Art on the Avenue

I've completed several new necklaces and earrings in the past few weeks, but without a camera, I can't post pics. So I'll plug Alexandria's Art on the Avenue instead--it's the reason behind my (relatively) prodigious (for me, at least) output.

Look for me at booth #150E. I'm sharing space with Patti North of All Fired Up! (And if you can't make it, please at least throw some karma our way to keep rain at bay.)

My reveal for the biggest bead soup blog party ever!

Welcome all blog hoppers making their way through cyberspace, attempting to visit all 362 blogs participating in Lori Anderson's 4th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party! Lori, What an amazing output of creativity and good vibes you have nurtured into existence with your ingenious idea.

I was paired with Jane Haag of MJane Designs, who sent me these gorgeous beads last month. Please pause a moment to admire her lovely handmade clasp and silver-wrapped focal:

This is her own photo of the goodies she sent, and she has helpfully labeled the stones. These soft, pale shades of green are one of my favorite color palettes, so I knew I would love whatever I wound up making.

You'll see that she has wrapped a few of the stones into links, and that inspired me to do the whole necklace that way.

I sandwiched the little jade-like cubes between two silver chip spacers before making links out of them.

From my own stash, I used two-hole spacer beads to create the two tiers of links. It's hard to tell from the photo, but they have a shiny olive finish. I also threw some diamond-shaped silver beads with a kind of Celtic engraved pattern into the mix.

I have to once again apologize for the quality of my photos. My sister mailed me my digital camera--which I had stupidly left behind in a Cajun theme park in Louisiana last month while visiting her. It got rained on (it was in a canvas case) and I thought it a miracle that it was still working.

I took several photos of my necklace with it this evening and it seemed fine. But my luck ran out when I tried to download the files to my computer. No go. So once again I have to rely on my cellphone camera for photos.

Here's a view that shows the clasp.

And below is a closeup of the ice quartz focal. It has this mesmerizing depth to it, doesn't it?

I can't wait to see what Jane has done with the mix of stones I sent her.

(Oh, and if you're not part of the blog hop and have no idea what I'm talking about, your first stop should be the Bead Soup Blog Party site. You can read all about it and find the links of all 362 participating blogs.)