Nicki's Reef

Lori is amazing. Since a few years she has created the perfect party. It is huge (200 people joining), it has to do with beads, and the best... you can come in your PJs...... It's the bead soup party, already the 5th one, and I have participated in every single one of them. To learn about the party, hop over to Lori's blog and find out about the rules.

Today I am blogging a bit late (a party yesterday is involved in that story, a flat tire, and a heating that blew up, but that is all for another post). And I need to say I am interpreting the rules a bit, Lori, I hope you are fine with it.


My partner is Kirszti from Hungary, who sent me these beautiful beads.... Lava, wood, copper and mookaite jasper in all different sizes. And such a beautiful copper clasp. And have you seen these wonderful beaded beads? She made those (something I am totally not capable of). And a carnelian cabochon. I told Kirszti that I am taking a metal smithing class, and that I am learning how to make bezels. Since we are working with sterling, I wanted to use the copper clasp in a second piece and set the carnelian in sterling. Now here is the story that made me "interprete" the rules a bit. My class takes place every thursday, and while I got the bezel finished, the whole thing needs to be sent to a guy to actually set the stone. It was supposed to come back on thursday, and it did not. I was really bummed. And my beaded beads and most of the mookaite beads actually go into that necklace.

So I cannot show this necklace today since I did not get the pendant done, but I was lucky enough to get enough beads from Kirszti to also make a bracelet in which I used this beautiful copper clasp and the ring. And the wood beads. And the wonderful red beaded bead from Kirszti. I only added two garnet rondelles from my stash as little dangles. And I really love it.




So I hope you come back to visit my blog when I finally get the pendant back (should be next week) and I can show my other piece. Ah, and are you interested to see what Kirszti made? Here is what I sent her - go hop to her blog and check what she made......



And visit all the other artists, who are also partying today with us (ok, probably not all of them in PJs..... :-) ):

I have not been blogging in ages. And I know I have neglected a lot of my virtual friends. But the good news is I have good intentions to be back. The main thing that changed in my jewelry life is that I have completely moved to metalsmithing. Since I am taking my class once a week, I really have a hard time to go back and "just" use my beads. I still love them, I still buy them, but for every piece I want to cut and saw and file something... And the other issue is that it just takes longer to make something - so there is not so much to show. In some of the next posts, I will show you a couple pieces that I made. I made my good resolutions for the remainder of the year. So I hope you adopt me again :-).


Anyways, this post is supposed to be about bead soup. I was so lucky to be picked as one of the 200 participants for the wonderful party that Lori Anderson is hosting now for the 5th time. To check out how it works, click here. My partner is Kriszti, and she has sent me some very lovely beads. She is also a very talented designer making lovely jewelry. And she has also written a post about the beads I sent her. Read it here. I will write another post to show what she sent me, but I just realized that I did not take photos yet, and anyways her beads deserve a post by itself. So in this one, you will only see what I sent her. So drumroll.... here are some pictures:



I made this pendant for Kriszti, sawed from copper sheet, filed, sanded. I was thinking for a long time how to attach a hook without destroying the design, but then I though - Kriszti is a seed beader, she will find a way.


I also sent her a copper ring and made a kook for her to use as a clasp. She got garnet chips, purple seed beads, african recycled glass beads and some really beautiful silk ribbon I bought in my very favorite bead store in Paris.


I also added a few different shell beads and wood beads, crystals, and some more copper beads, lampwork beads, and a copper button.





I am having to much fun with this - so stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I show you the beads that Kriszti sent me.

My partner for this bead soup party has been the wonderful Jackie Ryan of Kydo jewellery. She lives in England, in a wonderful small town, Ilfracombe (no, I have not been there, but along with the beads, she sent a wonderful towel that was handmade by a lady from her town, and it shows the harbor - so pretty).
Jackie is a very talented artist, mainly working with Polymer Clay, a medium I always loved (I have tons of this raw stuff, but somehow all my "creations" look as if a 2 year old has spent an hour with PlayDough). Jackie does these great pieces - check our her store here.

She sent me a really cool selection of beads, totally my colors (very earthy). I got a wonderful Jasper / silver pendant, a beautiful silver S-clasp, unakite, onyx and agate beads, some fancy jasper leafs, some pewter bead caps and silver spacers... plus one of her wonderful polymer clay pendants. Isn't this gorgeous? I want to put it in a bracelet where it shines by itself, with a lot of colors and ribbon - but as I am always late with my bead soups - this is for another post.



I need to say I felt challenged though. While I love the color and wear a lot of brown / beige, the rose color in the beads made it hard for me to chose a matching color. I wanted to put more color, but nothing seemed to match (in my pretty much "monotone color schemes). I usually wire wrap everything, but to wire wrap a chain with those onyx beads seemed too delicate to carry the pendant. The hook attached to the pendant is very wide, yet delicate, since it is not solid. that was my biggest challenge. I love how it looks. But it needed a larger strand of beads or ribbon or leather cord....... which was all not what I wanted. So in the end I decided for something classic. Stringing. Elegant. One strand. I found a strand of garnet chips and it clicked. Added some of the jasper beads, spacers, some wire beads and chain from my stash and here is the result......


I need to say as usual I created this in the last minute. Friday night. in between a metalsmithing class that I am taking this Friday and Saturday. I am so looking forward to later today - when I can continue my class and when I get home, that I can see all those wonderful creations from all my bead sisters.

Check out all the other designs by following the links on Lori's website - there is actually 362 (!):
http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/

Thank you Lori for another wonderful time, for making us get in touch with all those wonderful people. You are not only a super talented designer, but such a sweetheart. You totally rock. Did you ever think this would become this big? I guess not.

My dear friend Amy from Copper Diem has challenged us with something new - to create a piece of jewelry (any kind) inspired by a treasury, one specifically chosen for each participant.

The treasury she picked for me is called IN THE GARDEN and I really liked it from the first moment I saw it. I knew at first sight that I would create something white and green.


I wanted to challenge myself as well though. First thing that came to my mind was: "oh I could saw something from copper and then hammer it....." but.....I have neglected my beads. I am so in love with sawing metal right now that I do not want to touch my piles of beads anymore. No good. So my challenge for myself was: no metal. I need to say I had issues with coming up with something "just" out of beads. But in the end I decided for light and simple - something that I will wear.



The pendant is made from howlith and silver wire, with a technique that I learned in a class in Pam's Bead Garden in Plymouth, MI (we actually made bracelets with this technique). It is delicate and I did not want to add more / heavier stuff to it.


The ring is a glass ring that I have been keeping forever. I wrapped again some silver wire around it and added some dangles made of freshwater pearls, svarowski rounds, a lady bug and a dragonfly dangle.
I think they both turned out very cute.



Thanks Amy for making me play with my beads again.
Please visit Amy and the other people who played along and give them some love for all the pretty pieces they created:

Copper Diem
Fuego, metal y color
Silver Nik Nats
Beads and Bread
Copper Penny Designs
Green Shoot
Wild Sally Road
Mamas Got To Doodle
Beads for Busy Gals
EBS Jewellery
Cianci Blue
Beads for Brains
Nicki's Reef
Sweet Girl Design
Nicole Rennell

And stay tuned for some more reveals in the next weeks. I am participating in Lori's 3rd BSBP and I am all excited about my lovely partner and the beads I am going to get.

Today is my birthday - and..... good news - I got a new camera! So blogging frequency will improve. It was about time, since I have done quite a few cool pieces that I would love to show you guys. I still need to figure out the whole download thing, but hey, I already took some pictures at the party today. 


And yes, we had a little party today - the weather was ok except a few raindrops, we had cake and a BBQ with a few friends. Somebody asked me today who gave me the best present. It was not easy to choose with so many cool things I got.... but here is the answer.... TO YOU, dear friend, who gave me my best birthday gift, you made my birthday really special. And I hope I saw how happy you made me. So dear birthday-present-giver, to you, I send you hugs and kisses.

normally I would show a picture of my dirty running shoes right now, my very new best friends. I used them a lot since I got them and have to put them on the shelf where they won't be touched for some time right now, since my knee cap twisted out of my joint this tuesday. it is a pretty common problem I have with my knees, but it is still shitty. it hasn't happened in almost 20 years right now, and obviously this needs to happen right now where i have been training for a run that I wanted to participate in mid June - well that's not going to happen. But I shouldn't be whiny, it is really not that bad compared to the last times, not too swollen, no cut ligaments etc. Except the running will have to stop, and my weight will go back up :-(


But I will have more time for jewelry and blogging again... once I finally get a camera - well maybe here is an idea for a birthday gift... so I should have it soon :-)


when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
happy weekend.

... is absolutely no fun to me. But when I was in Paris last week, my camera died. Which meant that I had to buy a disposable camera to at least be able to take some more Paris pictures, and which means now that I can't show you my latest "la lune" necklace (which I am so in love with). But I will either steal Nick's camera or buy a new one this weekend.
Have a happy Mother's Day on sunday in any case....

here is a song that is close to me today - so i share it with you...
and remember that you, and only you, decide what you host. 


landslide - smashing pumpkins


i took my love, I took it down,
i climbed a mountain and I turned around
and i saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
till the landslide brought it down


oh mirror in the sky what is love
can the child within my heart rise above
can i sail through the changing ocean tides
can i handle the seasons of my life


well i've been afraid of changing cause i've
built my life around you
but times make you bolder
even children get older
and i'm getting older too


well i've been afraid of changing cause i've
built my life around you
but time makes you bolder
even children get older too
i get older too


i took my love and took it down
i climbed a mountain i turned around
and if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
the landslide brought it down
the landslide brought it down

I am one day delayed, but I hope this still counts....

I am sooo sorry, but I am not sure if I can post my bracelet today. I was on a business trip in France and lost some major data of my most important work file right now. I have a presentation on Tuesday and am trying to reconstruct it. This plus a bad flu has kept me away from my beads.


I know this is a bad excuse. But I will post it later today or latest tomorrow, so please forgive me and come back to see what I made.

I have to say I am becoming a bit unfaithful to my beads. Because I have started a relationship with Metal. And it is pretty entertaining.

Ok, we decided since we are 3 bead babes, we will have three giveaways. 


And my sweet baby was so nice today to pick the winner of my giveaway:




So she picked......







***  Maryse of GlassBeadArt Lampwork ***


Congratulations, Maryse, and please email me your mail address and I will send you my surprise giveaway.
And sorry that I am not poting a picture of it, but if I would, it would not be a surprise giveaway ;-)


And if you have not won mine, please check out Janna's and Stefanie's blogs and see if you are one lucky winner over there. And thanks to everybody for your comments, they mean so much to me.

My favorite song
There are a million songs that I could have chosen. I am addicted to music, all kinds of music. But although I have hesitated to change my song last minute to one of the French singer ZAZ, I stayed with the original plan - ADELE and her wonderful "Rolling in the Deep". If you don't know it, listen to it, but I think it is almost impossible that you don't know it.
Es gibt eine Million Songs, die ich hätte wählen können. Ich bin süchtig nach Musik, alle Art von Musik. Aber obwohl ich noch kurz gezögert habem in der letzten Minute mein Vorhaben zu ändern und einen Song von der  französischen Sängerin ZAZ zu nehmen, bin ich doch beim Originalen Plan geblieben - Adele und ihr fantastisches "Rolling in the Deep". Wenn ihr das nicht kennt, hört es euch an, obwohl ich mir kaum vorstellen kann, daß ihr das Lied noch nicht kennt.


Why is this special to me? For very many reasons. Adele has kept me company for quite some time, her voice touches my soul, and I have gone through a lot of emotions in the past months with this song in my heart.And recently when the video starts on TV, my 19 month old starts screaming of excitement and hands me the remote control to increase the volume. And if it's over she begs me to restart it - which is quite difficult to restart a video on MTV ;-). She loves Adele as much as I do. Buy her albums "19" and "21", you will not regret it.
Warum ist das Lied etwas besonderes für mich? Aus vielen Gründen. Adele ist seit längerer Zeit bei mir, ihre Stimme berührt meine Seele, und ich habe eine ganze Menge erlebt in den letzten Monaten mit diesem Lied in meinem Herzen. Uns seit kurzem fängt meine 19 Monate alte Tochter an zu kreischen, wenn das Video im Fernsehen läuft, und bringt mir die Fernbedienung, damit ich das ganze etwas lauter drehe. Und wenn es vorbei ist, bettelt sie mich an, damit ich es nochmal anschalte - was etwas schwierig ist, ein Video auf MTV neu zu starten ;-). Sie liebt Adele genauso wie ich. Kauft ihre zwei Albums, "19" und "21", ihr werdet es nicht bereuen.




The big reveal
So here is what I made. I took some of the lyrics and created my piece around it.
Das hier ist meine Kreation. Ich habe einen Auszug aus dem Text genommen, und mein Stück danach kreiert.


"You had my heart inside of your hand, and you played it to the beat..."






I sawed and files and made this copper hand. It is a copy of my baby's handprint when she was 6 weeks old (yes, her hands were huge when she was born). And I soldered a heart on top, cut some of the words to put them in there and filled it with resin. I wanted to keep the chain quite simple and let the pendant stand out by itself. And maybe I will add some ribbon or a few beads, we'll see. That's it, simple, but straight from the heart.
Ich habe gesägt und gefeilt, und diese Hand aus Kupfer gemacht. Es ist ein Abdruck von der Hand meiner Tochter, als sie 6 Wochen alt war (ja, genau, sie hatte schon damals riesige Hände). Darauf habe ich ein Herz gelötet, den Text hineingelegt und das ganze mit Resin gefüllt. Die Kette selber ist einfach gehalten, denn ich wollte, daß der Anhänger der Star der Show bleibt. Und vielleicht ergänze ich noch etwas Stoff oder ein paar Perlen, mal sehen. Sehr einfach, aber es kommt von Herzen.


... and a giveaway
Thank you, all Bead Babes, to play along with us. We had a lot of fun. And to make it even more fun, we will draw a winner of our surprise giveaway tomorrow, Sunday, the 9th. So stay tuned. And now, hop around and check out all the great pieces that we have made, and leave a comment if you like (we love them).
Danke liebe Bead Babes, daß ihr mitgemacht habt. Wir hatten viel Spaß mit euch. Und damit der Spaß nicht so schnell aufhört, ziehen wir einen Gewinner für unser Überraschungs-Giveaway, und zwar morgen, am Sonntag, den 9. April. Also kommt wieder und seht, ob ihr gewonnen habt. Und jetzt, macht euch auf, und hüpft zu den anderen blogs und guckt euch die anderen Stücke and, und schreibt einen Kommentar, wenn ihr Lust habt (wir lieben Kommentare).


The Bead Babes:
1. Janna Harttgen - Palimpa-Lim