8th Bead Soup Blog Party!!!

  It's been a rough time for me but I have had a lovely time working with my bead soup from the lovely Lesley Lane. The reds and golds work so well together, all I really added were sparkly glass rondelles and lots of wire!

I do love working with wire!

If you'll remember, here is what my partner sent me to play with.

And here is how the soup has developed...

The first piece I made was this gorgeous suncatcher for my car using red wire, one of the Czech glass flowers, a bronze charm I just had to include and lots of sparkling AB coated glass rondelles which really do reflect the light spectacularly.

Continuing with the addition of red wire here's one of my statement necklaces using a mix of all the different beads from my soup.

The Indian glass and palm wood beads had large holes so I was able to string them onto ribbons and have plaited to form this bracelet. It will be finished with copper wire cones and a hammered copper clasp.

 The cute little birdie focal now has a blossom branch to sit on. I love how these little Czech beads have come together, they compliment each other so well. I'm debating whether to make this into a necklace or brooch, any thoughts?

 A simple pair of earrings with the addition of red wire again and some AB coated glass rondelles.

 Unfortunately I haven't been able to getting around to using the second focal piece and the clasp, however there is still plenty left over and another pair of earrings and bracelet still to finish. I've already started making links with the beads to make a large necklace where the clasp will be a feature as well as functional.

Hope you like what I've done with the soup Lesley, and can't wait to see what you've made with yours.

xxx

If you'd like to visit others in the hop please use the link below to find a list of other members joining in other at Lori's blog.

http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com//2014/04/welcome-to-8th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothering Sunday started with a rush... not only had the clocks gone forward and so losing me an hour's sleep, but as I attended a silver clay course on the Saturday evening, I had to pick up my little monster from my parents before heading to his karate grading.

Having been asked to make a tiara to show off some prom dresses, here is the first in my series.
Using freshwater pearls, mother of pearl hearts, AB coated glass rondelles and a fair bit of wire. I completed this whilst my little Joey was at his karate grading for his first full belt.

My monster completed his grading with a big smile on his face and his new karate license too.

We then went out for dinner at an all you can eat chinese and tried several different dishes which was heaven! Joey even spotted a little doggy at our table too! Amazing shadows from the tablecloth!

I also received a lovely bunch of tulips, a box of celebrations and some Lady Gaga perfume too, one lucky mummy!

Quick makes...

To get the creative juices flowing, I like to set myself quick makes, so here are a couple of quick makes to get me going:

 Yellow Agate and Copper wire pendant.

 Blue Agate and silver plated copper wire.

Hope you like them. These will be added to my store soon.

Ammonite wrapping class

Having had so many people comment on the Ammonite pendant I made for myself and the Orthocera pendant I was commissioned to complete. This weekend I held a class to teach others how to make it for themselves. I had 4 lovely students, all of whom created a beautiful pendant. 3 of which had never done wirework before which was amazing!

Here are the pieces they made. One student didn't finish but I hope they show us when they do...

I had a gentleman on the class who returned Sunday to complete his pendant as he needed to leave early on the Saturday. Here is his piece before he added the bail, I think he did excellently with the spiralling technique. The last picture is the piece I completed as the demo during the class which now sits in the window on display.

Wire Robin Class

This weekend marked my last class of the year at Craft Candy.

Creating this little happy Robin for the Christmas tree. Even though I only had one student due to the flu and such keeping everyone in bed, it was a fun afternoon and the end result was two little robins.

Gemstone palette

After seeing a post on facebook of a lovely wireworked paint palette made with found sea glass by a lady named Petra LeBlanc, I had to try my hand at one, or two... Here is what I came up with...

New wire wrapping

Ooh exciting!

I have been practicing some new wire wrapping which I hope to teach in the new year at Craft Candy and possibly HobbyCraft too. I hope you like it, I have decided to rework some of my larger gemstone slab pendants as they have been in the same wire frames for over a year now.

I hope you like the new style as much as I do.

Blue Agate Slab with silver plated copper wire and faceted Haematite rounds.

Trees, Trees, Trees...

Finally got around to taking pictures of the gemstone trees I currently have potted. They all create a little forest in the shop, Craft Candy, so had to borrow them back... I am currently uploading them to Etsy, now that I have a way of posting them.

Can't believe I've now made 15! There are only 8 here. I have another demo tree in the shops still, have given away 2 as presents last year and sold one to my SlimmingWorld Consultant. I also have 2 that currently haven't been potted as yet. I absolutely love making them!

This is my favourite so far...

 Millefiori chips and silver plated wire.

Ooh a Custom order!

When I went into work Monday I was given this lovely stone fossil and asked to wire wrap it similar to my Ammonite pendant.

After drawing up different design ideas during the week I went back and asked which one they would prefer. We both decided that as the fossil itself isn't directly central, the wire work shouldn't be either.

Here is the final piece, minus it's bail which I will complete today. I hope they like it...

Feeling Christmassy

Getting in the mood for christmas, for some reason proves difficult for me as there is just so much to do, costs far too much and not enough time to do it, no matter how early you start. Anyway I decided to have a go at making a robin using wire and beads. I originally started this whilst on holiday in August although didn't like the shape and so had a go at another. Made with Red and Bronze coloured wire with red glass seedbeads and a black glass eye this little robin was born.

I left him at my local shop, Craft Candy, where I teach classes and people have been very interested in doing a class on him in time for Christmas so have just booked for December 20th. Can't wait!

The other way I am in preparation for Christmas is the making of the Christmas Spectacular set at work. I have been busy working away with another member of staff creating a Gingerbread man, Christmas baubles, a Candycane forest and at some point a Gingerbread house and a toy soldier, all before the show on December 12th - a talent show with students of the school doing different performances such as singing, dancing, acting and even a couple of bands too.

Unfortunately our Gingerbread man is not looking a very gingerbread colour so I stopped by B&Q to pick up some colour cards to see if we can get a paint we don't need to mix for him and his house. On the way I saw these adorable decorations and picked up plenty of colour cards to choose from.

Well these have got me in the Christmassy mood, how about you?