7th Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal

Yay!  Today is the day I can show you what I made from the fantastic bead soup my partner Juli Cannon sent me!  Do you remember what everything looked like?  You can go here and read more about everything she sent if you'd like, but I'll give you a hint:

I have been wanting to try a different fringe technique for a while and Juli's lampwork focal was the perfect piece.  I used several colors of seed beads and made billions of loops (okay, you got me... I didn't count and there might not be quite a billion, but there are lots).

And after all that work, the clasp didn't look right.  Well, shoot.  So I stewed around on it for a week or so and decided the only solution was to make my own using some of the matching lampwork beads.

It's simple, but it works and it doesn't distract from the rest of the piece.  That's a win in my book.  

Of course, that meant I had to make another piece to use the clasp, since the rules say you must use at least the focal and the clasp.  I sketched out a sort of funky necklace and it actually came together just like I'd hoped.  That never happens. 

And what's even better?  This piece can double as a wrap bracelet.  In fact, I think I like it better as a bracelet!

Many thanks to my partner, Juli, for the great beads I used in these pieces AND the second set she sent just for me:

And heaps more thanks to our gracious hostess, Lori Anderson, the mastermind behind the whole Bead Soup phenomenon.  She does an amazing job at bringing together a talented group of jewelry designers - 541 designers from 28 countries!  With so many folks eager to participate, she had to split us up into three reveal dates to keep things manageable. Hop on over to Lori's blog where she has a list of ALL of the other participants:  here.  Oh, and don't forget to check out Juli's page to see what she did with the soup I sent to her.  Happy hopping!!