October 21, 2012

Kalmbach Bead Soup Party Reveal

Kalmbach Books is having a Bead Soup Party to celebrate the release of Lori Anderson's book Bead Soup and I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate.  I received this great soup from Boston Bead Company.  Check out that octopus!  How cool is he!  I will confess, though, that I received this package almost a month ago and it has taken me quite a while to decide exactly what to do with these components.  I'm just not a "gold" girl and the raw brass of the octopus was throwing me.  I love silver and copper and brass, but gold?  Not so much.   What's a girl to do?  Well, if you're me and you've been painting lucite flowers with your Vintaj patinas (here, if you missed it), you paint him.  Boy, did it take a lot of nerve to do that first blotch of color, because I knew there was no going back!


First I hit him with some sponged on blue patina, and then I added some of my new bronze.  I decided he needed to look cruddier (go figure - spellcheck says that's a word!), so I went over him with some black and brown antiquing.  Then just to bring out some highlights, I sanded him off a bit.  I'm thrilled with the results.  NOW he looks like a denizen of the deep.  A monster from the deepest part of the ocean.  

I decided to add a few freshwater pearls into the bead mix because I figure my Denizen deserves some sea-type treasure.  I made some links from all the beads at random and then used several different sizes of jump rings to string them all together.  I made a hook clasp with a freeform movement (inspired by tentacles!) and hit it with a little patina in keeping with the theme.  (Well, that and I seem to be obsessed with patinas, but I digress...)

Anyway, without further ado:


Did I mention I added a Vintaj starfish?


Many thanks to Kalmbach Books and to Boston Bead Company for allowing me to play!



14 comments:

  1. Yes! Yes! Yes!....
    What a great necklace design...Mr. Octopus looks much more mysterious now... I am glad you sponged him! ;)

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  2. I love how you "dressed up" the octopus and the randomness of the beads! This looks great!

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  3. ooooh, I love what you did with the octopus! Made the necklace so unique!

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  4. Sherri this turned out great. I love the fact that you used multiple patinas to get the look on the octopus. The addition of the pearls and the star fish just added to the look and the clasp looks like a fish hook! How great is that. This turn out awesome.

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  5. I am in love with this necklace. I think the clasp hook is my favorite part because it is so unexpected in the front. But then there are the dangles with the starfish. So very wonderful!
    I love patinas and am just starting to play with them. You are my new hero :)
    Thanks for the inspiration!

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  6. I love this - and you were so creative with the octopuss. I am not a "gold girl" myself and really like your version of the octopuss better :)

    Bead Soup Mix

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  7. Great results, lovely piece... Sherri, you never cease to amaze. Looks like you had fun with it and the theme. I really like the transformation and how you truly made it yours.

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  8. Brilliant call on spicing up that focal~ adore!

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  9. Love the octopus's new look. Good call! The entire piece is gorgeous and looks super fun to wear!

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