Bead Soup Blog Party 8 - Reveal!

  Welcome to my blog - It's time for the reveal of the biggest blog party in the bead commuity!!!

  My partner this year was the hostess herself, Lori Anderson. Let's look at what she sent to me (you can see more details about hte bead soups we've sent to each other here and here):

 

  A beautiful, but very challenging bead soup for me - I've never worked with most of the beads I've received. I'm coming from the polymer clay world, so ...  

  I have changed my design many times and when started to work on one piece finished it in a totally different way as I thought first. It doesn't happen often to me, but it was happening all the time with this soup. Funny!!!

  My first piece is a bracelet. 

 I've wirewrapped the gold-tone pewter beads, put some rings between them and the coordinated pewter toggle clasp - all from the bead soup Lori sent to me. Then I've added some color - some "Renaissance" glass beads in three colors and two sizes.

  

 

    And also my second piece is a bracelet! 

   I've used the lampwork beads (made by www.nanettemarie.com) in different sizes, crystal and czech glass from Lori's soup and black and purple seed beads from my stash. I wanted to combine beadweaving with those beautidul lampwork beads from the first time I've seen them, but had no idea how. after several different attempts this idea of a beaded rope that winds between the beads came to my mind. I've used a herringbone rope, but maybe it would look even better with a CRAW or some other "flexible" stitch. 

 

This is how it looks on my wrist:

 

 
Today when I was taking the pictures another idea came to my mind - I was wondering how it would look as a necklace:

  I would say even better!!! Maybe I'll remake it as a necklace ... 

  That's it for me today. I was working on more pieces, but are still not finished or I'm not satisfied with. It's not a bad thing - that means I'll enjoy the bead soup Lori sent to me for some more time ...Thank you, Lori, for being my partner in this party!

  And now - let's go to see what my partner Lori created with the bead soup I've sent to her,

and HERE is the list of all the other participants.

Be happy,

Alenka

  

Bead Soup Blog Party Postponed

  Due to some health issues of our hostess and my partner Lori Andreson the reval of the Bead soup Blog Party is postponed for one week ... to May, 10.

Be happy,

Alenka

Workshop with Julie Picarello / Delavnica z Julie Picarello

  I've spent last weekend in Ljubljana at the workshop with Julie Picarello. She's such a nice lady other than a great artist!
  Prejšnji vikend sem preživela v Ljubljani na delavnici z Julie Picarello, ki je prav prijetna gospa in ne samo uveljavljena ustvarjalka s polimerno glino!

  First day workshop was Magpie Mokume - learning the mokume gane technique Julie uses in her work and making a cabochon. I was familiar with this technique already, as my first polymer clay book I've ever bought and read and tried to apply to polymer was Julie's Patterns in Polymer, but learning from the artist is a completely different thing. She showed us many tips you can not learn from a book.  
  Prvi dan delavnice je bil na vrsti Magpie Mokume - spoznavanje s tehniko mokume gane, ki jo uporablja Julie pri svojem ustvarjanju, in izdelava enega zaključenega kosa za nakit (npr. obeska). Njeno tehniko sem sicer že poznala, saj je bila prva knjiga o polimerni glini, ki sem jo kupila, prav Julie-jina Patterns in Polymer, vendar pa je učenje v živo popolnoma druga zgodba. Julie nam je pokazala en kup praktičnih trikov, ki se jih iz knjige ne naučiš. 

  Well, let's go back to the workshop - there are two difficult things in this technique: choosing the color combination and (the most difficult) slicing. Oh, slicing!!! The first day I was not able to get a single good slice ... :-( ... but managed to get some slices that were big enough to make two cabs.
  Če se vrnemo k delavnici - v tej tehniki sta predvsem dva zahtevna postopka: izbrati ustrezno barvno kombinacijo in (najtežji del) rezanje plasti. Uh, to mi je dalo vetra!!! Prvi dan nisem uspela odrezati niti ene popolne rezine... .-( ... a sem kljub temu dobila par rezin/plasti, ki so bile dovolj velike za dva zaključena kosa.

 I've alread used this one with a piece of shibori ribbon to make the brooch for the Shibori ribbon blog hop:

  Prvega sem vam že pokazala, saj sem ga uporabila pri izzivu Shibori ribbon blog hop:

  
  However, the second one is my favorite! I think I'll use it as a pendant for a necklace.
  Osebno mi je bolj všeč drugi kos - ki ga bom najverjetneje uporabila kot obesek za ogrlico.

  Even if the slices were everything but perfect, I really love the color combination used for it.
  Čeprav so bile rezine/plasti vse prej kot perfektne, mi je pa barvna kombinacija, ki sem jo uporabila, izjemno všeč.

  The second day we worked on a Button Blossom pendant. At first we've repeated the steps from the first day: mixing new colors, imprinting the patterns and ..... slicing!!! I have to say the slices of the second day were much more even than those from the first one. I was really happy with it!!! 
  Drugi dan delavnice je bil namenjen izdelavi Button Blossom obeska. Najprej smo ponovili korake, ki smo se jih naučili prejšnjega dne: mešanje barv, vtiskovanje vzorca in ... rezanje plasti!!! Moram povedati, da mi je tokrat rezanje bistveno blj uspelo in sem dobila kar nekaj skoraj popolnih rezin.   


  And I've also managed to complete the piece at the workshop:
  Na delavnici sem uspela tudi dokončati izdelek (no, verižico sem obesila doma):

My/Moj Button Blossom

  No need to say it was a great weekend and can't hardly wait for another workshop ...
If I get back my pictures, I'll show you some more.
  Ni treba posebej izpostavljati, da sem preživela čudovit vikend in komaj čakam na naslednjo delavnico. Če uspem dobiti nazaj svoje slike, vam bom pokazala še nekaj utrinkov ustvarjalnega vikenda.

  Girls from Izdelovalnica malih umetnin, thank you very much for organizing this event.
  Dekletom iz Izdelovalnice malih umetnin pa se zahvaljujem za organizacijo tega čudovitega dogodka.   

Be happy,

Bodite veseli,

Alenka