Soup From Jane!

 Oh boy!  Don't these look like the most yummy ingredients?  I hope my photography is doing them justice.  I certainly took enough different pictures!  But finally, I think I captured the right composition to present Jane Haag's lovely gift in the right light.

Here is a close up view of Jane's handcrafted silver pieces.  This is my favorite part of the soup.  To me, the best part of this challenge is to be able to hold little pieces of art that were made with the heart, soul, and sweat of another artist.

All of these pieces were stamped, soldered and forged by Jane.  The flower will absolutely make the best focal, as she needlessly sent me two.  I keep dreaming up different arrangements for using these pieces in a jewelry design, and I haven't decided anything for sure, but never doubt these will be the highlight of the piece!


Jane sent me a nice selection of ceramic, pressed, and lampwork beads.  They all coordinate with the African Kazuri Bead which is the alternate focal.   I'd never heard of Kazuri beads, but since Jane sent me one as an alternate focal, I knew it must be special.  When I Google'd it, I learned there's a charming story behind these "small and beautiful" works of art. 

She also sent me some jasper cubes to compliment the whole set.  I particularly like the ceramic beads!  They are so earthy, yet they have an organized stripe design on them.  The pressed glass is also really lovely.  I think they will make a nice bracelet combined with the Kazuri bead.

I love the silver leaves and flowers she sent me.  I'm fairly sure these will be used in the necklace I'm going to make with Jane's other silver pieces.  She didn't mention the brass spacers as being her own handy work, but they are stamped and I think they would look neat in an earring design.  I've linked three together and we'll see if that works. 

This is going to be such a fun adventure!  I am VERY glad we have an August 25th reveal date!  If that doesn't give me enough time then I'm just a louse!  

Jane, thank you so much for selecting such a neat collection of your stash to share with me.  I hope I can do it justice.  

Now I'll Show You What I Sent to Jane

 I had a time deciding what I wanted to send her.  I have a lot of beads!  So my strategy was to pick out one of my favorite focal beads and work around that.  Seems logical?  It took me long enough to figure it out.  

This arrangement is the only photo I have.  I just poured the beads and other nick-knacks into a bowl, like soup.  Therefore it is sort of hard to see the details and differences between them.  The focal bead is at the top of the picture, but it doesn't contrast very well with the disc beads.  I bet Jane does a better job of showing them than I have.