Kalmbach Bead Soup Party!

This past summer, I took part in the gigantic Bead Soup Blog Hop, hosted by Lori Anderson (check out what I made here). Little did I know, Lori was in the process of being published by Kalmbach Publishing Co.--she had created a book of gorgeous blog hop creations entitled, Bead Soup: 32 Projects Show What Happens When 26 Beaders Swap Their Stash. As part of the promotion for the book, Kalmbach had arranged for local bead stores to donate some bead soups, which they sent some lucky beaders...and I was one of the lucky ones!

My soup comes from Just Beading Around, a bead shop located in Epping, New Hampshire.

My beautiful, delicious, soup!

I have to admit right off the bat that I did not do the gorgeous wire-wrapping on the focal--I was again lucky, because it came that way! I decided I wanted to take the wire-wrapping idea and use it gently in the design. I love wire wrapped jewelry, so I was excited by the idea...and discovered that I much prefer to have others wrap the wire! I give kudos to all of the wire-workers out there--I wish I had their patience and fine motor skills!

I also decided I wanted to use the soup completely, and with very few, if any, additions. The beads I were sent were so beautiful together, I feel like I was, again, very lucky! Because of the large focal, I knew I was destined to make a necklace...so without further ado, here is my Bead Soup Book Creation:

The finished piece!

A very simple design, but I think it is gorgeous. I feel like the beads were meant to be this way! I love the weight of the necklace and how the wire-wrapped links go along with the beautiful focal, yet allow the focal to still shine. I didn't add any beads from my own stash--this is all due to the beautiful beads sent to me by Just Beading Around.

The only bad part about the necklace, is the design did call for the pretty toggle to have to be in the back, so here is a close up of the closure:

The lovely gold-tone clasp

And just in case you can't see how lovely the focal really is, here is a close up. It has light veins and specks of a green-grey hue, which are so pretty!

Fabulous focal!

I want to thank Kalmbach Publishing for arranging this fun and generous promotion. I would also like to thank the beading fairies that helped me to get lucky enough to have my name drawn as a participant!