Lori Anderson's brainwave to hold a bead hoarders blog hop was the perfect opportunity for me to come out of the closet. For too long, I've hidden behind the excuse that I needed beads and more beads because darn it! I'm a jewellery maker and I need my materials!
The truth is, I'm more of a bead collector - a bead curator (hah!) if you will - than I am a designer or artist. The only time I make lots and lots of jewellery is when I'm playing in a blog hop (usually ones organised by the ever-fantastic Lori), where a mix of inspiration and last-minute panic combine to help me produce several pieces.
If anyone's interested in my...ahem...collection, here's a quick glimpse of some of it:
I'm hoping this Blog Hop will be the first step in my treatment and recovery. Despite my fears, I managed to make use of a few (well, only 3 to be accurate) hoarded beads without suffering any painful or embarrassing side-effects. No tears or teeth-gnashing at all!
So, on to the Reveal! I chose to use some polymer clay bird beads by UK artist Angela Pyke of BeadMeUpButtercup and a lampwork glass focal by Susan Farley of SkholtGlass.
Angela's work is new to me but I love her birdie beads with their white-washed finish. I decided the birds would make a cute pair of earrings, especially paired with some pretty Czech glass beads.
Next up was a focal by Susan Farley. Now, I love Susan's work - I've amassed several of her focal pendants over the last 4 years and have also given away some of her beads to my BSBP partners in the past. After lots of hand-wringing, I chose to use her Spring Flowering Tree focal bead. I gave it a tassel of beads and strung the resulting pendant on a brass chain to which I added Swarovski crystals.
Both reveal pieces will go into my Etsy shop. They need to go and live in other homes apart from mine :-).
Now that I've learnt I can part with my hoard, I'll be more conscientious about actually using the beads I purchase. I want to thank everyone for reading through this post and of course, Lori for this brilliant Blog Hop. With the help of more such Blog Hops, I'll be well on the way to thwarting my hoarding tendencies.
I'm off to check out what Lori and the other participants created. If you'd like to join me, please click here.
