So, it’s my reveal day for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party. I wrote a blog some weeks ago, detailing what the Bead Soup Blog Party is all about, so if you’re scratching your head, head here. If you do know what it’s all about, you’ll still want to see what I received from my partner, Kathrin Lembke.

There was a bright selection of Kathrin’s lampwork beads and a mix of antique brass beads and findings. There was also a collection of quite dainty, pretty beads (mother of pearl drops, freshwater pearls, and floral ceramic rounds), which seemed quite distinct from the rest of the soup, and I had the idea to develop the design of a pair of earrings I made some time ago and offset the prettiness with some darkened, artfully messy wirework frames. Which didn’t go well. After quite a lot of wrapping, hammering and LOS-ing, I had a mess that wasn’t remotely artful. But after all this I wasn’t going to be abandoning the wretched things, so I wrapped them in sari silk ribbon and started to adorn them.

There were going to be pearls on those chains but enough was enough. I had a vague plan for a necklace and I knew that I would have quite a lot of soup left over, including the clasp. So, the next thing I made was a bracelet, using much of the lampwork and antique brass, and mixing in some czech glass and vintage lucite.

When I made up the soup for Kathrin, I limited the colour palette to two colours and avoided putting in metal pieces that would influence what colour metal she would use. I had a strong idea what I would do with it if I were using it and I was interested to see what decisions she made on these things. I tested myself in a similar way. I picked out the large orange flower focal then tried to think of colours, other than those in the soup, that would work with what I had. I decided on deep indigo and hot pink and added some vintage glass and charms, dyed magnesite and handmade paper beads (by Spoon). And lots more chain!

It’s quite a simple design but I like it. Now I must go and see what Kathrin made. Here’s the soup I sent to her.

And here’s a list of all the other participants - happy hopping!