Saturday, June 4, 2011

Fairy Tale Bead Swap Blog Hop--the Reveal!

Catch of a Lifetime

My computer and/or mouse have been very temperamental this week, so I haven't been able to post the buildup to the reveal that I planned, and I will have to keep this entry short--but I couldn't miss the June 4 deadline for posting what I had done with the beads I had gotten from the lovely Lisa of alterityart .

This was my first time participating in the Bead Soup Party bead swap that is run by Lori of Pretty Things. She pairs up beader-bloggers, who swap beads with each other and then make a piece of jewelry on a designated theme and blog about it. This swap's theme was fairy tales, and Lisa sent me a haunting fable by the Brothers Grimm of a fisherman and his ambitious and greedy wife (who seems to have torn a page from the playbook of Lady Macbeth).

Here are the beads Lisa sent me, an assortment of mostly vintage beads in blues and greens with a few grays thrown in to represent the tempestuous sea, craggy rocks and roiling skies. There were some nubbly textured gold beads and two patina'd beads that suggested sunken treasure and diving bells to me. All of them with lots of character and history. She also included this amazing Vintaj brass fish focal.

This necklace was so much fun to make. It was my first attempt at freeform beadweaving, and I was inspired by Beverly Ash Gilbert's marvelous book Beaded Colorways. In fact, I had planned to write a whole blog entry just raving about this book, which I picked up by chance in my local Borders a couple of weeks ago. That will have to wait until I can get my keyboard working again--I simply can't type on the laptop keyboard and need my ergonomic one, which is flaking out on me.

Anyway, I have Lisa's aquaeous beads swimming around in a sea of seed beads in freeform netting that is meant to suggest waves and seaweed and perhaps a net ensnaring the magic talking fish.

If you'd like to see what Lisa did with the beads I sent her, hop on over to her blog--I'm dying to see myself! [8:30 a.m. update: I wrote the above on Friday and scheduled it to post on Saturday. But it's Saturday morning and I've peeked at Lisa's Titiana's Folly --the gorgeous charm bracelet she made with my "moon pearls," "magic seedpods" and spectra glass.]

And please check out the explosion of creativity from all the talented beaders who participated in the swap. The links are below--start hopping!


Fairy Tale/Spring Bead Swap Blog Hop

Lori Anderson, Pretty Things
Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads
Courtney Breul, Beads By Breul 
Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta
Evelyn Hall, Dragon Lady Evelyn
Sandy Richardson, Sandy's Coloring Box
Tara Plote, Newbie Beader
Christine Brandel, A Hot Piece of Glass
Lisa Sittniewski, Alterity Art
Joanna Matuszczyk, Filcowe
Jenni Connolly, Jenni Bead
Geneva Collins, Torque Story
Elisabeth Auld, Beads For Busy Gals
Sally Russick, Wireworked
Mary McGraw, MK's Creative Musings
Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas
Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found 
Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs
Shai Williams, Shaia's Ramblings
Johanna Rhodes, Fire Phoenix Creations
Sandi Lee James, Do Be Do Bead Do
Valerie Norton, Hot Fused Glass


18 comments:

  1. That looks so like waves, what a beautiful job you have done.Love the focal, too.. that poor fish is trying hard to escape by the looks of things. Great colors.
    jenni

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  2. I took a class from Beverly Ash Gilbert over a year ago and also fell in love with her freeform style of bead weaving. Fabulous job.

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  3. Love, Love, Love this! Beautiful design and that fish piece looks great here. Always wondered what I would do with it when I saw it in bead shops for sale. Now I know!

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  4. The colors are stunning as is that fish charm. Really wonderful!

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  5. I just love that she found a less well known fairy tale to share with you. You knocked this freeform weaving out of the park! Thank you for playing, this was a lot of fun!
    Enjoy the day!
    Erin

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  6. I love your bead weaving. You made a beautiful design.

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  7. WOW. If this is your first attempt at free-form beading -- world, watch out. I'm just blown away. It's fabulous.

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  8. Lovely piece - definitely looks like the crashing waves of the sea!

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  9. Wow, really gorgeous! You did a great job at interpreting the story in your necklace.
    Deb x

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  10. Wow, I can't imagine the amount of work that must have gone into this piece! Amazing. Well done! Now, I'm going to check out that book you recommended.....

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  11. Oh, Geneva...that necklace is gorgeous! It's so funny when you send bead soups to people! As I was picking the beads out for you, I was choosing them based upon a design in my head. Well, that design stuck. Now, of course the person getting the beads would never in a million chances be able to design the piece exactly the way the chooser "designed" it in their head. And, of course, you didn't...but I never in a million years would have envisioned the beads like this! That is simply gorgeous, and you definitely caught the essence of the sea here! Yay!!!

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  12. Beautiful! Love the colours here :-)

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  13. I literally gasped when the picture loaded on my monitor! I love the ocean and the water and these colors and the design just absolutely delighted me! Love it!

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  14. Awesome necklace! Is this the yahoo group bead soup with Lori? I just joined up for the one that just started, sent my beads to my partner yesterday. Can't wait to see what I get!

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  15. Awesome necklace! Is this the yahoo group bead soup with Lori? I just joined up for the one that just started, sent my beads to my partner yesterday. Can't wait to see what I get!

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  16. very cool! I will have to get in on the next hop!

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