My Bead Soup Creation!

This has been quite an adventure for me!  Thanks first to Lori Anderson for hosting this tremendous project.  It's been a lot of fun to participate!  Next I'd like to thank my partner Jane Haag.  She is a very sweet and kind person that I'm so happy to have met...long distantly.  I've enjoyed working with her little works of art so very much.   

Now, I thought I'd start out by showing a couple of teasers so you could get just a taste of what I'm serving up.

Everyone should know by now that I'm not really a jewelry maker.  I made most of the lampwork beads in the necklace and bracelet for this Bead Soup project.  I chose some of my favorites to compliment what my partner sent me.

Hungary Yet?

Double Helix is a silvered glass which when exposed to a reduction flame brings out all different kinds of shimmer.  The main bead in the middle of the top picture is made with two different types of DH glass. The side with Psyche is where you see the green, purple and pink luster.  Triton is the other side with the rich purple luster.  The pinkish beads are made of Aurae, another DH glass that really is sort of unpredictable, sometimes gold, sometimes pink and sometimes a soft magenta!

My partner Jane Haag, sent me the most beautiful silver hammered pieces that she made herself.  I really love how Lori Anderson paired us up, with both of us being artists that create the components of jewelry.

I love what Jane sent me too, and when I saw all the ingredients I pretty much knew what I wanted to do.

If you read one of my blog posts a while back, you know what I mean by "Who am I making this for?"  The answer is, I made it for me.

I've always loved necklaces that have different tiers of strands with kind of a whimsical, random look.  I also like necklaces where you see the exposed silver wire that space out the beads or charms.  So that was my plan.

Looks Good Enough To Eat!

It was a no-brainer that I was going to use the sterling silver flower as the focal (she sent an alternate which I used in the bracelet).  That was the main piece of the bottom tier.  The silver hammered rings were stunning, but she only sent me three!  The challenge there was how was I going to make this work....remember I'm no jewelry designer.  I played around with different ideas and came up with the idea of wire wrapping one of my beads to link two together.  So that was the focal of the next tier.  Finally, on the last tier I used that last ring to attach the sweet little charms together.  Joy, calm, and bliss.....well, not yet.

I could write a book about the struggles I went thru putting it all together, but I know you have other blogs to hop.  Let's just say that I felt that joy, calm and bliss after about 3 weeks working on it...on and off.  I had to get away from it at times to collect my thoughts and think how to solve the many problems I encountered during the construction.

Triple Layer Bracelet with Kazuri Focal Bead

By the time I was finished with the necklace, I was totally exhausted so I got some of that memory wire and started using up what was left of the beads that Jane sent me. 

This is How We Hang!

Since it was necessary for me to show how the necklace would hang around someone's neck. The only person around I could use as a model was my husband, so that was out.  I could have modeled it myself, but naaahh. Please excuse the less than perfect photography.

It worked out fine with the necklace display piece, even though it was dirty.  I covered it with a pretty piece of fabric.  In order to get it to hang right, I had to wrap the back of the necklace around the front, which shows off the lovely clasp that Jane made.

Sorry to have kept you so long.  I did go back and do some editing....really!

Happy Hopping!

Coming Soon!

Hostess, Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Agi Kiss, Moonsafari Beads 
Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming

Alison Sachs, Beads by Earthtones

Amanda Dittloff, Passion Smashin'

Andra Marasteanu, Bijoux de Monanage

Angie Szlovak, SweetBeads

Anitra Gordy, Leelu Creations

Ann Sherwood, Ann's Blog

Arlene Dean, A Glass Bash

Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution

Barb Solem, Vivi Magoo Presents

Barbara Blaszczyk, laboratorim Flory

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Bianca Odenthal, Zydies Glasperlen

Birgit Klughardt, GitesBeads
Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry
Bonnie Coursolle,  Jasper Gems
Cece Cormier, The Beading Yogini
Charlene Jacka, Clay Space
Cherrie Fick, En La Lumie're
Cheryl Foiles, Get Your Bead On
Christie Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Christina Miles, Wings n Scales
Christina Stofmeel, Feng Beads
Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design
Cindy Cima Edwards, Live to Design
CJ Bauschka, 4 His Glory Creations
Claire Smith, Embergrass Jewelry
Cynthia Riggs, Cynth's Blog
Dana Fowler, Trunk Full of Treasure
Dawn Pierro, Turtle Moon Designs
Dee Elgie, Cherry Obsidia
Donetta Farrington, Simply Gorgeous


Dot Lewallwn, Speedie Beadie
Elizabeth Bunn, Elizabeth Beads
Eva Kovacs, Ewa gyongyos vilaga!
Evelyn Duberry, Sheba Makeda
Fay Wolfenden, Torch Fairy
Fen Li, Bead Flora Jewels
Gail Zwang, Angel Moose Enterprises
Geneva Collins, Torque Story
Grace Dorsey, Fan of the Flame
Gretchen Nation,  Art Food Lodging

Hannah Annear, Squintessential
Heather Goldsmith, As I Bead It
Heather Otto, The Craft Hopper
Heidi Kingman, My Bead Therapy
Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope
Isolina Perez, Isolina Perez
Jacqueline Keller, CreARTelier
Jane Haag, Did You Make Something Today?
Janeen Sorensen, Wild Vanilla Designs
Jean Peter, Jean P. Designs


Jennifer Judd, Jen Judd Rocks
Jennifer L Justman, Soul's Fire Designs
Joanna Matuszczyk, Bizuteria z filcu
Joanne Brown, Jo's Jewels
Joanne Lockwood, Jo Bunkum
Joyce Becker, Joyce's Joyful Gems
Judy Riley, Three Red Beads
Karen Mitchell, Over the Moon Design
Karen Williams, Baublicious
Karin von Hoeren, Creative Ideen

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams
Kashmira Patel, Sadafule .. always in bloom!
Kate Richbourg, We Can Make That at Home

Katrin Lembke, AllesPerle
Kathy Combs, Torched in Texas
Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design
Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz
Kelley Fogle, My Life, One Bead at at Time
Kelly Hosford Patterson, Traveling Side Show

Klaudette Koon, Only Road
Lara Lutrick, Lampwork Beads by Lara
Laura Guenther, Blue Antiquities
Laurie Lalonde, HourGlass Studio
Lilik Kristiani, Soul of My Embodiment
Linda Younkman, Lindy's Designs
Lisa Chapman, Beach Cat Beads
Lisa Lodge, Pine Ridge Treasures
Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta
Lori Bergmann, Lori Bergmann Design
Lupe Meter, Gem's PC Corner
Lynn Davis, LLYYNN

Malin de Koning, Beading by Malin
Mandi Effron, Craft-o-licious
Mandy Williamson, Mimi's Beading
Margot Potter, The Impatient Crafter
Maria Rosa Sharrow, Willow Street Shops
Marianne Baxter, Simply Seablime Jewelry
Marina Dobrynina, Savon Feutre
Marjolein Trewavas, Room for Change
Marelene Cupo, Amazing Designs
Marsha Neal, Marsha Neal Studio

Marta Kaczerowska, uhuhu
Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs
Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes
Menka Gupta, Menka's Jewelry Blog
Michelle Burnett, Reverie and Revival
Michelle Escano-Caballero, The Cabby Crafter
Miko Wiropati, Uniquely Yunikua
Milla Hope,  LB Creative Arts and Crafts
Mimi Gardner, Other Curiosities
Miranda Ackerley, MirandackArts
Natalie McKenna, grubbi

Noemi Baena, fuego, metal, y color
Pam Ferrari, Ferrari Originals
Pam Sears, Crazy Creative Corner
Penny Neville, Copper Penny
Rachel Baron, R. Baron Designs
Rachel Myers, Rockabead Jewelry
Rana Wilson, Definitive Designs by R. Wilson
Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads
Rebecca Sirevaag, Becca's Place
Riki Schumacher, Riki Jewelry

Rose Binoya, Ahtee's Blog
Rossana De Gaspari, Rdegas Blog
Sally Anderson, Wild Sally Road
Sandi James, Do Be Do Bead Do
Sandi Volpe, Sandi Volpe
Sandra Wollberg, City of Brass Stories
Sarah Small, blog by salla
Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings
Shawn Mills, Shawn Marie Designs with Bent Wire
Sheila Davis, Stone Designs by Sheila

Sheryl Stephens, Babble Bead
Shiraz Biggie, Secret Song Designs
Solange Collin,  Ahowin Handcrafted Jewelry
Sonya Stille, Dreamin' of Beads
Stephanie Dixon, The Dixon Chick
Susan Kennedy, Sue Beads
Susan Sheehan, Strands of Thought
Suzann Sladcik Wilson, Beadphoria
Sweet Freedom, Sweet Freedom Designs
Tabatha Dinger, Modernly Created
Tania Hagen, Pelima Jewellery Design

Tanya Boden, Fusion Muse
Terry Carter, Tapping Flamingo
Tracy Stillman, Tracy Stillman Designs

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. 

Stuff Going On

I'm still waiting to hear from my Bead Soup partner Jane Haag, of MJDesigns so that I can show you what she sent me!  Also waiting for the postal service to deliver the wire and other components I'm planning to use for my Bead Soup jewelry.


Got my "Bead Design Studio" magazine today, and what do you know?  There's an article in their "Marketing 101" section about Blogging!  You know, tips to get your work seen and sold?  Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to read that Lori Anderson is one of the main people they interviewed to talk about blogging and how to get your work seen by others!  Kinda feels like I know a celebrity!  There were lots of neat tips and ideas to jumpstart a blog.  Lori is the perfect person to ask about that, especially since she's the one who inspired me!

As I did some "hopping" this morning, I ran across a post about one of Lori's "GiveAway's." She's always doing them and she is such a generous lady!  To win one of the lovely things she brought back from the Bead and Button Show,

You MUST:

1) Post on your blog about this,

2) Leave a comment below her blog with your favorite giveaway

optional

3)  Facebook about this

4) Twitter about this

In your comments, please let Lori know what you've done.

CONTEST ENDS Friday the 13th of July

  (how can that day be unlucky????)

So I'm in it to win it!  I commented that I would love to win anything she has to offer such as a selection of "bits and bobs," jewelry components that are so pretty and inspiring.  Then there's her Bead Soup Book!  I would love that just to read more about how she does it.  Can you imagine what she puts into a project like this?  She is also offering her eBook on blogging inspirations.  And a neat "I'm a Bead Souper!" tote bag!  

Wish me luck!

THE WEATHER

As most of us in the United States know, it's hot as blue blazes out there!  North Carolina was promised a "cold front" to come thru today, but I think the dang thing has stalled.  It's overcast and about 78 degrees.  I shouldn't complain, it could certainly be worse!  I am sympathetic to those of you suffering triple digit weather....we've hit a hundred here too for a couple or three days.   But I moved out of Louisiana and up to the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC to get away from the heat!  The idea of not needing an air conditioner in the summer sounded like heaven to me.  So here we are in these beautiful mountains with no AC.  I'm sure ole Al Gore is doing a happy dance!  I may have to move in with Sarah Palin to have year round AC.

Just Mailed My Soup to Jane!

My Bead Soup Partner is Jane Haag.  She and I have been in touch, sharing addresses and websites. 


I selected some of my favorite beads with some sweet colors and I already know that she's going to make something absolutely gorgeous with them.


I am now anxiously waiting to see what she sends to me!  She is a silver-smith and she has some really lovely work on her website.  I already know the clasp she will send me will be amazing! 

Wheaton Arts Festival

I have long heard of the Wheaton Glass Arts Village and wished to go there to learn more about the history of American glass.

"History of WheatonArts The important American glass industry began in southern New Jersey because of the availability of natural resources such as wood, sand, soda ash and silica. The nation’s earliest successful glass factory was founded in 1789 by Caspar Wistar in nearby Salem County in Millville. Many of the nation’s foremost glass factories operate in South Jersey."  (from wheatonarts.org)

My friend Marie Woelfing called me about a month prior to tell me she had the great honor of demonstrating the art of making glass beads for the Annual Wheaton Arts Fall Festival!  I was so excited for her and it gave me a great excuse to go.  I had never done anymore than pass through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware and this gave me the opportunity to see a little more.

So we traveled to Millville, NJ on a great adventure!  The first thing I did was look for Marie.  Here she is making beads and showing her audience how she makes a glass bead.  That's her husband Otto in the background, he is a lapidary artist and makes some gorgeous cabs from what look like ordinary rocks.  


Marie is also a very talented and skilled jewelry designer using her own beads (mine too! she's one of my best customers) crystals and sterling silver to make bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and key chains.  She and Otto spend lots of time on the road going to craft fairs selling their wares.  They seem to do very well at all their venues otherwise I can't imagine doing it.  Marie and Otto enjoy it, the travel, and their common interests including dancing!  They are quite the little couple!

After my husband and I had scoped out some of the other booths we came back and I reported to Marie some of the different booths she should go and see.  She let me spell her for a while and I got to do some demonstrations while she was away.  Can't say that anything I made was special.  It was kinda like trying to cook in someone else's kitchen, trying to find tools and stringers to do what I wanted to do.  It was great fun to take part in Wheaton Arts Festival even though I wasn't the featured artist.

Kesha Koy  www.keshakoy.com

While out and about looking at what the other glass artists were doing I met Keysha Koy who creates wonderful pendants with borocilicate glass.  As we chatted we discovered we had a friend in common and that was pretty cool!  But her pendants were so unique.  I wish I had a close up pic of them.  They were flatter than the regular boro pendants you see out there everywhere, yet they still had that dimensional quality.  Then to top that off she added outside raised elements on one side, the other, or on the outside edges. She had just sold one of the prettiest pendants and was getting ready to put something new up.  Below you can see more of the pendants that I described.   I've listed her website below, but you can see her work better on Etsy.  Just do a search for her in "sellers."

SO!  I'm not through yet, that was just the first day!  The next day we came back so that we could see the "Big Glass" workers.   

The first ones we visited were the traveling glassblowers of Wheaton Arts.  These guys carry a furnace, bench, annealer and all the tools needed to blow glass on the road to perform demonstrations everywhere from schools to other festivals.   While the gaffer created a vase out of purple glass, his partner would describe everything he was doing.  Here you see the gaffer being rather flamboyant by blowing holding the pipe up high...most do it more casually.  After they finished the demo I went over to the tent where they were selling things that they had made the day before and we had an interesting conversation.  Glass people are always interesting to talk to.  I bought a purple vase before I left and it was signed on the bottom!


We then went to the museum where we saw more glass than we thought was possible.  By the time we got out of there it had been 2 hours and we hardly noticed the time go by with so much to see.  I learned that the King of England didn't want the Colonists to make glass in America so he wouldn't allow English blowers to go over.  But the Colonists finagled German glassblowers to come over and that was where it started!  I also learned that a lot of the glass out there that may look like junk may not be, though I wish I could tell the difference.

This is the original stack, circa 1790.

Our last stop was to see the original glass furnace of Wheaton and watch the gaffers make glass pumpkins.  It was neat to go to the original place where some of the first glass vessels were produced in America.  The artists that work here are big names in the glass world and come to places like Wheaton to hone their skills and make new creations.  Wish I could tell you this fellows name but I forgot it :(   In the picture below the gaffer is standing right in front of the bottom of that stack you see from the outside (on the left).   We did end up purchasing a glass pumpkin!

 And that is the end of this long tale about my adventure to see the Wheaton Glass Arts Village.  Hope I didn't bore you, but there was so much to tell, and believe me I kept it short!  It was all so exciting to me and will always be a great memory.

To Blog or Not to Blog? That Is the Question!

As an artist who really wants to just sit at the torch all day 

creating little works of art, I see from what my peers are doing, I must do more than that.  I need to focus on putting the sets of beads that I've created together and take pictures of them to post on the web for sale!  I must focus on being more savy about promotion and sales of my work.  I've got work on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/GracefulGlassDesigns ArtFire http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/gracedorsey, and occasionally I post some on eBay, but it's not getting the kind of attention I'd like to see.  

     After looking at some of my peers websites and stores I noticed that most of them have a blog.  They are usually entertaining, some write on things directly associated with the beads they are presently creating, then some go a little off topic and that's kind of interesting.  I do like to expound upon my beads and other topics, so why not create a blog?  Especially if it helps give me exposure, after all my goal is to garner more people to see and buy my work to be incorporated into beautiful jewelry!  

 My forte is really just making beads and not making jewelry with them.  I'm very critical of my own craftsmanship.  Occasionally after spending several hours stringing, re-stringing, twisting, untwisting, wasting materials and blowing my top, I come up with a piece of jewelry that pleases me.  So you will rarely see me making jewelry.  However, I've recently made a necklace that I think is worthy of putting out there for the public to buy and feel confident that it will stay together and have no flaws....that I know of.

 So to get out of jewelry making I found some bottle openers at Michaels that I could put my beads on.  They looked pretty nice, so I gave one away as a gift.  My friend was so thrilled with it she told me that I MUST start selling them.  So I made more. 

Another great find I happened upon at the recent "Gathering" (besides new friends) was a cool mandrel that I could make cabochons with!  When I saw it I had all kinds of ideas for what I could do with it!  The first thing I thought of was purse, or handbag hangers.  I'd seen them used by some of my friends and they were all commercially made, probably in China.  Well mine would be one of a kind!  So I found a supplier and bought a bunch of them and now I've got them on the web and in stores.  Some of the cabochons I made didn't quite fit the purse hangers so I put them up for grabs on "Beads and More" classified.  I've sold a few of those but I wish I'd sold all of them.

So now I've completed my first blog!  I hope I'll find some followers!  

Take care all and if you have any ideas for me, I'm more than open to them.  You can contact me at gracedorsey@att.net.