¿Qué Onda Q'town?: wire

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Bead Soup Reveal

I joined the Bead Soup Party a bit hesitantly because I am mostly just a dabbler who only sells when people approach me and ask about something I'm wearing. However, I jumped in to give myself a challenge and to push myself to learn a few new things. My partner is Marcie Abney from La Bella Joya, and as she pointed out in a post, we are strangely suited for each other - we both seed bead and we are both Spanish teachers. Marcie sent a bead soup package in a fantastic colorway. I took my cue from the copper clasp and got to work with pliers, hammer, and patina.

I have been on a quest to learn to make very simple beaded beads and this provided the perfect opportunity. I stitched up a beaded bead using circular peyote to cover a wooden ball and I made an octahedron from 4mm beads and seed beads. Coming home from a dog walk one morning, I found a length of heavy gauge copper wire in the street in front of my house and decided to use it instead of searching for copper washers as I had planned. From the wire I made hammered loops. I also made the copper jump rings used to form the little bit of chain I used. All this was subjected to patina gel from Cool Tools and tumbled. In the necklace there is also a bead I made from a stack of pale green buttons. All these pieces were assembled to show off the pretty resin pendant made by Marcie.