Soup du Jour (9-17-11)

Time for the Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal! If you've made it here, congratulations and thank you. Due to my not checking every link like Lori always says, the link to my blog on the list most people are posting takes you to my partner's blog. It's my own fault for not double checking. Oops!

To see what my partner Gretchen Nation sent me, click here. And make sure to check out what she made; I think she did a beautiful job.

I think I had the same problem as a lot of people -- I completely made and scrapped two previous versions of this necklace. I wanted to include at least a little of almost all of what she sent in one necklace, but it just looked too busy or tacky or incongruous. So ultimately, I made a typical me style necklace, just with different beads. I really don't know why I stopped there. I have so much more good stuff to play with. I just had it in my head that I was done, and now seeing everyone else's multiple pieces I feel a bit underachievy :(

The first thing I did was get the focal together. That never changed. I was so crazy about the two pearl stick pieces the way I had them stacked with the blue beads - it reminded me of a Japanese character. And in case you hadn't yet figured out that I have a bit of a Japan obsession, I do.

In fact, I expect this pattern to become a recurring theme in future jewelry. I love it. It's so simple, but it really appeals to me. Now I just have to get a ton of those pearl stick things.

After I came up with that, I knew it would be perfect above the long shell focal.

I wire wrapped it all together with my favorite antique silver colored 24g wire. Nice and messy wraps to go with the messy natural look of the pearls and the focal. 

I tried making a big fussy thing with tons of dangly bits -- it was way too crowded and looked forced. I tend to prefer more simple minimal designs. The focal needed to be the star of the show here, so I thought maybe I'd just hang it on the coordinating cream colored piece of silk she sent. That was boring. I wound up just picking a few of the beads she sent and went about wire wrapping them in a simple pattern and then added the clasp. The only thing of my own that I used is the wire and some jumprings. I'm quite pleased with the result even if it's not TOTALLY different. It's just a Heidi necklace, but with different beads than I would normally use. Until now, that is! I will be repeating that Japanese character thing.

See the link at very the top of my page to go to the complete list of BSBP participants! 

I will be donating this necklace to the Fur Ball - a big fundraising event in October to raise money for local animal rescue groups. They're having an auction, and I wanted to help out. I got my dog from an animal rescue group, and I know they need all the help they can get.

Happy Hopping!