Charis Designs Jewelry: Charis Deisgns

I've been remiss in blogging. Life changed lanes a few months ago and I was blessed with a new opportunity, which I am loving. However, being part of this new thing meant letting go of others, and I am no longer teaching jewelry classes or doing as much jewelry making. I'm also working an extra day a week, again, a blessing, but life got really busy very quickly. So, I'm sorting through beads and commitments to figure out what exactly needs to stay and what can be let go of. I've also discovered bangles, which are ever so much fun. I grew up in India, and bangles were a staple from the time that I was little. I love making them, I love wearing them and I love sharing them!

Znet Shows is a great company to be part of. Their products are beautiful and their prices are amazing. For the fall issue of Creative Spark, they came up with something different for us designers. Some would make fall themed jewelry, some would write tutorials and some would play with found object jewelry. I was fortunate enough to be part of the fall themed jewelry group. Look at the gorgeous beads that came my way!

I went looking for some inspiration and found it on Instagram with my friend @DenesiaChristine. You'll see one of her stunning pictures inside the magazine, but please take a peak at her other breathtaking pictures. They're a treat for the eyes. (And while you're there, I'm @CharisDesigns.)

I mentioned earlier that bangles are my new plaything, and so I got to playing. These were the first things that got made? Don't they just embody all the colors of fall?

There's a lot more beautiful things waiting to be seen inside. I hope you'll click on the link and take a peek at all the jewelry my fellow design team members have created. And, oh look!, I'm on the cover!!! How's that for a splash and dash of grace and joy?

The unveiling has arrived. I must confess that I have mixed feelings about the finished product. The BSBP is all about going out of your comfort zone and trying new things, and to that end, this was a definite success. Andra Weber was my partner and she sent me some beautiful choices to work with. We discovered that we had several things in common- we both have 3 daughters and the same faith beliefs. Don't you love when you find a bead soul mate? While we do very different kinds of beading, we both enjoy learning new things, we love beads and most of all, we love Jesus! Can't wait to see what she created with what the soup that was sent her way. Please be sure to stop by her blog, Andra's Joyful Journey.

Andra blessed me with a lovely combination of copper beads, a copper clasp, copper glass rondelles and a beautiful focal bead from 2 Bead Sisters . You can see the full assortment here. She gave me lots of wonderful choices! The guidelines were as follows: you must use the focal and the clasp that your partner sent. Using additional items from your soup or from your stash are up to the individual.

So,without further ado, let me serve you up some soup from the 5th Bead Soup Party. I was able to finish the main piece, but there's another course that is still simmering after experiencing a technical glitch yesterday and a time glitch today. That means you have Bead Soup Part II to look forward to, but here's my soup de jour:)

For this challenge, I decided to depart from the usual stringing, and venture into knotting. In fact, there's not a single crimp in this piece! I loved, loved, loved the copper and wanted to play that up and use the warm, rich colors to balance the cool colors in the focal while weaving black components to tie it all together. I'm still a novice with the knotting, and tried several different weights/types of cording materials before finding what worked with the various sized beads. In retrospect, I probably should have used beeswax to keep the fibers more cohesive, but it's all about learning :). I've developed a crush on chain maille and so again, veered away from the known, and tried a Japanese triangle for the first time as well as creating the mobius chain on the one side of the necklace.

The other side was chain purchased from Michaels, where I have the joy of being a jewelry instructor. I also used some 26 g copper wire to wrap the cording to the chain and add a decorative element that tied together the three different points of the necklace.

This was the necklace before I oxidized it (again, something new for me) using this technique. Can you see the difference? I love the bright copper, but didn't have enough jumps to make chain for the second side, and the purchased links were darkened already. Not having a cohesive metal color is too far out of my comfort area.

So, what are the misgivings? I'm not as happy as I'd like to be with the quality of the finishing of the different techniques. Now that I've got a pearl knotter (and am learning how to use it ), I may re-do it after waxing the cords/strings. The big copper beads and copper clasp are so pretty and I'm not sure they were done justice, but for right now, it's done! I can't wait to show you my second offering in a couple of days. I'm using another form of beading that's one of my favorites. I also need to use the matching beads to make a pair of earrings and complete the set.

Ready to taste some more soup? Here's the list of all the participants. A BIG thank you to our wonderful
Master Soup Chef, Lori!

Hostess, Lori Anderson

Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1. Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3. Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4. Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5. Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6. Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7. Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8. Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9. Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10. Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery

11. Andra Weber and Christine Murrow (you are here)