Lori Anderson- Amazing People that Enrich Your Life

Hello friends!

Today I want to tell you a story about how Lori Anderson has enriched my life. If you don't already know her she is the master mind behind the Pretty Things Blog and the Bead Soup Blog Party. I first met Lori through the BSBP. I have the privilege of being paired up with these amazing artists through this super creative and fun hop: Mary Harding, Gail Vanderster-Zwang, Heather Powers. 

Lori is an amazing person. She brings creative people together. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to, time after time, do these GIANT blog hops for all of us to come together an enjoy. She is a creative soul and fantastic designer. I had the pleasure of seeing some of Lori's amazing designs when I participated in her Cup of Bead Soup.

One of Lori's designs using beads from my cup of bead soup. 

Lori's bracelet created from my cup of bead soup.

So when I talk about her "bringing people together" I have her to thank for bringing one of my beady besties and me together. Staci and I met through the first BSBP in which  I participated. We loved each others beads immediately and messaged to tell one another. That message turned into a trade, which was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

These were the very first beads Staci and I traded. 

This first little sprout flourished into a more branches and leaves that bloomed into a collaboration.

That collaboration grew into doing a HUGE bead show together. Staci and me at Bead Fest Philly 2013.

I just love this girl to bits! I am so lucky to call her my friend and it's all because of YOU, Lori!

It was so nice to finally meet you at Bead Fest! To be able to thank the person that has enriched my life and connected me to this amazing group of artists I call friends. Thank you for everything you do Lori! We love you girl!!

To see how Lori has enriched others around her check our our post in Bead Soup Cafe. Stop by and tell Lori how she has changed your life!

xo Genea

Spring has SPRUNG in the shop!

Hello friends!

It's been a weird spring huh? It seems like everything has bloomed so early since winter wasn't as harsh and cold as it should have been. I really wanted to get in some springy colored things into my shop before spring sprang right past me!

I have some wonderful new SPRING DINGS and VORTEX FLOWERS to add to the shop. I had the pleasure of getting to test and use some of the amazing NEW Messy glass colors! Some of my favs that are featured in my sets are Peachy Keen and Poseidon(these will pop up in Messy's update soon under the orange and blue color sections). I am just totally in LOVE with their new colors! Peachy keen is this fantastic pastel orangey peach transparent and Poseidon is a lovely aqua opal!

  

Wing Dings, Spring Dings "Crystal Rainbows"  OMG yum! I just love this selection of transparent pastel glasses! The new Peachy Keen is just perfect with this palette!

 

Vortex Flower "Lemon Sherbet"- A funky pastel vortex flower in yummy yellows including some glittery glass!

 

Vortex Flower "Orange Sherbet"- a fantastical blend of oranges, pastel orange and a coraly pink opal with just a hint of glitter.

 

Vortex Flower "Strawberry Sherbet"- a perfectly pastel pink(he he he) bloom for that wonderful whisper of spring.

 

Wing Dings, Spring Dings "Opal Rainbow"- a wonderful blend of opal glasses with the new Poseidon opal glass!

BACK IN THE SHOP IN LIMITED QUANTITIES...

Maybe ya missed it? So, just incase, here are some beads from the first bead soup I participated in with my partner Mary Harding.

River Rock Wheelies- same fantastic batch of glass as last time :)

"Biscotti Silver" spacers- same wonderful batch as last time!

 

"Gold Dust II" A slight change in transparent brown glass(same color, different color lot. More yellowish) and a slight change in the creamy colored batch(more ivory greenish). Still amazingly beautiful!

 

"Cream Silver II"- A slight change in this glass batch color as well. These are more of the ivory/greenish color. Mmm mmmm.

So all in all, some limited beads this listing, but oh so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!

xo Genea

Bead Soup Blog Party- Genea Crivello-Knable and Gail Vanderster-Zwang

Hello friends!

Wow, can you believe it?! It's finally the reveal day!! So I will apologize now if my blog gets lengthy. Please feel free to just skim for the photos ;)

Let's start out with what each of us got in our soup.

 

Gail sent me a fantastic collection of fun Mixed-Media elements from Industrial Chic , some of her GORGEOUS beaded beads, an enameled toggle and flowers, some pressed czech glass rectangles, Swarovski crystals, a super stash of seed beads and raku fired clay beads.

 

Here is the soup I sent to Gail(You can find beads like Gail's by visiting my shop here). I wanted to know a little bit about her so I could pick something that she would like, but would also challenge her. I snooped through her Etsy favs and asked her some questions to get me going. I created this SUPER set based on some of her and my favorites. Her set included: recycled sari silk, my FIRST ever lampwork heart focal headpins, some of my "Desert Serpent" lentils, some raku spacers, an "Ancient Tablet" style focal, a glass toggle and some droplet style headpins using silver leaf.

Did you know they got LOST in the mail?! Yep, for 3 weeks. We were both extremely heart broken. You can't file a claim with the post office until 21 days. So in the mean time Gail purchased some of the components like the ones in her soup, I sent her the second soup below and Lori sent her some goodies so that she could get started on her designs.

Here is the second soup I sent Gail. This one has my FIRST ever "Ancient Tablet" style heart focal! Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! Gail had bought 2 sets of headpins like what was in her soup and the glass toggle. So I thought I would send some different style clasps. I knew Gail liked winged-hearts so I decided to try my hand at some buttons! I couldn't decide on which to send, so I sent both ;) I also sent another set of spacers and the few other extra beads I had left over from the creation of her first soup.

Before we go on, I would just like to let you know that the first soup ARRIVED! It turns out the package never got "scanned in" in Portland and was a phantom package until it hit Kearney, NJ. It sat there for a few days and then was found by her amazing postal woman, Janet, and Janet's supervisor Darrell!! We were both totally STOKED!! So just had to share our loss and triumph of a happy ending!

So while I created Gail's soup I got so many ideas! I just kept creating, and creating, and CREATING. I thought you might like to see the ideas I had along the way...

 

So in honor of the metamorphosis of my designs I posted this super sweet art by M.C. Escher called "Metamorphosis"(He is and was one of my very favorite artists when I was in highschool). I thought this photo was a perfect start to my designs.

 

Well I had an idea for my first bit of Gail's soup, but I needed a pin with some glass on the end. From left to right: a bubble button swirl, a bubble button with a trapped air bubble, a head pin with a bubble button, a headpin with a pod. I did the first two on the end of a mandrel to do a quick experiment and did the last two on wire for my piece. These weren't the colors I used, but I needed to try them out to see if they would work.

 

Those designs spring boarded me to these: a fire pod, and a flame pod. Then while I was showing a friend how I created beads I did this eye bead for a demo. I did the top eyelashes with a thick line and the bottom, I did with a thinner one. I had been trying to work out a design like this for a long time and just tucked the eyedea ;P away in my mind until this moment. 

Some of these ideas I will go back to now that the Bead Soup is completed and I have more time to try some new things out ;)

 

When I was creating some components for Gail's set I started with the far left bead. This was going to be my toggle bar for this toggle.  I then had an idea for another bar(like the one to the left of the ring part of the toggle) where I tweaked the design a little to have pretty bubble buttons on the middle and ends of the bar. HOLY CRAP, are they PRETTY! Not only did I trap an air bubble on the inside(which was one my favorite things I learned when first lampworking), but I also trapped gorgeous rainbows of colors! After creating the toggle bar I thought how cool it would be just as a bead. I decided to call this style "Rainbow Sticks". :D:D:D

 

I ended up making some of my "Desert Serpent" style lentils for Gail's set as well. I took this design a step further and created the "Desert Serpent Jewel" style by adding a bubble button to the middle! So awesome!

 

After making those I thought OMG, those would be sweet on a GLASS HEADPIN! So I made one in a tear drop shape and then one in a paddle style! HOLY FREAKIN' YUM! They are SOOOOO pretty! I then got the idea to make these rainbowy heart headpins! I plan on going back to re-create some of these as well. I just kind of physically glass doodled my ideas to go back to when I had an opportunity. This is kind of like sketching in a sketch book, but with created samples :D

MY DESIGNS FROM GAIL'S SOUP....

So what did I created with Gail's soup? Well this first idea I created the same day! I was really excited :D

 

First I took one of Gail's beautiful beaded beads and did a quick proto-type to see if my idea would work. It did, so I needed to create one of those glass pins I did the experiment for above(the lime green and aqua photo).

 

I call this "Jeweled Wreath". Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I made a glass bubble button and strung it through Gail's bead and created a band! :D

 

Here is that metamorphosis thing again.... I had a pod pin and decided to put it with one of my "Vortex Flower" beads and make a ring in that same style! Pretty f*ing amazing, huh?! I just love it when my ideas turn into just as amazing designs!! :D

So what else did I make? Well I was pretty stumped for a long while. I wanted to make some glass beads to go with my soup, but nothing worked out. I then decided that maybe this design just didn't need any of my lampwork beads(crazy, I know, but what are you gonna do? ;)

So off to the antique stores and thrift stores to look for some goodies.

 

After combing store after store I returned home with these items: an old dictionary, a keyhole, a key, a printer's key with a "?" on it, and this brass necklace with oval links and tear drop shaped jump rings.

 

So come with me and take a peek through the key hole of my design.....

 

Remember that old dictionary? I took a scrabble tile, distressed it and adorned it with some pages from the dictionary! I was so pleased with how this turned out! I even used this same idea for my roommates birthday present!

 

Here is where my design started....

 

I was really enamored with this little Witch Hazel tin so I chose that for my focal. I really loved the big flower focal, but it just wasn't talking to me so I based my entire design around this sweet little tin!

I decopaged the inside of the tin with the dictionary meaning for "Tincture," I thought it was fitting since that is what you would do with Witch Hazel to create. 

If I would have had some resin, I think this would have been a perfect opportunity to do the same page idea, but fill it with resin. I really like how you could add little treasures to your tin while you wear this piece :D

 

Here is a more close-up shot of the key hold portion of the necklace. I just adore it! It took me awhile to find a keyhole that was small enough to make into jewelry. I really love the ornate design on it as well. See how I used those sweet tear drop shaped jump rings from the necklace to attach them to Gail's beaded beads?! They worked out just perfectly! 

 

Here is a shot of the little wire-wrapped dangles and enamel flower dangles I made. See Mary Harding's flower beads as well? I actually got those from her from my last Bead Soup! I was excited to add her things to this years bead soup as well since she wasn't able to participate. I bet she would be excited ;)

 

Here is a shot of the entire necklace. Didn't it turn out AMAZING?! I am really pleased with the results! It really has such a wonderful vintage look to it. I called it "Discovered Treasures". I wanted the necklace to have the feel of an old inventor/artists discoveries.

 

Here is what it looks like worn. :D

I hope you enjoyed reading about my creative process and designs! Please hop on over to Gail's Blog to see what she did with her soup from me :)

Want to see what everyone else created with their soups? Hop on over to Lori's Blog to get the complete list of participants for the September 2011 Bead Soup Blog Party!

Have fun hoppin'!

xo Genea

Bead Soup Blog Party Beads in the Shop!

Hello friends!

Well it's starting to kind of feel "normal". I am all set up in my new amazing spot in Portland, Oregon and the studio is up and running! It feels great to be making beads and getting back to the normal feeling days!

I FINALLY got the beads listed like the ones I used in the Bead Soup Blog Party necklace called "Gold Dust"! I feel sad it took me SO long to get them listed.

Inspiration is a funny thing. I don't do custom orders because they make me grumpy and sometimes that magic that comes out for special things like the Blog Party jewelry just doesn't work a second time around. I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but inspiration isn't this switch you can just flip on when you need it. It's a very sensitive thing that is highly effected by stress and all sorts of other outside elements.  So, that being said these were the only beads that would come out, so they are the only ones I will be creating. Some of these beads or sets I have two of and I will note that by the listings below.

Want to see the new stuff? 

 

"Biscotti Silver"- I really LOVE this color of odd lot glass with silvered ivory. It's so pretty. Almost has a greenish cast to it. I just love the webbing/ curdled effect of silvered ivory as well. It always makes for pretty beads!   I would probably make more of these beads.

 

"Bronze Wheelies"- Reduction glass always turns out different metallics every time. Never know what you are going to get ;) I love the metallic with this dreamy sepia tone transparent glass. These are the only ones I have or will be making.

 

"Cream Silver"- again all about these odd lot glasses. This one is a nice creamy color with a pale pinkish cast to it. So pretty with the silvered ivory. It even has hints of a metallic sheen around some of the bead holes. Looks very vintage. I have 2 sets. I would make more of these.

 

"Gold Dust Bubble"- this pretty little guy has a slight blue cast to it, but it's just the light reflecting off of it. It's that pretty sepia brown with gorgeous bits of gold and silver looking bits on it. The picture doesn't really do it justice and it's so cute and little compared to some of my other hollows ;) I have 2 of these. Won't be making more.

 

"River Rock Wheelies"- LOVE this color! It's so streaky and pretty and yummy earthy! I am pretty sure this is a pretty old odd lot. I think I bought it when I lived in Colorado and this baby is gone, gone from stock anywhere! I almost wish I would have bought more!  Only one set. I would probably make more depending on how much glass I have left.

Here is the necklace from the Bead Soup Blog Party if you missed it before. "Gold Dust".

 

I just LOVE this piece! I wanted to keep it for myself many many times, but everyone loved it to much so I offered it for sale in the shop.  I was so excited to have the very talented and super sweet, Mary Harding for my partner! You can check out her shop here! Lots of Clay awesome! 

RE-STOCKS from BEADWORK STRINGING SPRING 2011.....

I got a few things re-stocked from Beadwork, but still need to make more. I'm having a hell of a time trying to stock the teal and pink I used to make the "Transparent Trillium" hollow so none of those for now. I could always make up a waiting list if anyone is interested when I can stock the glass. Just send me a message ;)

 

"Earthy Blend" spacers

 

"Spotty Droplets" lampwork headpins.

Here is Lorelei's gorgeous design again if you missed it ;)

I will be posting more pictures of our trip and Portland in another post, but if you want to see them NOW you can hop over to my Facebook Profile page and check them out :) Just friend request and I will add ya ;)

See you soon!

Have a wonderful day!

xo Genea

Bead Soup Blog Party jewelry now on Etsy!

Hello friends!

I am excited to announce that all of my gorgeous designs for the bead soup blog party are now available in the shop! I loved all of the pieces I created, but with the overwhelming positive response to my pieces I thought it only fair to offer them up for sale in my shop :)

 

"City of Industry"

 

"Gypsy Forest"

 

"Gold Dust"- the most beloved of all of my designs :D This one was my very favorite too!

  

"Chocolate Blooms" as seen in my soldered charms tutorial in Glass Pattern's Quarterly Spring 2011!

 

Here is the back side of the charm. Stay tuned as I will be doing a give-away for this issue!

Well I hope you are as excited about these designs being offered as I am to offer them! If the lengths aren't quite right on these pieces some may be adjusted larger or smaller. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.

Now that my brain is completely fried I am flying out of here for the weekend. Well, not really flying, but running out of my computer chair to go hang out with mom :)

Have a terrific weekend!

Much love,

Genea