Bead Peeps Swap and Hop (3rd Edition) Reveal!

It's been a tough go on these bead reveals - I've been out of town for work a lot, and there has been no time to torch, meaning I mostly had to pick from my existing stash.  It's been kind of a fun exercise though, as I think the limitations mean that I have been more creative than I otherwise would have been.

My partner is Divya Narasimhan, who blogs over at Jewels of Sayuri, and lives in Chennai, India.  All though I'm only in Canada, most of the bead swaps pair participants outside of the US with others outside of the US, so I'm always excited to see where my next partner will come from.  Divya is very active in the Bead Peeps group, and offers up lots of inspiration and thought provoking ideas, so I was excited to see what she would send.

She included lots of locally made components and lots of colour!  I sent her an entirely monochromatic bead soup, so the two sets of components could not have been more different.

First up, a bracelet featuring one of two toggle clasps that Divya sent - I added seed beads to complete the toggle, dig out a bunch of seemingly random lampwork that was at the bottom of the bead box, and added a few wood beads to mirror the texture of the clasp.

Next up, another bracelet with some of the painted wooden beads that Divya sent.  I added a few of my handwoven beads, some vintage German glass and a metal focal to compliment the beads that I picked out of the soup.

 And lastly, two pairs of earrings - one pair with the green glass drops that Divya sent, along with some cloissone from the local bead shop, and a pair of handmade lampwork headpins with the glass galaxy beads that Divya provided. 

I had great fun working with all the colour in this soup!  More with the other beads soon.

Bead Soup Blog Party - Reveal (from Joanne Louvaine Bell and Johana Nunez)

Welcome to the Bead Soup Blog Party, hosted by the amazing Lori Anderson.  Lori's been through a lot of health challenges in the past few years, and has only recently felt well enough to host another Blog Party.  There are about a 160 of us - down from the 500plus numbers of the biggest hop, but a manageable number, and one that I hope to get to over a few days.  Saturday, my nephews and I have plans, the exact variety of which I'm not sure, but I suspect that it will involve some sort of play structure and some variety of sugar.  I have two partners, and this is a long post, so grab some coffee and settle in!

My first partner is the lovely Joanne Louvaine Bell, who blogs at TwinkieDinky, and sent an amazing Bead Soup filled with her hoarded specials, as well as some of her own work.
 

She packaged everything in little cloth packages, which I hope to recycle in other projects.  The beads consisted of:

Joanne's own Resin Wings and Polymer Beads
Lampwork from Juliette Mullete, Karin Hirza and Dee Howell
Lampwork focal from Hendri Lourens
Bronze from Anna Chernykh
Ceramic and Polymer Flowers from Cherie Irwin and Lysa

and, what she notes as the most special, the Kim Snider wing, that she stayed up until 4 in the morning to get!

I've been massively busy with work, and had only managed to get a quick cell snap of the package, which does not portray the contents in their full glory.

Lampwork Pendant Necklace By Maverick Beads

Since Joanne said the wing was her most precious, I set out to do it justice.  I quickly decided on a necklace of some sort.  But there were so many options, and I picked out a few beads from my hoard that would match the scale of the wing.  Rooting around in the lampwork bead box, I picked out bead after bead, trying to find something that would compliment.  And then there was one.... a failed execution of lampwork technique, something that might have ended up in the garbage had I been more ruthless, might have been overlooked, but was suddenly was perfect. I pulled out a pewter grey leather, and suddenly it was simple. One wing, one bead, a piece of leather.

Fearing I had failed Joanne, and her precious hoarded bead with something so simple, I made a bracelet to match.  It was all of the beads I'd intended to use for the necklace, but somehow the serendipity of the simple necklace took over.

Bonus Bracelet for Pendant by Maverick Beads

Joanne also sent some very lovely resin wings which are her own specialty.  They are truly gorgeous!  I paired the wings with a few of my lampwork beads and some crystals for some lovely long drop earrings.

Resin and Lampwork bead earrings  by Maverick Beads

The next pair of earrings is also a set of resin wings - paired with a matte set of handwoven seadbeads beads, some silver beadcaps, crystal and silver earwires, I hope they compliment the resin wings.

Resin and Handwoven Bead Earrings by Maverick Beads

And finally, a third pair of earrings!  Joanna sent a lot of things in pairs, so I hope she's not disappointed to find a bunch of earrings in the reveal.  The third pair features a lovely pair of ceramic buds by Cherie Erwin of New Zealand.  Finding inspiration in the olive green colour of the tops of the buds, I paired them with a couple of chain connectors and some of my own lampwork beads for a lovely pair of spring earrings.

Ceramic and Lampwork Beads by Maverick Beads

 I still have more to come from this bead soup - there are more lovelies that I will work into jewellry as the inspiration strikes!

My second partner is the equally lovely Johana Nunez, who blogs over at Art Incendi, sent the following Bead Soup, filled with all things spring!  I was lucky enough to get Johana as a partner when her original partner did not feel comfortable sending beads to Puerto Rico.  Luckily, Lori posted at the same time I was on-line and our partnership quickly came together.  Puerto Rico is not that far away from Canada, and so her beads were the first to arrive. 

 This is what she sent:

Blue Berri Beads - Ceramic Yellow Bird
Serena Smith Lampwork - Lampwork Flower Buttons
Swoon Dimples - "Give More" Pink Polymer
Bo Hulley Beads - Bracelet Blank
Jade Scott - Resin Pendant
Glass Flowers and Enameled Metal




Johana provided an amazing variety of beads, but what to make?  I started playing around with the purple enameled metal beads on a bead board that had some yellow lampwork that I was intending for another project.  The yellow glass was hand pulled cane, which produces beautiful striations of coloured and transparent glass.   I also discovered that I had a set of lampwork spacers in precisely the same colour as the enamel.  The glass used to make the spacers was discontinued about a decade ago, so I have no idea what possessed me to make a bunch of spacers from it, but there they were in the bead box.  I also had a couple of bright orange lampwork beads kicking about.  With the addition of the yellow, purple and orange a bracelet soon started to come together.  I wouldn't normally do an elastic bracelet for a blog-hop with art quality beads, but because of the size of the enameled beads, it seemed like the only solution.

Enameled beads on colourful beaded bracelet by Maverick Beads

Next up, a pair of earrings with the same enameled beads - a pair of lampwork headpins, the enameled beads plus some vintage German new stock glass are stacked to form earrings that are a statement piece without being two heavy.

Enameled Beaded Earrings from Maverick Beads

I was not sure what to do with the amazing Swoon Dimples bead, which says "Give" on one side and "More" on the other.  I had still had some of the beads considered for the first bracelet kicking around the bead board, and decided to make a super fun spring coloured confection!  It's still pretty gray days around here, with the last of the snow slowly going away.  The pretty pink polymer clay pairs with a couple of handwoven lavender beads, more of the veiled yellow lampwork glass from the first bracelet, and bright aqua vintage acrylic beads. 

Swoon Dimples Bead on Colourful Spring Beaded Bracelet from Maverick Beads

Last up, a pendant - the first piece that came together.  The little yellow Blue Berri ceramic birdie seemed so happy on top of the lampwork bead and a lampwork headpin that the piece came together quite quickly.  I love the combination of yellow and green in this - seems so fresh and springlike!

Blue Berri bead on Spring Pendant from Maverick Beads

I had a fantastic time working with everything Johana sent - I'm looking for the perfect compliment to the pendant, bracelet blank and lampwork, and figuring out how to mount the lovely glass flowers, so stay tuned for those in a future post.

Recieved by me - Package One - Bead Soup Blog Party

Johana at Art Incendi really spoiled me - a lovely bunch of spring pretties just at the bleakest point in winter.  Yummy grape enamelled beads, a ceramic birdie, some lampwork buttons, a sweet little bird charm, a winged bracelet blank, a bright word bead and a selection of glass flowers!  So spoiled.

Johana selected beads with her favourite theme - birds, wings and flowers.  I've got lots of ideas to play around with this lot!

Received by my partner - Package One - Bead Soup Blog Party

The lovely Joane Louvaine Bell received my package the quickest - yeah for Canada to UK postage!

Here's what I blogged earlier:

and here's what she actually received:

The requirements were to send a hoarded bead.  I sent two Sarah Hornik lampwork lovelies - an artist I'd long admired, a ceramic disk, a copper focal, a bunch of my own lampwork, a good chunk of vintage (middle column - either French flea market or German new stock) and a bunch of things that I'd consider "ordinary" - right column.  It was a bit of a risk - purple, green, and orange!  What kind of mean partner does that?  Fortunately, Joanne loves this, or so she tells me, and I can't wait to see what she does with these!

Another Bead Soup - Lori Anderson's Blop Hop 2017

Because of a mix-up, I now have two bead soup partners!  This (very disguised soup, via two filters) is currently at the post office, on it's way to Johana in Puerto Rico.  I had picked out the soup before I knew anything about Johana, but I think she'll really like the soup.  I can't wait to see what she might make with her lovely hand enameled creations!  A proper introduction soon...

Bead Hoarders Bead Soup and Swap and Hop

I signed up for two swaps/blog hops in the upcoming months.  One is the Bead Peeps "Swap and Hop", where I've been partnered with Divya, who blogs at Jewels of Sayuri.  I picked out something I'm hoping she'll like, but will be a challenge to design with - after all, why participate in a swap if you're only going to get things that are your own style.  Disguising the beads in the swap so they'll be a surprise to Divya was a challenge,but I found a filter that did it.

The second swap is what I think will be the ninth edition of the Bead Soup Party.  This time, host Lori Anderson has designed the swap as a Bead Hoarders swap, so I can pick out my beads before hand.  I dipped into my stash of lovelies, and found a couple of things that I'm hoping my swap partner will appreciate.  The beads were a challenge to colour match for the rest of the soup, but I'm hoping my partner will appreciate what I've set aside.

Stay tuned for the reveals of both swaps!

Swap and Hop - April 8th
Bead Hoarders Bead Soup - March 25th

Earring Duo - Blue Birdie and Carmel Steampunk Gears

These cute little birdies were found at my local bead store - most of the charms and dangles they have are not really my style, but when I found these folky little brass birds, I knew they would be perfect.  Paired with handwoven beads in a matte silverlined blue, they'd be the perfect piece to attract attention at a casual gathering.

 

I haven't made many pieces recently without handwoven beads in them - once the muse took over, so did the beads!  I took apart a necklace recently that just wasn't working, and the little clay steampunk gears and the colourful lampwork rounds ended up on my work table next to each other.  They'd be perfect for a steampunk enthusiast who wants something that's a little more subtle or casual than your ordinary steampunk garb.

Blues and Greens - Casual Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet and Vintage Apple Green Earrings

It's completely the middle of winter here,  maybe getting a little lighter each day, but still mostly just dark and grey.  So a little colour (and fun!) is in order.  The bracelet is an essential oil diffuser bracelet - the little white ball in the middle of the white and turquoise petals is made of felt, so you can include your favourite essential oil within a wonderfully fun bracelet.  A sterling silver clasp adds to lampwork beads, a handwoven beaded bead and some vintage acrylic flowers. 

The earrings are more lampwork - apple green disks and donuts, mini dark blue spacers and vintage acrylic navy rounds. 

Links to purchase are here and here

Romantic Duo - Peach and Violet Bracelet and Earrings

 

This isn't my comfort zone.  Peach and Violet?  Not me.  But sometime karma and glass speaks to you.   And you go rummaging around the beadbox for "something" and a large acrylic cube just kind of sticks out at you.  Sure, it's been there for 20 years, but it needed to be in this bracelet. 

The peach and light lavender beads are my own lampwork - some times its not as exciting to make spacers, but there are other times, like this, where the simplicity and striations of the glass make everything just right.   

If you'd like either of these pieces for your own collection, the earrings are here and the bracelet is here

Northern Lights - Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet in Subtle Light Blue

I've become slightly obsessed with making beaded beads out of seedbeads, as seen by the lovely, just barely there blue coloured beads.  Not a seedbead colour I would normally work with, but it worked well in the bracelet.  This particular bracelet also has a felt diffuser ball, so it can also be used with essential oils.  Just put a couple of drops on the felt ball, and you'll benefit from all of the healing properties that essential oils have.

My Etsy shop has been sadly neglected, but the bracelet has been listed here