Pumpkin Patch

Looking for this?
Bead Soup Blog Party - The reveal (Part I)
Bead Soup Blog Party - A second helping (Part II)

It's official; Summer is gone and Fall is here. I'm looking forward to cooler temps and pumpkin lattes! To celebrate, I made this three strand necklace:

 

Pumpkin Patch Necklace

Materials: Red Aventurine, Shell, and glass seed beads. Sterling silver clasp.

My next show is in early October, so I've been working on creating new product. I also need to get a banner with my logo for the booth. But for the rest of the night, I'm going to work on my new art journal and then movie night at home with the hubby! Have a good weekend everyone :)

Feeling the itch

Looking for this?
Bead Soup Blog Party - The reveal (Part I)
Bead Soup Blog Party - A second helping (Part II)


For a while now, I have been wanting to do more. I used to paint. I do know how to sew. Why not incorporate polymer clay into my jewelry designs? But of course, I always have some excuse about time or what not. The other day I decided I was going to start an art journal. It's a lot less intimidating then taking on a large project and I believe it could be beneficial to me in a therapeutic way right now.

An art journal is basically a visual diary. In it you record your thoughts, as well as, draw, paint or add embellishments to the pages. I want this blog to be about more than just my jewelry. I want it to represent all of me. So I'm going to be sharing my art journal pages here. I hope that anyone with a passion for art can enjoy them.

Art Journal: Page 1

This is my first page of my first art journal. The lower right corner is kinda a mess up. But that's one thing I want to learn from this: to accept the imperfections. That may be harder than I thought!

Bead Soup Party - A second helping

Looking for this?
Bead Soup Blog Party - The reveal (Part I)


I had so many great ideas from my mix that I had to separate it into two posts
This is Part II of my BSBP reveal. Click the link above if you have not yet seen Part I.

I took a moment to photograph my table as I worked.

(It's also Bead Table Wednesday!)

Bead Soup Project Five

Red Aventurine, Serpentine, Quartz and Carnelian gemstones

Glass beads, Pewter and Gold toned Upcycled metals

 Those large Quartz nuggets came from my bead soup partner, Teri, and the rest is from my own stash. As I mentioned in my previous post, I normally do not work with gold. So I decided to experiment with mixing gold and silver. I had no idea what this bracelet was going to be when I first started working, but I like how it came out. It's fun, nothing to serious ;)


 

Bead Soup Project Six

Gemstone pendant from Teri

Green Agate, Yellow Opal and Czech glass beads

I'm unsure of what the pendant stone is, but it's beautiful! I used some matching beads to make a short braid, finished off with some cones and sterling silver chain.

My Partner:

My wonderful partner is Teri from Born To Be Worn. The bead soup mix she sent to me was truly perfect and I have had so much fun creating these pieces. Be sure to stop by her blog and see what she made using the bead mix I sent her!

Thank you for such an amazing experience Teri!

See more participates of this party:

Lori had a lot of work on her hands with this party and I think she has done an amazing job! So, please visit her blog, as well as the other participates, to see what amazing creations they came up with!

An easy to follow list of all participants can be found here.

Part I:

If you missed it, check out the first part of this post here.

Bead Soup Party: The reveal!

Welcome!

My name is Rochelle. I live in southeastern Connecticut with my hubby and our two boys (of the feline variety). I have been making jewelry for almost 10 years, but have only started blogging in the last few months. I'm truly honored to be a part of something so unique and grand as this Bead Soup Blog Party. I hope you enjoy my reveal!

Click each image to enlarge

 Here are a few photos I took of my Bead Soup mix before getting to work. You can read more about what I received from my partner, Teri, here.

Bead Soup Project One

Aquamarine(?) gemstones

 These earrings are simple. But sometimes I really like that.
They have a nice romantic feel to them. The gemstones were from Teri, I had the metal components.

 Bead Soup Project Two

Amazonite, Bronzite and Carnelian gemstones

This necklace uses the toggle clasp and large Amazonite beads (as the focal) sent to me by Teri, and was probably the hardest project for me. See, I never use gold. That means I have no gold toned crimps, jump rings or wire. So construction on this one was a bit tough. I actually had to pull apart some old costume jewelry to get enough jump rings, and then I bought some spacers specifically for this project. I really wanted to show the clasp off, but with some of these beads being so large, I couldn't see how to put it in the exact front. I played around a bit, moving the beads around on my work surface, when it came to me. I slid them over to the side :)  I really, really like the colors in this piece. It's something totally different than I would normally make.

Bead Soup Project Three

Amazonite, Quartz and Freshwater pearls. Sterling silver

Now this necklace is much more me. Back to silver and my comfort zone! The large gemstone pendant and quartz beads came in my Bead Soup mix. I think this is just beautiful and have already found myself planning an outfit around it!

Bead Soup Project Four

Amazonite gemstones, Glass beads, and Sterling silver dolphin charm

I had one of those large rectangle beads left over. I was moving it around in my hand when I realized that if I turn it vertically, it looks like the ocean and sky! Oh, so cool! I kept the design simple, to show off the gemstone.

My Partner:

My wonderful partner is Teri from Born To Be Worn. The bead soup mix she sent to me was truly perfect and I have had so much fun creating these pieces. Be sure to stop by her blog and see what she made using the bead mix I sent her!

Thank you for such an amazing experience Teri!

See more participates of this party:

Lori had a lot of work on her hands with this party and I think she has done an amazing job! So, please visit her blog, as well as the other participates, to see what amazing creations they came up with!

An easy to follow list of all participants can be found here.

Part II:

Believe it or not, I still have some beads left over from my mix and two more projects that I haven't completed. I hope you come back and see Part II of this post!

Milo, helping me take photos

Pawtucket Art Festival

Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI

This weekend I had a show in Rhode Island at the Pawtucket Art Festival. I was set up on the bridge with this view behind my table. It was a beautiful compliment to my jewelry. Pawtucket is a really interesting area, with a plethora of treasured historical sites and a large artist community; It's also got a share of poor and shady areas. The modern urban decay mixed with buildings from 1700's created a visually stimulating place to be.

 

Sea Chelles Design

My table display gets better and better each time. I'm finally at the point where I like it. Almost all of the necklace busts, the earring board and tall necklace holder were made my mom and her boyfriend in their workshop. Not only is all my jewelry handmade, but so is my display! And did I mention how much cheaper scrap wood and paint is comparatively?!

 Girls from Salve Regina University

Not only were there many, many talented artists, but some fantastic entertainment as well! Blues and Jazz drifted over the water from the music tent all day; performers came around for photo ops. These girls are from the Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. They are painted head to toe in metallic paint and in adorably detailed costumes.

I had such a great weekend and I am proud to say I was apart of this fabulous event!