2018 Swap & Hop

It's reveal time for the 2018 Swap n' Hop!  My lovely partner is Jenny Kyrlach, who blogs over at Anafiassa.

Jenny couldn't quite decide what to send, so she sent two packages of beads - one from a green and earthtone mix and one from a red, white and black mix.  Jenny's specialty is her hand-made paper beads, and I was lucky enough to get seven sets of those - in brown, green, grey and white, light red/white, medium red/white and red.  Her handiwork is impressive on those beads - they are so consistent and lovely to use.

I have to admit that my beading mojo was at an all-time low over the last month.  I didn't even torch once, and so completed a couple of things with what I had on hand.  I'll continue to add to the work as I get things completed, so stay tuned for more work.  I did complete two pairs of earrings - one large drop featuring vintage buttons, Jenny's paper beads and some metal beads/  The next pair featured the lovely matte black and transparent red/black glass, plus some German glass from my own collection.

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.

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

Bead Soup Blog Party #8!!

Today's reveal date at the Bead Soup blog party.  I know I'm way late, and didn't even let you know I was participating, but it's been an extremely busy spring, and well... life happens.  Hosted by the fabulous Lori Anderson, the bead soup blog party is an event where two people swap a group of beads, and make items with those beads.  The beads must include a clasp and a focal, but can include anything else the two people want to send.  There are 468 of us participating this year, and all of the creations will be available for viewing today on the blog party.  My partner is Karen Jones, a lovely lady that lives only an hour and half from me, and who blogs at Off the Top Creations.

Karen sent me the following pretties to play with - a gorgeous selection of green beads, some stone, some ceramic, with some copper accent pieces and a few lovely brown pieces to balance it all out.




I picked up an issue of Bead Stringing this week, and used Lorelei Eurto's bracelet recipe to make this bracelet.  I used the glass and wood beads from the soup, combined them with a clasp from TheaToo, and added my own lampwork focal and accents to the mix.  I really love this bracelet, and will think fondly of Karen and the lovely things she sent me when I wear it.

Next, on to what I did with the clasp that Karen sent.  I had quite a hard time with this one, as the clasp was a different shape than what I'm used to.  I tried several different combinations, including one version with hot pink beads, before settling on this.  I also used the copper round butterflies and some of the serpentine that Karen sent, along with chain and vintage glass from my own collection.

 Lastly, I created a quick pair of earrings out of some fancy jasper and a couple of lampwork rounds.  I'm quite happy with these, and think the bronze beads at the top and bottom add a lot to the earrings.

Of course, I also sent Karen some goodies to play with, and if you'd like to see what she's done with these, head on over to Off The Top Creations to see her reveal:

If you want to see all of the other pretties, this link will take you to all of the other participating bloggers in the Bead Soup Blog Party!

Pantone Swap Reveal

I've had this prepped up forever, but it never managed to find it's way to the blog until now.  I joined a Pantone swap through one of the Facebook groups I belong in.  The idea was to take inspiration from Pantone's fall colours, and swap with someone else from the group.  It was a very relaxed exchange - you could decide on the number of beads, and whether you wanted to exchange beads for all of the colours, or just a few.  My partner, Maryse, from Luxembourg, and I decided on 3 sets of beads to exchange.  Maryse is also a lampworker, and she had a different style to mine, so I was excited to see what I would receive.

I sent:

- "Ultramarine green" beads with "Olympian blue" highlights
- "French roast" beads with "Olympian blue" and white dots
- "Bright chartreuse" and "Rhapsody" rounds with "Titanium" spacers

 I also sent a set of large holed beads to represent all of the colours in the line-up - French roast, Titanium, Ultramarine green, Bright chartreuse, Olympian blue, Rhapsody, Pink flambe, Rose smoke, Tangerine tango and Honey gold.

 Maryse sent me back a very sweet set of beads in Titanium, Olympian blue and Pink flambe.

 Which got turned into a very awesome set of earrings!

I really enjoyed this exchange, and hope there's one for the Spring / Summer 2013 colours!

Earring Exchange Reveal

It's been grey and blustery this January, and so it's always appreciated when good mail packages turn up.  I'd participated in the Earring exchange over at Lampwork Etc., and the package finally showed up this week.  I know the organizer was trying her best to get everything out before Christmas, but that time of year is especially busy for mail, and the delay meant that I could have something to look forward to in January.

For the exchange, each participant could make up to five pairs of earrings, and would receive the same back.  Because the exchange was on a lampwork board, most participants made their beads, but the exchange was also open to those who wanted to wirework or chose some other form of handmade components. I received back five lovely pairs, and can't wait to match them up with outfits!  My favourite pair are the red and green discs - I love mis-matched earrings, and the maker did a great job of keeping her discs thin and even - not easy when dealing with molten glass.

Christmas projects

I had several days off over Christmas, and thought I'd make use of the time by finishing a few projects. I've had some enamels for a while, and usually use them on glass, but thought I'd give metal enamelling a go. A trip to the bead store for supplies for the upcoming "Memories and Thanks" blog hop yielded some great brass rings, which now have a coat of striking blue enamel on them. I'd also picked up a couple of bags of vintage jewelery in Seattle, and had always meant to do something with it, but never found the time. One of the necklaces held the plastic ovals found at the bottom of the earings and throughout the necklace. Add in some really funky coloured chain from a fall trip to New York, a few other goodies purchased for the blog hop, and a new lampwork focal, and voila - a necklace and earring duo!

New Earrings

After the earring exchange I contributed to last month, I decided that I needed a few new pairs! Here they are....