Bead Soup Blog Party, Lori Anderson

Welcome to the next stop in the Bead Soup Book Blog Tour! Today I am joining a great line-up of contributors in celebrating the recent release of Lori Anderson’s book, Bead Soup – 32 Projects Show What Happens When 26 Beaders Swap Their Stash! Do you have a copy yet? If not, I think you’ll be ready to grab your own by the time you’ve read the many reviews this week!

I’ve been along on this exciting journey with Lori from the very beginning…. I remember the news that Kalmbach wanted to publish a book featuring her incredibly popular Bead Soup Blog Party. This blog hop phenomenon has so many in the jewelry community swapping beads, creating, blogging, and making new online connections. I have had the privilege of contributing to this book in a very unique way. Early on, Lori asked if I would take the pictures each of the bead soups to be featured in the book. Would I?? Oh, you bet! I enjoy staging pictures as much, if not more, than making jewelry! 🙂 I remember an over-nighter with Lori, staying up late going through the first round of bead soup mixes with excitement. I really feel honored that I was able to hold each of the bead soup contributions in my hands, and arrange them in to a bead bowl picture. Should I group the beads in sections, or show them randomly mixed? It was a fun dilemna. I want to thank Lori for trusting me to take on such an important role in her book. I loved every minute of it.

It was a nice challenge to work with bead soups from jewelry designers and bead makers that I admire. When you start with the beautiful sets of beads that they hand-selected, you can’t go wrong! I’d love to share some before and after photos – first a few shots of the bead soup bowls, then a snippet of the finished piece. I really enjoyed reading the creative names that Lori concocted for the jewelry pieces – I’ve included them with the pictures. This first set from Heather Powers features her polymer clay art beads (in my favorite colors!).

Next, an all-vermeil bead soup with a show-stopping tassel was put together by Lori Anderson. Its like having the benefit of a blank canvas when you start a design with an all-metal bead soup!

Now this was a fun challenge – a bead soup by Kerry Bogert featuring one of her handmade peacock focals. You can read more about her bead soup in her post here. This piece has now gone on to a new home with the bead soup originator herself & that makes me happy that she has a special piece of jewelry that we collaborated on together.

What a thrill to work with a soup featuring enameled beads by the Queen of torch-fired enameling herself! The aqua blues and pastels in Barbara Lewis’ bead soup was right up my alley. Combining pretty vintage flowers seemed like a natural pairing with the enameled focal and beads.

I know you’ll find so much to gain and enjoy reading the Bead Soup book. I’m fond of the book’s fresh format, with the soup theme carried throughout. You’ll find recipe cards, “utensils” for the supply lists, and incredibly creative soup-related project titles (I still don’t know how Lori came up with 32 unique names!). 🙂 The Gallery is another great feature, showing more designs by talented jewelry designers. I love having the Bead Soup Blog Party experience captured in a book that I can flip through time and again for inspiration.

There are lots prizes all along the book tour! I’m giving away a set of handmade, tumbled-to-perfection copper wire clasps. Simply leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. You’ll also be entered to win the BIG GRAND prize that Lori is giving away – each comment on a book tour blog post will be entered in to the drawing. Winners to be announced between on October 8th or 9th. Visit Lori’s blog for all of the details!