wear these hubcaps as earrings, but there is photographic evidence out there (maybe I'll dig some up for a Throwback Thursday post!).  I knew that the earring would make an awesome focal for a statement necklace.

I agonized over which beads to pair with this oversized "pendant" for quite a while.  With my husbands help I decided to use a mix of turquoise heishi, carved cinnabar, and bamboo coral flowers paired with silver plated beads, chain, and findings.  I chose a Bali style toggle clasp to complete the look.  Because of the sentimental attachment to the original earring (and the fact that I have no idea what it's made of), I'll probably keep this one for myself.

Once again, I couldn't stop with just one design.  Brennan needs options!  When we were in Bend, Oregon last summer we found a cute little bead shop during our beer-centric wanderings.  One of my purchases was a cool brass pendant that was a bit on the large side of things.  I paired this funky pendant with some African green brecciated jasper from Dakota Stones and some green agate twisted ovals that have been in my stash since my early days of beading.

I'd like to think that Temperance Brennan would be happy wearing either necklace... I know I am!

P.S.  Well, I went looking for a picture of myself in the original earrings from my first design and couldn't find a single one.  I did find this sketch by my friend Amy though... Enjoy!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 10: Fashion and Beads

It's week 10 in Heather Powers' Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge!  (I'm feeling kind of sad that there are only two weeks left after this.)  This week's challenge is to create a piece of jewelry inspired by your favorite clothing catalog or online store.  I know part of the idea of this challenge is to think about connecting with your customer but, even though I am selling my jewelry more now, I still think of myself as my biggest customer in some ways.  (I'm not entirely sure why that is since I don't keep a ton for myself... but maybe because I try to only make things that I would want to wear.  That may not be the best tactic for a thriving business, but it's where I am right now.

I enjoy dressing up sometimes and all, but at my heart I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.  Clinton and Stacey from What Not to Wear wouldn't want to hear this but I just like to be comfortable.  Now I try to be cute and comfortable, but still... it's all about knits and low maintenance clothing for the bulk of my wardrobe.  Oh and sandals... we can't forget my endless collection of Teva and Chaco sandals!

Anyway, as a cute and comfortable goes, my go-to shopping destination lately is Eddie Bauer.  I just bought the t-shirt and skirt below (deciding only after I got them home that they worked together) and had no jewelry to go with them.  Full disclosure, the t-shirt looks much looser in the picture than it really is... I promise it works.  My husband wouldn't give his blessing to something that wasn't flattering!  The skirt also works with a plain tank top.

I decided to make an etched and painted set to go with this outfit using a variety of blue beads.  This isn't the best picture of my jewelry but I've been having some lighting challenges... it is what it is!  The paint is a nice cornflower blue in person.

I'm cheating a little bit on my second look which is a variation on a theme.  The photo from this year's collection isn't really the same color as the one I have in my wardrobe from last summer which is more turquoise like my necklace.  While not a perfect color match, I think it still could go.  It would look nice with the same top in citrus or spring mango too.  I really like the design I used to etch the leaf blank... I think I'll be doing more like this to go to the gallery this summer.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my attempt to match up my designs with casual fashion!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 9: Ancient History

Week 9 in Heather Power's Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge is all about creating a piece of jewelry inspired by ancient designs but using modern materials.  With everything that's been going on in my world the last week I almost didn't make the deadline... but I managed to just squeak something in at the last minute.  You can read all about the Mojo Challenge (and still join in) HERE.

When thinking of the ancient world my mind went right to Roman glass.  I've always been fascinated by the colors.  In modern jewelry you tend to see it all shiny and iridescent... almost opalescent.  For this challenge I wanted something that felt more old and rugged.  One of the resources that Heather recommended was the book The History of Beads from 100,000 B.C. to the Present by Lois Sherr Dubin.  Luckily, a neighboring library system owned this tome and I was able to get ahold of it for some extra inspiration.  I love this picture of some necklaces with Roman and pre-Roman glass beads... this is the stuff!

A picture of a picture in the book so not as dazzling as it is first hand.

I thought that some of the African recycled glass in my stash (some of it left over from the long ago Lima Beads Spring Rain challenge!) would be a good stand in for the more rustic Roman glass beads that I saw in the photo.  Now to figure out what to go with it...

I've long been an admirer of Petra Carpreau's Etsy shop Scorched Earth and knew immediately that I wanted some of her gorgeous droplets for a pair of earrings.  Since she's in the UK, I figured that I might as well grab a few things at once to make the most of my shipping fees!  Check out all my goodies... you'll be seeing more of these in finished jewelry soon I'm sure.

I didn't have great lighting when I took this... they too look much better in person!

This was my answer.  I just love the rustic shapes and rich glaze colors she uses often tipped with bronzy metallics.  Now I just had to decide which pairs of beads to put together and actually find some time to make something.

I ended up making two pairs of similar earrings.  The first set uses Petra's lovely turquoise crackle and supernova glazed droplets paired up with some pale aqua African recycled glass and pewter colored wire.  I'm not going to lie... I'm smitten with these and might have to keep them for myself!

For the second pair I used raku bronzy droplets in turquoise and green crackle glaze.  This time I used some smaller green and brown African recycled glass and brass colored wire to complete the look.

I have the feeling that I'll be putting in another order from Petra in the near future.  I think I'm hooked on her beautiful creations.  Maybe if I have more in my stash I'll be willing to part with some of them!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 8: Color Palette Inspiration

Last week was all about working with one color, but the week 8 assignment for Heather Powers' Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge is all about working with a color palette that we find challenging.  You can read all about the challenge over on Heather's Humblebeads blog HERE and join in if you like!

Over a year ago now (boy does the time fly!) I shared a post all about exploring color and color palettes.  You can check it out HERE.  Part of what I talked about was my tendency to shy away from mixing colors.  I think I've gotten much better, but it can still be a struggle to go outside my color comfort zone.

As I started thinking about colors and palettes that I find challenging, I was having a hard time deciding on a direction to go.  My husband suggested that I let him choose a picture from our recent trip and use that for my color inspiration.  This may seem totally crazy, but he really has a good handle on what colors I'm most and least comfortable working with so I went along with the idea.

In the end, he narrowed it down to a couple of pictures of tulips that he took at the Keukenhof Gardens right outside of Amsterdam.  I ran them both through the Adobe Kuler website and we decided that the picture and palette below was the winner.  Kuler doesn't save the source photo with the color palette (they actually call them themes) so I grabbed a screen shot to show them together.  That view doesn't do the photo justice, so I'm sharing the original too!

The inspiration photo my husband took and the Kuler color theme I created from it.

The yellow, orange, and red portion actually feels pretty safe to me.  Not exactly monochromatic, but still safely within a comfortable range of colors that just go together.  (See, I really need to learn my color theory so that I can better explain things like this... but that's for another day!)  For me, it's that purple-y blue that throws me for a loop.  I needed to work that into a design with the other colors and not have it look weird... challenge accepted!

I really thought the blue color in the palette was purple until I started pulling beads and comparing them to the Kuler screenshot.  It really is more of an almost cornflower blue.  Pulling possible beads in the oranges was the easy part but I did find a couple of possibilities to sneak in that little pop of blue.  I decided to maximize the orange idea by using copper at my metal.

To really stretch myself I chose some blue waxed Irish linen as my stringing material.  When I started out I thought I was making the front part of a necklace and that I would use copper plated chain at the back.  As I began knotting the beads (and thank you again Erin Siegel for helping me get over my fear of fibers!) I realized that it might just be a bracelet I was making!  (This makes me sound like a flake and a dork, but it's true.)  Here's what I ended up with.

I really wasn't sure about the blue beads with the orange, yellow, and red... but it has grown on me.  I think the blue waxed Irish linen helps pull it together and the pops of blue make it feel special.  

I'll admit that I made a couple of rookie mistakes... I cut the linen a little too short.  You'd think that with my experiences trying to be thrifty with wire (cutting it too short, and then having to start over wasting more than if I'd done it right the first time) that I would learn to cut way more than I think I need.  You would be wrong.  I cut two pieces about 16 inches each and that was not really enough with all those knots.  Thankfully, I had just enough to securely tie of the clasp end of things but it wasn't easy!

My other error, if you will, is that I would have done the flower dangles differently by putting them on the clasp end.  What I really should have done if I had realized I was making a bracelet would have been to cut one really long piece of cord and doubled it over with a lark's head knot on one end and the loose ends with the flowers on the other. Not a fatal flaw, just something I would have approached differently if I had know what I was making.  :)  

You know I'm not a bracelet girl, but I may be coming around!  Other than the bracelet I made in Erin Siegel's class on the Bead Cruise (you can buy her tutorial in her Etsy shop for that one HERE) this is probably my favorite bracelet I've made.  Thank you Heather Powers for doing this awesome challenge and helping me push my boundaries!  

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 7: One Color

This week, Heather Powers has challenged us to create something using just one color (although you can vary the value of the color from light to dark).  The idea being that sometimes having a whole rainbow of choices at your fingertips can be overwhelming.  So, by limiting our choices she hopes to amp up our creativity.  You can get all the details about the challenge (and join in!) over on the Humblebeads blog HERE.

There's a tiny bit of irony in this week's Mojo Challenge for me...  If you've been following me for a while, you know that I have a tendency toward the monochromatic in my designs and have been working hard to break out of that rut.  But, hey, there's a time for everything so I will embrace my one color side again for this week!  Now to just decide which color to work with...

I decided to try my hand at a bracelet design to give myself an extra challenge.  (I'm not much of a bracelet wearer myself.)  Still feeling in a purple mode (a color that I work with a little less often than some... see, more challenges for me) I picked out some wisteria colored Czech glass, pale purple Swarovski crystals, and deeper purple seed beads.  I paired it with Vintaj brass chain and a lobster claw clasp.  In retrospect using silver toned materials may have made it feel more one color, but I've been in a brass groove lately.  

Worried about wear and tear on a bracelet I used medium SoftFlex beading wire which may have made the strung side seem a little stiff when not being worn.  It behaves properly when on my wrist, so I think it's ok.  I put the chain around the bottom portion of the bracelet with the clasp right off one of the strung ends to make it easily adjustable for folks.  

I got hit with a little more one color inspiration this morning and whipped up this necklace in pinks and brass.  Lots of variations of pink Czech glass going on and I painted the flowers on the pendant piece a pale pink too.

Unintentionally, my design for the Inspired by Reading Book Club this week also embraces the "One Color" idea.  If you missed that one you can see it HERE.

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 6: Inspired by Words

Week 6 of Heather Powers' Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge is all about being inspired being words and translating that into a piece of jewelry.

This prompt was a good excuse to finally work on a project requested by one of my good friends from library school.  A few months ago, my friend Carrie asked if I could make her a necklace with a pendant using the quote "Embrace Your Narrative."  I got out my letter stamps and some silver plated blanks from Nunn Design and got to work hammering the quote onto a large circle (the only shape I had that the word narrative would fit onto).  Using some old business cards from when I had run for office within my professional organization (reuse, recycle anyone?) I made a little resin filled pendant to go along with the stamped tags.  Fingers crossed that she likes the finished result!

For those of you who do more metal stamping than I do... do you have any favorite sets of letter stamps?  I'd love some recommendations since right now I just have the really basic capital letters in 2 and 3 mm.  I want to branch out be keep getting overwhelmed when I look at things.

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 5: Jewelry Redos

Week five in the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge that Heather Powers is hosting is all about taking apart a piece of jewelry and reworking it into something new.  (You can see all the details (and jump in) over on the Humblebeads blog HERE.)  Now, the true intent of this week's challenge is to rework something that I actually made, but I'm playing it a little fast and loose for my own purposes.

I have had a necklace that our friend Bob wanted me to remake for his wife Angie (also our friend) for an embarrassingly long time.  (I have learned a very valuable lesson that I should NEVER accept a project without a timeline...it doesn't go very well!)  He actually put in a special order for this necklace based on the colors, but it didn't work out quite as he hoped.  I have honestly never seen a necklace as tangly as this one.  Here's a before picture.  I spent more than 15 minutes trying to get the chain straightened out and this is the best that I could manage.

When I first saw the necklace, I really liked the colors of the lucite flowers... that green is right in my wheelhouse.  The peach rounds were a nice contrast to the limey green too but I have to admit that I was relieved when Bob told me that he was fine with me abandoning the the original chain and metal choice for something different.

I gathered a few extra beads to maybe add into my take two design and then started cutting that sucker apart.  Since I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted to do (actually I'm still not!) I decided to start by remaking the flower dangles on Vintaj brass headpins.  I kept most of them as they originally were with three peach beads inside the flowers and one on the top, but I shook it up a little by adding some cute Czech glass flowers in bright coral inside the lucite.

I did talk to Angie about her thoughts and preferences before I started.  She really wanted more of a symmetrical design than the original had been.  She also said she would love an earring option if that worked out.  With that in mind I decided that I would divide the 12 flowers up into three groupings for the necklace... two groups of three and one group of four... leaving two for a pair of earrings.

Here's a bad picture of where I'm going with my idea... I just need to find more time to play around and see if it works.  With a crazy schedule in all areas of my life, I just haven't had the time to get everything done... but at least the project is started!

I did make the earrings though... Angie, if you are reading this, let me know what you think about them.  Don't pass judgement on the necklace design just yet since the ideas are still percolating.  Now that I have all the flower dangles wire wrapped I can play with attaching them in various ways until I'm happy with the finished product and Angie is too!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 4: Findings

It's week 4 of the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge that Heather Powers is hosting over on the Humblebeads blog (check out all the details for the challenge HERE).  This week's prompt is about making your own findings.  (For those of you who aren't jewelry makers, findings are things like clasps, earwires, headpins, and jump rings.  They are the backbone of jewelry and can be simple and unassuming or truly spectacular standouts in a design.

Making my own findings is definitely on my list of things I want to achieve.  (Why buy it if I can make it and it would be great to say that something is 100% handcrafted.)  I'm not sure that I have the skills (or all the tools!) to do this in a real way...yet.  I will eventually get there and I think I see some classes in my not so distant future.  But for now, I'm going to try my hand some fairly simple (I hope!) clasp designs that don't require anything I don't already have in my arsenal.

Since I already had Cindy Wimmer's book The Missing Link out on my bead table from last week's challenge, I decided to try a couple of the simple clasps she explains in the front section of that book first.

First up was the simple hook clasp.  The directions called for 18 gauge wire, so I figured that was a safe place to start.  This hook design uses a doubled over piece of wire and, as you can really tell in the picture on the left, I had some trouble keeping the two sides even.  This seemed especially tricky when trying to get the small curl on the unbent end looped with my round nose pliers since they are tapered.  This could be a flaw not just with me but in the directions, but I can't really tell.  My second hook turned out a little bit more even. It's not quite the shape I was going for, but I think it's actually usable!

Next I decided to give the S hook clasp a go even though I didn't have the 16 gauge wire that the project called for...what the heck, I'd try it in 18 instead!  Again, not amazing results, but I only gave it one try.  I had a tough time using the bail making pliers so get that second side curved properly (the side on the left of the picture).  This will clearly take more practice (and the correct supplies) to master!

My original thought for this challenge is actually the last one that I tried.  I stumbled upon (and promptly Pinned) a cute spiral clasp and leaf charm over on Lima Beads back in August of last year.  Fellow customer SquirrelGirl, aka Angela, shared a design she had used in one of her pieces and it looked like an achievable (and cute) project to try.  So, now that Heather has lit a fire under me with the Mojo Challenge, I'm going to do it!  (FYI, you can see Angela's instructions HERE.)

The clasp was not quite as easy as it looked.  I was doing fine until the step where I needed to curl the wire around to form the hook.  As you can see it went a little wonky.  At this point, I was a little frustrated with wire working and didn't attempt the leaf charm or another try at the clasp.  This result will just have to do for now!

I decided that the most usable of my efforts was that second hook.  I paired it with one of my classic hoop links that I made in Week 3 to form the two halves of my clasp.  Since I was working in copper for my clasp, I added in a copper pendant that I had embossed and painted a while back with a combination of blue and teal.  I pulled a variety of glass beads in colors to compliment the pendant and started putting things together.  I added a little dangle from the hoop and here is my completed project!

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 3: Back to School

It's Week 3 for the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge that Heather Powers is hosting over on the Humblebeads blog!  You can read all about it HERE.  This week's challenge is all about trying a new technique and making something using what you've learned.  It's all about putting yourself out there and trying something new... whether it be from a book, online tutorial, or taking a class.  Heather is totally right that learning something new is a fabulous way to get that creativity going.

I decided to finally get brave and try out a couple of wire links from Cindy Wimmer's wonderful book The Missing Link.  I put this on my Christmas list after reading positive reviews on both the Love My Art Jewelry and Art Jewelry Elements blogs.  I read a good portion of the book right away but still haven't actually tried any of the links.

Seeing as the thickest wire I currently have in my possession is 18 gauge, I looked for the easy level projects that called for that gauge and didn't look too scary.  You've got to start somewhere, right?

I decided to go with her "Classic Hoop" link since it seemed a likely candidate to do ok without a tumbler to harden it.  I followed the directions, but when I took the link off the Sharpie (using that as a mandrel) and tried to finish the wire wraps, things went a little sideways on me.

I'm not sure if it's because the wire I'm working with (18 gauge, Vintaj Artistic Copper from Parawire) was too soft a material, or if it's just my underdeveloped wire working skills at fault.  Not only did my circle get all bendy in the wrapping process, but when I hammered out the large side of the hoop, it stayed much thinner than in the pictures.  (I've numbered my attempts in the collage below.)

So, back to the drawing board for a second attempt.  This time I decided to try leaving the large side of the hoop on the Sharpie while I started the wire wraps.  My second try looked pretty darn good!  I decided to make another one, hoping for a nice matched set.  Well... number three ended up a little bigger than the previous try.  It was enough of a difference that it was noticeable and not what I wanted for my project.  So I cut another length of wire and tried again.  Luckily, my next attempt was pretty similar to number threes.  Woo hoo, I had my "matched set" for the project that I had envisioned.

I knew from the start that I wanted to make earrings.  I figured that my links might not be sturdy enough for making an actual chain without tumbling them (although, I think this design probably would be fine).  I kept it pretty simple just attaching the wrapped loops to earwires and dangling little lampwork beads from Beadygirl Beads off of the hoop.

I clearly still have a LOT to learn when it comes to even simple wire-working, but you have to start someplace.  If anyone has ideas of where I may have gone wrong, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 2: Bead Soup

To help many of us jump start our creativity and shake off the winter blahs, Heather Powers of Humblebeads is hosting a 12 week challenge over on her blog.  You can read all about the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge HERE.  This is perfect for me since I really need to be getting some new designs completed to build my stock back up after my holiday open house and almost a month and a half of down time.

Week 1 challenged us to enter a jewelry challenge or contest.  The timing worked out that I had entered two challenges last week, so I'm off to a good start getting my mojo back!

This week's prompt is "Bead Soup."  For those of you not familiar with this term, bead soup is a random mix of beads that are leftover from other projects or that you have just thrown together.  The idea is to gather some possibly orphaned beads and make something with them.  Since this challenge is just to get us making, Heather cautioned us to keep it fairly simple.

I decided that the perfect starting place for my bead soup project would be some of the bead mixes that I've gotten from Andrew Thornton's destash events.  I've bought a couple of different color themed mixes and have also gotten some "soup" as little thank you gifts with my purchases.  I also found a little bag of my own soup made up of beads I pulled for a past project and never put away.  

As I sorted through my little bags of beads, I took Heather's advice about finding unifying elements for the beads I chose.  I stuck to mostly round shapes in two different sizes in deep reds and oranges.  I grabbed a bunch of goldstone rounds, some carnelian, and a selection other glass, shell pearl, and crystal beads out of the mixes and started making links.  I decided to add in some small glass rounds in bright and dark red to add in between the larger beads (a great use for beads that I've had forever and a day!).  When I realized that I wasn't going to have quite enough beads for the length of necklace I envisioned, I dug up some barrel shaped red beads from one of Andrew's mixes and my bead stash.  I had really hoped to use the stripy glass ovals in the bottom left of the picture above but, once again, they just didn't really fit.

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon making a ton of links (53 to be exact although I only used 48 of them..stupid stripy beads!)  It was a lot of work all at once but there was something soothing about just sitting there bending and cutting wires and then making all those loops.  I got them all arranged how I liked them and then it was time to put it all together.  Now to open 48 jump rings and string little gold colored seed beads onto them as I connected all the links to form a long, no clasp necklace!

I'm really amazed at how well this turned out.  I think it has a rich and luscious look.  There are a lot of things going on that bubbled up from my soup, but there are enough unifying elements to keep it all together and looking very intentional... at least that's what I think.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the bead soup project I cooked up!

You can see more bead soup projects as folks finish their cooking over on the Humblebeads blog HERE.