Thank you for stopping by!  Today is the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party reveal and blog hop. What is a bead soup I hear you ask?  It’s a wonderful collection beads, comprising a gorgeous focal and a clasp, that is exchanged between partners from anywhere in the world, and on reveal day (today) we share what we’ve created with the beads we received!

In case you missed my post about the beads I received, here’s an other photo of them. I received a huge bead soup from my partner, Esterina. She was clever enough to realise that she could fill the box with beads and not have to pay extra postage, I wish I had though of that! Esterina is a polymer clay artist and she sent me some of her own beads, including two focals, that are amazing! She really is quite talented.

Here’s the first piece I created with the soup Esterina sent me. I used the clasp, one of the gorgeous focals, two of the coordinating polymer clay beads, faceted amethyst and rose quartz, silver beads and purple ceramic beads, all from the soup. I added some glass pearls and daisy spacers. I used a silver pinch bail to attach the focal to the strand of beads.

Here’s a few more photos of the polymer clay beads and focal.

I thought a few earring were in order. The first pair match the necklace. I used some of the pumpkin shaped ceramic beads from the soup and paired them with larger glass pearls. The second pair pretty much made themselves, keishi pearls from the soup and silver stardust beads. The last pair I made with the batik leather drops and lampwork beads also from the soup and hung from purple anodised niobium hooks.

Here’s a quick memory wire bracelet, using the lampwork beads and random wooden and enamel beads from my own bead soup bowl. I was hoping to have another bracelet completed and ready to show all of you but I’m still waiting on a set of carved wooden beads that I just had to have!

Well enough about my soup, head on over to my bead soup partner, Esterina of e-Klei Jar  and then all the others! Please visit  Lori of Bead Soup Blog Party for a full list of the participants.

I’m over the moon to be taking part in the 7th Bead Soup Blop Party, this is my second time taking part, see here for last years reveal. Huge thanks and a big get “well and hope your feeling better soon” to our amazing hostess Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. (Read more about the BSBP on Lori’s blog in the link.)

This massive event with over 500 participants from many countries was split into three separate reveal dates, and because of Lori’s illness we have had two weeks between each reveal. I still haven’t finished blog hopping yet and it’s time for my reveal!!

Also a great big thank you to my swap partner Penny of Smelly Nelly and Etsy shop Forgotten Tracks. Penny sent an interesting soup for me to work with, some of the soup is in colours I don’t normally work with and others are right up my alley. Be sure to visit Penny at Smelly Nelly to see what she made with what I sent her. Here’s is a reminder of the soup she sent me.

The first piece I made was these earrings. Those disks were calling me from the soup dish on my table for a few days before I made them. I’m not sure if the disks are agate or pressed glass but I love them any way. I’ve paired them with vintage brass wire and 2mm lemon jade beads and red copper wire. They measure 3 inches or 7.5cm from the top of the hook to the tip of the jade beads.

This necklace was a simple design, but I really wanted to include the pinch beads from the soup. I’ve never used beads of this shape before. You might not be able to see it in the photos, but the beads, which are a lovely chocolatey brown have an iridescent petrol finish that picks up the colour of the crystals (also from the soup) quite nicely.

Here I’ve used three of the dragon-veined (dragon-scale?) agate beads from my soup. I LOVE these beads!! I’ve teamed them with brass bead caps, vintage brass chain and some orphaned lampwork beads from Genschi. The Focal is a large carved wood button from my stash.

And, last but by no means least, the focal and clasp. I’ll be honest, that focal had me stumped, I knew I wanted to use it as a pendant, but how? Then all of a sudden everything came together. I found a brass pendant at Spotlight (local craft/haberdashery store), used a smudge of Vintaj Patina in moss green, glued the focal and paired it with some of my favourite brass chain. The czech bead dangles are from Zoe and Bruno and the wooden disks are from my favourite local bead store Absolutely Beads. The lampwork bead and sari silk are from my stash.

Don’t you just love the fish clasp? I also use a little Vintaj Patina on the focal to bring out the centre detail.

Ok that’s it for me time for everyone to get hopping! Visit Lori for the official third reveal list and don’t forget to check Penny of Smelly Nelly to see what she has made with the bead soup I sent her.