{"id":7099,"date":"2011-09-17T03:54:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-17T07:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/?p=7099"},"modified":"2014-02-18T20:20:56","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T00:20:56","slug":"bead-soup-blog-party-time-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/?p=7099","title":{"rendered":"Bead Soup Blog Party time!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thank you for stopping by the sweet bead studio corner of the great big Bead Soup Blog Party. \u00a0The blog party is hosted by my friend \u00a0Lori Anderson<\/a>, and this is my 3rd time participating in this international event. \u00a0Lori has created a blog hop (and it’s much more than a blog hop) that so many of us look forward to; it is quite the<\/em> event of the jewelry community. \u00a0Thank you Lori, and a great big {hug} going out to you!!<\/p>\n

Oh boy was I lucky. \u00a0My bead soup partner was Riki Schumacher of Riki Jewelry<\/a>. \u00a0It happens that I’ve been an online friend of Riki’s for some time, not to mention I absolutely love her style. \u00a0 Riki is such an inspirational instructor – she recently launched a new site<\/a> for the jewelry community, and plans to share information, techniques, and tutorials! \u00a0You can also take classes with her in-person (if you’re lucky to live close enough), or take one of her mini online courses – she is very generous with information.<\/p>\n

Riki sent me a fabulous array of vintage treasures. \u00a0The color scheme is incredibly rich – with a mix of bronze and pearly tones. \u00a0Just look at the focal she created for me! \u00a0Riki soldered rhinestones to a pendant that she forged and antiqued. \u00a0Another focal was created from a vintage watch – she shared this technique in a previous issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry. \u00a0Pearls, an assortment of vintage charms, and luscious silk ribbon were also included in her bead soup mix.<\/p>\n

I was immediately drawn to the tiny, old photographs. \u00a0Who were these people and what kind of lives did they lead? \u00a0My mind began to wander to different scenarios – from a hundred<\/em> years ago. \u00a0Riki sent these pictures to the right person. I take in old photographs and give them their due respect \u00a0– one day I’ll share my antique photo album collection. \u00a0Now back to my soup mix – another favorite piece is the gold link (and it’s a mystery as to how it was used, it does not open like \u00a0a locket). \u00a0What’s so special about this piece is the script monogram – “LEW”. \u00a0I created a story in my \u00a0mind, of how the man in the photograph gave this to the woman with the rosy cheeks as a special token of his endearment. \u00a0Maybe it was an engagement gift. \u00a0I know this monogrammed piece must have been special to someone, somewhere, many years ago. \u00a0It is now in my possession and I do cherish it already.<\/p>\n

\"Bead<\/a><\/p>\n

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It’s plain to see that I received a bead soup mix that is completely the type of beads and components I would have selected for myself. \u00a0If you’re asking, “where’s the challenge then?”, there were still challenges. \u00a0I did encounter challenges as I connected the components of this cuff-like bracelet. \u00a0I annealed three of the metal connectors and filigree and shaped them on my bracelet mandrel so they’d have a nice curve. \u00a0I got creative with cold connections. \u00a0An antique rhinestone pin is wire wrapped to a Bethlehem Steel tag. \u00a0The monogrammed focal is attached to the old, ornate stamping with sari ribbon. \u00a0Fray Check<\/a> is my friend when it comes to sari ribbon. \u00a0 I added vintage rhinestone and mother of pearl buttons to the beautiful mix of beads that I received from Riki.<\/p>\n

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I debated with whether or not to embellish the soldered rhinestone focal that Riki hand-forged. It was so beautiful on its own. \u00a0Should I punch a hole and hang a dangle from the bottom? \u00a0 \u00a0While looking through my vintage buttons, I came across an old “W” button I had been saving. \u00a0Oh how perfect. Not only was this one of the initials in the monogrammed focal, but it is the initial of my<\/em> last name (and if it looks like an M to you, that covers my maiden name too!). \u00a0The “W” button was a perfect match!<\/p>\n

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I had a clever little idea for the necklace. \u00a0I added seed bead\u00a0and brass chain to a old rhinestone necklace, and did not<\/em> attach it to the main necklace. \u00a0I created the look of a double-strand necklace, but with the option of wearing one without the other.<\/p>\n

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I have a surprise for you….a little thank you <\/strong>for making it this far in my lengthy bead soup post (because there are over 300 other blogs you’ll want to visit!). \u00a0I’ll be giving away this sweet pair of earrings to one visitor. \u00a0I’ll draw a name next Tuesday, Sept. 2oth.<\/p>\n

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Enjoy the rest of the Bead Soup Blog Party & thank you for stopping by! \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0You’ll find the complete list of participants when you click on the link below.<\/p>\n

-Cindy<\/p>\n

The 4th Bead Soup Blog Party list of participants<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thank you for stopping by the sweet bead studio corner of the great big Bead Soup Blog Party. \u00a0The blog party is hosted by my friend \u00a0Lori Anderson, and this is my 3rd time participating in this international event. \u00a0Lori has created a blog hop (and it’s much more than a blog hop) that so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,42,36,26,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bead-soup-blog-party","category-blog-hop","category-challenges-and-collaborations","category-give-away","category-jewelry-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetbeadstudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}