I was very fortunate this year to be partnered with Cheryl Roe from Kentucky. Cheryl is a talented lampworker and jewelry designer. Please take a moment to check out Cheryl's web site. I have to admit I was a bit late sending my soup out to Cheryl. I received her package but resisted the urge to open it until I had hers in the mail. It was killing me not to peek but I wanted to make sure the soup I sent wasn't influenced by what I received. Once my package was in the mail though, I ripped into Cheryl's beads and was over the moon with what she sent me. Just look at these beautiful handmade beads and clasp -- who wouldn't love them!!
Over the past couple of years, I've started working with more metal and enamel so it was a nice treat to have a beautiful soup of beads to work with. But what to do with them? I knew I wanted to make a necklace and earring set and came up with several different design ideas. In the end, I decided to string the focal along with the purple spacers and sterling rounds on 16g wire. The wire is shaped to form the front part of the necklace and is attached to the silver chain by Cheryl's round and barrel lampwork beads. The earrings are very simple with matching silver chain and a pair of the rondelle beads.
As is always the case, pictures really don't capture the beauty of the beads or the piece. I sincerely hope I've done justice to the soup I received. I had so much fun working with this soup and want to send a big thank you to Cheryl Roe for being my partner this year.
Wondering what I sent to Cheryl? Interestingly enough, the color scheme of my soup was very similar to what I received. I created a pendant set in mix metals - sterling and copper and made a clasp to match. I also made a few copper links and topped it all off with some lampwork beads, crystals, gemstones, and freshwater pearls. Check out Cheryl's blog to see what she did with the soup I sent.
I encourage you to check out some of the other blogs and enjoy their amazing designs. Grab a cup of coffee and start hopping. Click here to see the full list of participants with links to their blogs:
