Bead Soup Blog Party - Second Reveal

As we embark on today’s Bead Soup Blog Party reveal, I’d like to start by thanking Lori Anderson, the visionary and organizer extraordinaire behind this fun and fabulous event...and my partner in this second reveal. If you haven't already, click over right now to her Pretty Things blog to see what Lori created from the Soup I sent her.

Here’s a reminder of the sumptuous Soup I received from Lori.

 

The Thai silver focal is embossed with elephants and my first design was inspired by the power and beauty of these animals, resplendent in their colorful trappings and ornate saddle cloths.

The pendant arrived complete with fringed tassel added by Lori and her note let me know the chain was from AD/Adornments.  Kathy Domokos still stocks the chain, so I was able to order some and separate the tiny metal drops to use as fringe on my brick-stitched bail.

Although I used only the focal and the pewter spacers in my first piece, my color palette comes from the rest of the soup ingredients - the intensely saturated blues and aqua blue-greens of the Kazuri beads;  a muted version of the orange-red from the handmade glass discs and the lighter purples in the amethyst. I wanted the necklace to have a tribal vibe, so I constructed two kumihimo ropes, using size 11 sterling, pewter and zinc metal beads, along with opaque gunmetal that closely matches the drops in Lori’s fringe, and wrapped the ropes tightly in peyote-stitched bands.

The rope ends are finished with Kazuri rounds and the pewter spacers from Lori’s soup, which proved to be the perfect embellishment for my handmade S-clasp. I wanted this necklace to be adjustable from 16 to 19 inches, and I was reserving the pewter clasp for my second piece.

The nearly matte finish of the deep amethyst discs is striking and brings out the luminosity of the Kazuri beads. For the bracelet, I scaled the kumihimo ropes down to one inch and used Japanese charlottes in pewter and silver to complement the silver tones in Lori’s clasp. The elephant charm is from Nina Designs.

Again, thanks to Lori for sending such fantastic materials to inspire me. I still have lots to play with after today's challenge. But wait… the fun has just begun. Click on this link to explore the designs of all the other participants in the Second Reveal.