Soups On -The Second Course - 7th Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal - Part 2 - Celebrate!

    Welcome back. Thank you to those who made the second trip. Sorry Kayla for making you wait so long for the big focal finale. Please don't think that my being late is carelessness. I've literally fallen asleep at my computer every night this week working on this, and then got up and went to work again in the morning.
     I have no problem rising to a challenge as far as the creativity goes. My muse never sleeps. Ideas abound. Making connections is where I am really lagging. Between a dial-up internet connection and an overloaded hard drive, and a 22 year old Toyota that's grounded with a seriously leaking water pump, I'm having a hard time getting all that creativity out of my studio.
    I wait with bated breath for a tax return. You know "checks in the mail". The first thing I will be buying is a high speed internet connection and a new hard drive. Then I'll deal with transportation. It's difficult enough , the day to day business, grocery shopping, etc. Doing a show is almost impossible. I've figured that out trying to pull one off this weekend. Trying to coordinate caravans.
    Again my apologies for the delay. I really did put a lot of effort into this, and I'm thrilled with my results. I hope you will be too, and find it well was worth the wait.
     Now for the second course, cause who doesn't love a banquet.

Celebrate! - Let's Hear it for the Boys. 

                                              Part 2 - Celebrate!
    As I said in Part1, I love all things Asian, to the extent that I have Kimonos hanging on my walls. My moniker, PyxeStyx is in part derivative of the chopsticks I pin my hair up with for work and one of my most prized possessions is an antique Chinese carved wooden coffee table with a black lacquer surface that belonged to my grandparents. There's a pair of them in the family brought back from the orient in the 50's by a great uncle who was a merchant marine. So needless to say, the Antique Chinese cloisonne ball focal pendant Kayla sent was loaded with inspiration for me.

  My first thoughts were of Chinese lanterns.....of  Asian festivals....... Chinese New Year ......... Lantern festivals .......or, here we are in April and coming up next, on May 5th, the Japanese celebrate Children's Day.
    Traditionally known as boys day. The Japanese sail Koi fish shaped wind socks in honor of the men of the house. As a child my uncle had these flags hanging over the swimming pool. They were very familiar to me , but I didn't understand their significance until recently. One flag for each male in the household, the father and each of the sons.
     Now celebrated as the more politically correct Children's day. Famous for the beautifully colored flags seen flying in mass throughout villages. It is traditionally a celebration of the beginning of summer................. A great day to fly a kite.

    The two koinobori represent my two boys. Punkin and Freckles are now 16 years old.

The colors of my soup are a little on the dark side, but wanted to do something sunny and happy. So I used the blue and gold Czech glass beads and the green gemstone nuggets as the anchors and surrounded them by vibrant colors picked out of the cloisonne focal.

    I really wanted a garden. Bright, bold, beautiful flower. But how? Well, I have those lacey metal bead caps for enameling in my shopping cart. This is supposed to be a challenge. It's about time you fire up that torch.......

     ...............Eventually, I talked myself into it.
    It's not the flame I was afraid of. It was striking the match. The whoosh of the gas is just scary.
    I'm glad to say that I am totally over my fear and am going to be spending a lot of time playing with my new toy.

     I made lots off cool components to go with my soup. I torch fired all the enameled blossoms and headpins. I also made the paper mache lanterns and koinobori wind socks.
     I had originally intended for all these pieces to be in one necklace, but it got to be way too much stuff. Then I couldn't decide what to leave out (cause it's all so cool) that I divided it up and made more pieces.

    The Chinese character Fu  means good fortune and is adorned by one of the 7 lucky gods of Chinese mythology. Possibly Fukrokuju, the god of wealth, happiness, and longevity.
     I'm pretty sure that the vintage stamping is silver, patinaed to a lovely golden age. It looks like it was once a bracelet link based on where the holes are, so I had to get creative. I used enamel head pins to make the connections. They work perfectly as ball joints allowing everything to swing freely.
    All the large chunky stones are turquoise, with the exception of the large orange flower, which is died Howlite.
    The  little yellow ceramic pig bead is my zodiac sign. I picked it up at a Chinese New Year's parade a few years ago.

 Boar (inoshishi)
Born 2007, 1983, 1971, 1959, 1947, 1935, 1923, 1911. People born in  the year of the Boar are brave. They have tremendous inner strength which no one can overcome. They display great honesty. They are short-tempered, yet hate to quarrel or have arguments. They are affectionate and kind to their loved ones.

The first part bold and daring to represent the boys ( theme music  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7FGbhpr2pg  yeah, I know, total flash back ), the second part a little bit softer to represent the feminine side (theme music  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A   I must be stuck in the 80's ).

Celebrate! Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

    The paper lantern earrings are lacquered, and are reversible with different designs on each of the four sides. Hung with enameled blossoms , cloisonne beads and antique Chinese bells. The enameled flowers jingle with the most magical sound. Like fairy bells.
    I recycled all sorts of goodies to make the Chinese lantern. Paper mache over a copper wire frame. I used everything from recycled book pages, to Christmas tissue paper, to cutting the butterflies out of someone's business card. The Sakura blossoms are a polymer clay cane sample that was included with a recent order. Top and bottom wrapped with sari silk snippets.
    The tassels from Kayla's focal hangs from the lantern. Along with a ceramic geisha girl bead, enamel flowers, glass leaves, cloisonne bead, and antique Chinese bell.

    Thank you to my awesome partner Kayla Potaga    http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com/    If you haven't yet please stop by and see all she made with her soup.

Thank you to our most awesome hostess, Lori Anderson    http://www.prettythingsblog.com/   She's amazing they way she keeps keeping on, in-spite of all she's been dealt. That woman deserves pie!

Thanks for stopping by. Please follow to join me on my next adventure. 

Happy Hopping!!!!

Letting the Soup Settle

    The Bead Soup Blog Party reveal #3 has been postponed for another week. Saturday April 27th will be the final reveal date. Please come back then for Part 2 of my reveal.
    Our gracious hostess Lori Anderson    http://www.prettythingsblog.com/     is out of commission again. She has sure been through a lot. I know that we are all hoping and praying that she'll make a speedy recovery.
    To hold us over, I'd like to share a little bit of my partner, Kayla Potega's reveal. As well as some of my favorites.
    I have realized that in my state of delirium as I posted in the wee hours last week that I completely forgot to post anything about the soup I sent to Kayla. So, long over due, here's what Kayla had to work with.
                  The Focal -

 I usually stamp my copper work with PS, but I couldn't resist using our initials, since we share the same, for our collaborative project. 

Sari silk ribbon, Turquoise pillows, glass leaves, Mykonos ceramic beads,  bronze caged lanterns, Czech glass flowers, skeleton key, green glass vintage buttons, chevron glass beads, copper balled head pins, flower shaped fresh water pearls, Czech glass trumpet flowers, Venetian glass, handmade swirly copper S links, Millefiori glass, beaded copper paisley connector, cloisonne, iridescent glass tubes, the recipe book, earth swirl lampwork glass beads made by my mother, hand made jump rings, faceted citrus glass cubes, Swarovski crystal bi-cones, and handmade bejeweled flourish clasp. All the copper work was done by me (with the exception of the balled head pins and key).

    Kayla  made some amazing things from her soup. First up is my favorite, because she named it in my honor. How tickled am I! "Pyxee's Dance"  features Sari silk ribbon, copper swirl  links handmade by me, and lampwork glass beads made by my mother. A 3 artist collaboration. How cool is that.

    If you haven't yet, go check it out.   http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com/



Then check out my "BeDazzled" board on Pinterest for some of my favorite reveals from the 1st and 2nd rounds.    http://pinterest.com/pyxeestyx/bedazzled/

Don't forget to stop back next Saturday, April 27, for the new final reveal date, to check out my Part 2. I'm really excited to show off all my handmade components!!!

............and if you haven't already, stop by and buy Lori a slice of pie (or some painkillers or something). She deserves so much for all she endures to pull off this awesome blog party.  http://www.prettythingsblog.com/

Soups On - 7th Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal - Part 1

    That's right, I said Part 1. I've used most of my soup. Regrettably, the piece with my focal isn't quite ready. I got really brave and finally fired up my torch to make those enameled components. Now that I've gotten over my fear of lighting it, I'm totally hooked. There'll be no stopping me. My torch fired enamel pieces are turning out awesome. Unfortunately I ran out of gas in the middle of the night  : (  Trust me, nobody is sorrier about this than me. I made the most awesome paper mache pieces for the set. I'm dying to show them off, as well as my new enameling skills. Please return next Saturday for Part 2.

                              Part 1
     My partner Kayla Potega  http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com/  sent me a  vintage Chinese cloisonne ball focal with tassel in a lovely shade of green. Blue and gold faceted Czech glass beads, wooden beads, a mixed strand of green gemstone nuggets including Moss Agate, Adventurine, and Fluorite, silver chain, lacy silver art nouveau links, a silver colored botanical toggle clasp, and a silver coin charm with a dove on one side and stamped "PEACE" on the other. (see last picture)
    I love the cloisonne focal. All things Asian really. So I immediately had ideas for a theme and where to go with that. I've been working on that for weeks. Making components to go with it, etc. I was then left with a whole lot of silver pieces and the wooden beads. I don't do much silver, so this is a challenge. I set these pieces aside and let them simmer while I worked on my main piece. So here I was 2 days before go time and I have no idea what to do with my clasp. This set was the last conceptually, but the first to fruition. I started tinkering and came up with a variation on my original theme, (you'll have to check back next week for the original theme, trying not to give too much away) and the set just flew together.

  Introducing "Shambahla - a Place of Peace".

"Shambhala - a Place of Peace"    Tibetan Prayer flag bracelet

Inspired by colorful and festive Tibetan prayer flag banners waving in the wind, spreading wishes of peace. I used sari silk snippets for the flags. Reinforced with Fraycheck on the tip and seam. Edges are left to fray naturally. I love the way the frayed edges give motion to a piece and bring it to life. Hung on a knotted leather cord. Weighted with gem stones. The silver dove charm stamped "PEACE" on the back brought thoughts of prayer flags. I've never made a double strand bracelet before. I really like the way it turned out.

    I used all the round silver links, and my toggle clasp in the bracelet. I also used some of the yellow Czech glass beads from Kayla's stash. Then I pulled an array of gem stones and an accented of vintage Chinese bells from my own collection. I punched extra holes in the silver dove charm to dangle gem stones there.  Carnelian, Citrine, Honey Jade, Orange Chalcedony, Buttered Rum Chalcedony, CherryQuartz,  Red Banded Jasper, Dragons vein Agate, Turquoise, Orange Jade, Aqua Terra Jasper, and orange creamsicle Quartz. All of the silver I have hammered to distress, and patinaed with liver of sulfer. My intent was to age it and make it look like Tibetan silver.

  Then came the earrings. The Hamsa hand charm I used as an accent in the bracelet becomes the focal here. The "flower of life" symbol in the palm. This ancient talisman offers protection from the evil eye. Hung from the leaf shaped silver links. Sporting a prayer flag and a bevy of dangly gem stones.


 I was done with this set at this point. I had used all the links and the clasp here, which is what I had set out to do. I tried to move on. Yet it kept asking for a necklace. What do I even have left to work with? hmmmm, I have a chain, and some wooden beads, and........... not much else. So I pull out my "silver" bin and start digging. I found this elephant charm I've had since.....high school maybe. He's a bell. Totally forgot I even had him. I wrapped him with some colorful Sari silk snippets and wired on some sparkly gem stones and voila        
                 "Painted Pachyderm"

I love the way my little painted Indian Elephant turned out. An orange wooden "urn" shaped bead embellished with sari silk and vintage Chinese bells, tethers the chain. The wooden urn bead reminds me of the water vessels that women carried on their heads. Seems appropriate, and somehow regal balanced on his back. I spaced out a few chunky gemstones and some of the wooden beads on the chain on one side and wove leather in between through the links. The other side has a portion wrapped in sari silk fiber and wrapped with gem stones. Handmade clasp closure hooks right into the chain and has an adjustable length and features lots of dangly charms on both the hook and the extension.

 

    I was initially unsure about the color combo, because I don't wear silver myself. It's a cold metal, and I went with a warm color palette. That made me uneasy. I've now come to think of it as Tibetan silver and the color of "monks" and I'm warming to the idea of how it all plays together with my theme.

Here's my soup from Kayla

Please go check out what she made with her soup. http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com/

Thank you to the hostess with the mostest, Ms Lori Anderson. I'll refer you to her site for the hop list cause it is soooo long. While you're there, why not buy her a slice of pie  ; )   http://www.prettythingsblog.com/   Happy hopping! see you next Saturday for Part 2.