Beady Bliss: The Soup is Cooked

So sorry that this post is late- have to cite computer and user error!! GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

This is my second Bead Soup Blog Hop Reveal with Lori Anderson. Before I go any further and get carried away and forget, I must thank Lorie for her amazing efforts and her willingness to climb back into the depths of confusion and frustration that it always requires to pull off one of these events!! Lori , You are a WONDER!!! Thank you!!
Now without further ado, on to the show.  My assigned partner was the awesome lamp work Bead artist and seed bead addict Ms. Juli Cannon , of Juls Beads and StudioJuls.  I actually came to know of Juli and her glorious work during my first Bead Soup Blog Hop.  Since then I have purchased some of her beads and kept them all to myself.  Yes I keep them just as she sent them to me and take them out and stroke them and oogle them and put them away.  I LOVE her beads but their beauty intimidates me!!  So I did a major double take when I saw who my partner was and a let out a screech of joy!!  then I started to fret and to sweat and to ponder and to fret some more.  I am  a "pleaser" sort of person and the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint Juli. Here is the soup that I received from Juli!!  How beautiful is this??????

And then in the same package was this delectable mix of eye popping color.. This is obviously a mix that is a seed beader's dream, she even included the ultra suede for mounting the cabochon.!!!  Juli is making some incredible cabs and selling them in her shop here.  They must be seen to be believed.  The cab below is one of her tie Dyed series!! the colors are amazing and I cant wait for a small spot of time to work with this mix, hopefully sometime this summer.

So back to the Primary Challenge Soup.!  Those of you who know me, know that I am not afraid of color and that one of my favorite sources of inspiration is the ocean.  At first glance this might not appear to be a challenge.  But hold on, it SURE was a challenge!!  I have never worked with such a large focal bead .  It is so glorious and I was so afraid that I would fail to set it off in the manner that it needed to be presented.  It took me  awhile- the week before the reveal actually to get up the nerve  to jump in!!

 As you can see from the soup Juli had included all sorts of fun colored beads to pair with the focal with the highlight beads and clasp being silver.  I do love to use collage techniques in almost every media that I work with and so I went with the trend and dug through my own stash to see how I could complement the soup and add enough small bits to show off the larger ones.  Now I feel that when it comes to beads , more is more better!!  In fact many of my textile collage and felted works are not complete till beads are added!!

Here is my collage piece surrounding Juli Cannon's glorious beads!!  I do love it and I have gotten tons of complements on it, as I cannot resist wearing it.  I am a tall person so the big necklace works well for me and it makes a statement and draws people in to look at all of the different components.

The colors of the focal are really magical.  The overall color heads towards teal but I had to give you a close up so you could see all ot the different colors that dance in the glass sea that she has created!! I have never worked with such a glorious focal and I think I am well on my way to being comfortable with working with large focal beads.! 

As far as what I added to this soup, not too much.  I did add the silver matte finish seed beads, which I had just purchased.  They are a bit more expensive than regular glass seed beads but well worth it and they worked here perfectly to help spread out the larger components without taking anything away.

I also added the ecru sand dollar bead that I had purchased here, after the last bead soup I participated in.  Yet again I was coveting this bead and was now ready to show it off as part of this collage piece!  I also added the off white stone disk beads as a neutral component and the 8mm sea foam green rounds again as a complement to the wonderful turquoise and and silver and deep blue lamp work that Juli had provided.  

Juli Cannon you are the BOMB!!!!  I adore your work and want you to know that you are a major influence to me in my use of color and bead creation!!  Love you Girl!!

Again , this has been an amazing experience for me and I know that I am not alone.  I urge you to take some time and hop about to see what many of the other participants have been up to .  You can find the entire list of beaders            
                                                   HERE!

You will find Juli Cannon's blog HERE , so stop by Juli's blog to see what she has created with the soup that I sent along for her!

And one more thing, Lori Anderson, you are an amazing  and talented and caring woman!! Love you!!  and thank you for all that you ahve done to make this yet another amazing experience!!