Bead Soup Blog Hop 6 Reveal!

 Welcome to the sixth Bead Soup Blog Hop. My partner is Vonna, she sent a gorgeous glass bead she made.I think that is one of the best perks of BSBH, I get to use beautiful handmade components I wouldn't have otherwise owned.

  I knew immediately what I wanted to do with the focal.I used some of the chain Vonna sent, added some leftover snippets of chain I had & made a tassel with a wire wrapped loop. Originally I wanted to put this charm on a plain soldered 8 g brass bangle.Sadly, that idea didn't work, my micro torch would ball the solder up, but wouldn't melt it any further~ No Solder For You! Plan B was wrapping the unsoldered bangle with sari silk then wire wrapping the charm over that. While I miss the free floating aspect of a charm on a bangle, I really like wearing this. 

Vonna sent three different clasps, a little brass toggle w/ beautiful detailing & coordinating beads, a BIG brass toggle & a really intriguing little copper clasp. I was drawn to the biggest clasp, but I didn't want to use it in the expected way.I subbed out the circular half for the wooden disc Vonna sent. Now all I needed was something strung that needed to be fastened. I used the ovals I received & added some citrine, pink impression jasper & some wood from India.I drilled the wooden disc & knotted everything w/ waxed linen.

  This is where I was stuck.I was still trying to make the first bracelet work & had a lot of soup left to use.I liked the other focal, but I didn't know what to do with it.Then I thought about the pearls I had sent Vonna. I put some of those next to the stone & really liked them together.I got out my silk & went old school. Hand knotted w/ a vintage clasp.

It felt strange not to make a pair of earrings so I turned to the beads used in the multi strand bracelet. I added a different sari silk,some copper washers & large kidney wires. 

I still have some beads I didn't use(yet) but I'm happy w/ the four pieces I made.

Thanks again to Lori, our fabulous hostess. Here's a link to the page w/ all the July 28th reveals.

http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog.html

Thanks to you for stopping by & enjoy the hop!

What's In A Name Blog Hop

Mama's Got To Doodle... I'm not a mom so why the Mama? Here is the story behind the name.
     I met T the first time I went to college. I'm not being coy, T was short for Teri,nicknamed T-Bird,shortened to T. College didn't take,but the friendship stuck.Moves happened, years passed but we always managed to reconnect.
    When I went back to college,I found T again.In one of my clay classes was a young pup who always wanted to know where I got my bag,(did I want to sell it,barter it for something?) my jewelry, or my hat, he had a friend that would really like it. One day he was giving a tour of the clay studio to some people & lo & behold, one of them was T! She ended up taking some clay classes & we made porcelain beads by the thousands,stringing them up into jewelry.
    Weekends often found me @ her house.She lived in another town about an hour away so I usually stayed over Friday & Saturday nights, got to love southern hospitality!
     T's daughter had spent weekends w/ her grandparents since she was born,so she was usually waiting to be picked up when I got there. During one of these times T was trying out some new pens I brought over. As she was bemoaning lack of funds to buy some of her own, her daughter came in & started talking about some tennis shoes she wanted. I joked "You can't get new shoes, your Mama's got to doodle, she needs these pens". We all laughed, T looked @ me & said "Mama's got to doodle, I like it"
We used it as our 'dba' once to enter a show, but the show fell through. After that we used it as a shorthand way to say"necessities be damned, we need these art supplies", little inside joke,if you will.
      In June of 2009T was scheduled to come up & visit. We planned to hit the bead show that was in town,float in the pool,eat too well, drink too much, & make new juju,( it had become a tradition on our visits to make new jewelry to commemorate the visit). T didn't make the trip,she took ill Wednesday night, & that Friday morning she stepped on a rainbow,( a Kinky Friedman reference,a shared love of ours).
      It was a rough summer.
      September found me searching for a new outlook. I had discovered blogs in August & thought one of my own would be a good place to start. As soon as I knew I wanted to write a blog, the name was obvious, it had to be Mama's Got to Doodle.
     So there you have it. The long meandering story behind the name of my blog.I hope you could feel the love & enjoy the story w/o too much sorrow.
       Thanks, & Happy Birthday to Shelley of  Tori Sophia for the hop.I've always had it in the back of my mind to share the story but never followed through.This hop was just what I needed to get me going.Below are the other hoppers, Enjoy!

Audrey Bélanger of Dreams of an Absolution

Jenna Tomalka of Twin Birch Studio

Marla Gibson of Spice Box Designs

Toltec Jewels of Jewel School Friends

Shawn Mills of Bent Wire Boutique

Marlene Cupo of Amazing Designs

Joyce Blair of Bent Wire Boutique

Keri Lee Sereika of Pink Lemonade

Jayne aka “Boot~C”  Capps of Cool Beads by Boot~C ***   U R Here 

Tammie Everly of TTE Designs

Christina Miles of Wings N Scales

Kelly Patterson of PyxeeStyx ~ TravelingSideShow

Heather Otto of Mama’s Craft Room

 Jenny Vidberg  of Shyme Designs

Shannon Hicks of Falling Into The Sky     

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell of Dee-liteful Jewelry Creations

Candida Castleberry of Spun Sugar Beadworks

and

 Blog Host/Birthday Girl! - Shelley Graham Turner of Tori Sophia



a pair of T's earrings,cica 1992



Soup's On!

                                                    Overview shot of all the goodies, it's oversized for reasons I'll explain below.

 Close up of the clasps, I am particularly intrigued by the little copper one. Note the coordinating beads for the smaller bronze clasp, nice detail!

                    I really love these dagger beads, my head is swimming w/ all the possibilities...
 ANNNd this is where the  close up love shot of the fabulous lampwork focal goes, except my camera started acting up. I'm recharging the batteries,again, so we'll see if that was the problem.
   Overall this is a Soup I can really sink my teeth into(sorry, I couldn't resist!). In the past I have used Soup Mixes & not added anything, or I've added w/ wild abandon. I haven't decided about this one yet. I see several directions I can go, w/ more than one piece, (way more as a matter of fact).
 My swap partner is Vonna, of justvonna. She has been showing some really lush cuff bracelets WIP's so I'm curious to see how she interprets my Soup I sent.
    If you've ever wondered about my blog's name, I'll have the answer for you on the 17th in the What's In A Name blog hop. Hope you stop by, happy beading, Y'all!