Bead soup reveal day and giveaway

Ta-da! The big reveal day is here. The top photo features all the items I've created with the bead soup my wonderful soup partner Eleanor Snare sent me. If you wish to see what she sent me back in August click here.
For a list of all the participants go to Lori's blog Pretty Things.

Eleanor was extremely generous and sent me lots of beads. I was so excited I started designing jewellery the day I received my beads. I made these earrings that same evening and I've worn them a couple of times already. I rarely keep the pieces I make, but I instantly fell in love with these!

Next on the list were the antique gold clasp and the bronze chain. My first attempts of utilizing them were a big fail. I meant to use the chain and one of the charm pendants but I couldn't make it work. As is often the case, it was by pure accident that the necklace came together.

I've set aside the green pearls, because I had no idea how to use them. All I knew is that I wanted a simple design that would best showcase these beautiful pearls. In the end I made a simple necklace where the clasp can be worn at the back of the neck or in the front in which case it assumes the role of a pendant.

The bracelet is another curious mix of planning and chance. The beads were deliberately set aside and I knew I wanted to make a bracelet using the adorable blue ceramic piece as the focal.

In the end I added a helix faceted crystal from my own stash to make the bracelet long enough. I really like the idea of deliberate asymmetry with one rogue bead ;-)

I've left the focals Eleanor sent till last. Mostly because I'm not used to working with such large pendants. So I really wanted to give it time to come up with a design that will best show the focals in all their splendor.

 The tubular beaded bead Eleanor made herself was so stunning I knew immediately I was going to use as a stand alone pendant on a long chain in the style of Joan Holloway from Mad Men. If you haven't already, click here to see what I mean. It's a link to the August post where I show my bead soup.

The biggest challenge was how to anchor the focal. The hole was to big for a head pin and I deliberately didn't want to use any findings to secure the head pin.
 In the end I used silver wire, rolled it up to create a flat swirl, passed it through the focal and secured it with an ordinary wire wrap. Simple and unobtrusive. I really wanted the focal to float from the chain. Minimal hardware visible.

The large iridescent ceramic bead screamed opulence and exuberance to me. I had an idea of making a sumptuous over the top necklace. I went through my stash and dug out all the beads that corresponded to the given colour scheme.

Hours and hours...and hours later this chunky necklace was born.

I love how all the beads of different shapes and sizes collided into this one mass of sparkly beauty.

This necklace is a celebration of beads and jewellery designing :-)

With some green crystals left from my own stash I quickly made another pair of earrings. Though technically not a bead soup item because the components all come from my own supply, they were inspired by the colour scheme of the soup and are part of the bead soup creative process.

This was my first bead soup party and it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. When I enlisted as a participant I had no idea what to expect and hadn't really spent any time pondering what if I don't like the beads or what if I get stuck creatively.

What I have learned is the following:

1. colour coordination: I have worked with all the colours Eleanor sent me before but never paired together. In the future I'll try to experiment more with mixing different colours together.
2. large focals: Definitely something new and I was a bit apprehensive at first. The necklaces featuring the focals turned out so incredibly well it was an instant boost to my confidence.
3. unusual clasps: I always preferred ordinary toggles or hook and eye closures. I didn't want the clasp to distract from the jewellery design. Using the clasp Eleanor sent was great fun but proved to be the most difficult thing. Definitely something I will have to work on in the future.

 And now the giveaway. I'm giving away the necklace featuring the green freshwater pearls and the clasp from the bead soup and the creole earrings with green crystals to two readers. All you have to do is leave a comment  and leave a valid e-mail address or link it to your profile. I will choose two random readers on Monday 26th September.