Winter Blues - The Reveal!

Liz E of Bead Contagion found some very cool blue goldstone donuts, and like any good friend with a box of goodies, she offered to share. Beads, donuts, blue, sparkly?  Um, yes, please!

These beads, as you might guess from the name of the hop, arrived in the mail in the dead of winter.  And like a clear, dark winter night, they turned out to be a delicious deep blue with the sparkle of a million stars. So pretty.

Recently obsessed with chances to improve my budding soutache skills, I whipped out my soutache, my seed beads, and my dandy new scissors, and decided this was the perfect chance. And boy, howdy, did I have fun with this! I don't usually name my pieces, but I think this one has named itself "Night In The Kasbah"...

You can just glimpse the jump ring that will eventually connect this pendant to a necklace,
but wowza, look at the goldstone sparkle in that donut!!

Liz, thank you for the beautiful blues, and thank you for the chance to create! These beads were a bright spot in the darkest part of a long winter.  And now, to wait for the breeze outdoors to warm up enough to evoke the warmth of the Kasbah...

Now, go see what everyone else made with their sparkly blues!

Liz (host):  Bead Contagion
Christine:  One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry 

Jasvanti:  Jewelry by Jasvant 

Cynthia:  Antiquity Travelers    

JoJo:  Tahoma Beadworks & Photography

Bobbie:  Beadsong Jewelry

Therese:  Therese’s Treasures 

Amy:  Amybeads

Soutache, Or My Newest Obsession

For a while now, I've been stalking soutache jewelry online, drooling over the graceful loops and whorls that embrace and enhance the beads they surround. But the technique was a mystery to me.

At a bead show, I bought an instructional pamphlet and some materials, thinking I could figure it out on my own. The result? More "crash and burn" than "graceful loops and whorls".  The term "tragic" leaps to mind.  Not even worth trying to salvage.

Then I got an online webinar from Interweave, featuring Amee Sweet McNamara of Amee Runs With Scissors, and that was helpful.  My first attempt was going pretty well, until I realized that I had flipped front and back. Well, crap.

Yeah, that wonky end on the right side? Totally supposed to be on the back. 

I jumped right back up on the horse, and finished a small, relatively acceptable little thing. There are lumps and uneven spots, and even a bit of thread that somehow jumped to the front, but at least it has a discernable front and back.  It's kind of an adolescent soutache piece -- awkward, a little off center, but with hints of what might be.

And then, I found out that I could learn from the master herself -- Amee Sweet-McNamara (insert sounds of angels singing here).  I haven't taken a beading lesson in probably 15 years, relying more on the self-taught experimentation.  But when it's a completely new technique, like soutache, I'm happy to have a chance to let someone show me the path.

Yesterday, I spent six fabulous hours learning from Amee, and I am now officially, undeniably, completely obsessed with soutache. Here's what I made!

The colorway and the pattern are all Amee's, but the work's all mine. I am ridiculously happy with the outcome.  Already plotting the best outfit to wear it with to wow the folks at work. And yes, already planning to work on my first original design tonight during the Oscars.

Now, to figure out where I'm going to store the soutache braid I know I'm going to be buying soon...