When Life Gives You Beads... Make Bead Soup!

I'm participating in the 5th Bead Soup Blog Hop Party.  The way it works is that you are partnered with another bead lover -- one whose pieces are quite different from your own.  My lovely partner is Cindy Cima Edwards and you can find her work at  www.zimaj.com, www.etsy.com/shop/zimaj,  and www.cindycima.com/.  She even told me how to make a favicon, which is the little black cat at the top of my blog... which looks remarkably like Cindy's favicon.

You send your partner a bag of beads, a focal, and a clasp and your partner sends you a bag of beads, a focal...

...and a clasp.  Here's the clasp Cindy sent me, and some of the beads.

Then... you make something with your beads and focal and clasp, and so does your partner.  Elsewhere other partners are scratching their heads and wondering what to do with their beads.

I was a very lucky partner.  Because, though my partner's tastes and mine are quite different, she selected a disparate group of elements that appealed to my eclectic nature.

She gave me beads in colors I rarely use...

...

...and metals that I've never used...

...but in colors and textures that looked fabulous together.

This forced me to think out of the box, break out of my comfort zone, and experiment.

Some of the Bead Soupers made several pieces out of their "soup" but I was enchanted with the way my bits looked together.  I went out and got more chain in matching metal but un-matching patterns.

I got myself some bronze colored copper wire, knowing I'd be able to wrap with that.  I got myself some stringing material and some end loops and started pondering how I was going to join chain with strung beads.



And I came up with a concept -- something I'd been wanting to do for a long time.  I wanted to make a complex and long lariat necklace.  A lariat necklace, for inquiring minds, is generally long, with an open end and a loop through which the open end can pass.












Of course, first I had to figure out how to do that with the pieces I now had heaped in front of me.  I figured out a way to join strung elements and chain.

Then I figured out how to make one end of the necklace split off and form a loop big enough for my tiger's eye focal bead to pass through.

I even figured out how to combine the elements so that each element enhanced the others.

I wire wrapped and strung and strung and wire wrapped.

I struggled with the beautiful clasp.  I also struggled with the concept that a lariat necklace doesn't HAVE a clasp.  Mine does.

It turns out (as you may have already guessed, that if your necklace has open ends and a clasp, you can end up with two disconnected pieces of necklace.  I'm still working on that.  ;0)

But it was all okay because the necklace was looking cool.

Really cool.

I mean, seriously cool.

It is, in fact, so cool, that I am going to give it as a gift to my friend Melissa, who faithfully follows my blog every single day (as do her cats) and who supports my jewelry and writes me wonderful emails even when I'm too buried in beads and work and cat fur to email back.

And it's going to look very cool on her.

Now... if you would like to hop to the other blogs, coolness awaits, and here's a little "map" for you.

Enjoy and thanks for sharing my beady adventure.

Hostess, Lori Anderson 
(who made this utterly amazing list and organized the whole beady shebang)

Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5.  Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6.  Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8.  Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9.  Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10.  Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery 

11.  Andra Weber and Christine Murrow

12.  Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13.  Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14.  Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17.  Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18.  Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19.  Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20.  Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23.  Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26.  Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27.  Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28.  Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29.  Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30.  Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31.  Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34.  Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35.  Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36.  Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38.  Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40.  Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42.  Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday

44.  Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46.  Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47.  Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49.  Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50.  Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian

51.  Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52.  Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53.  Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56.  Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57.  Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58.  Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59.  Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60.  Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan

61.  Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62.  Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63.  Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64.  Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67.  Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68.  Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69.  Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70.  Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71.  Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

 72.  Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73.  Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74.  Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75.  Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77.  Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79.  Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80.  Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry

81.  Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander

82.  Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)

84.  Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85.  Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86.  Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87.  Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88.  Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89.  Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson

90.  Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91.  Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94.  Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96.  Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99.  Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100.  Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum