Bead Soup Book: Nightmare Insomnia Inspiration

"Only those who have awakened know that they were sleeping."

~ Jim Paredes

When Miss Lori of Pretty Things approached me to participate in the Bead Soup book, I didn't hesitate for a moment. I had always wanted to be in a book, and I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the bead soup swaps that she hosted. Anything that grows this community and focuses on our shared passions of beads and inspires creativity is for me! Plus it is just so danged fun to get a surprise in the mail to kick start your creativity. Who doesn't love beady surprises?

We had to mail our specially selected bead soup mixes to Lori who would photograph them and then hand select where they would go. So this is a bit different from the traditional bead soup swap where you are paired with a partner to swap your bead soup. (Note: I usually ask for a Bead Soup partner to be from another country because I have made the coolest beady penpals that way and get things that I never would find in the States! I would highly recommend this if you do participate in a swap.)

I have to admit that one of the hardest things was selecting my soup mix to send (that ultimately wound up in Lyn Foley's most capable hands with a design that still has me exclaiming 'Wow!'). Because this would be a book that needed to be accessible to everyone, I was told that I couldn't include any art beads. 

Almost every design I make centers around art beads, and I always have a bead soup with art beads on the back burner waiting for the right moment of creativity to bubble over. But this is a challenge, and I never shy away from one of those. I pawed through my stash and decided upon these dyed blue agate slices, blue nugget pearls, faceted opalite and a sterling silver clasp that I made in a class in 2008 with Susan Lenart Kazmer with a swirly blue resin that looks like druzy I created. (So I guess I sort of 'cheated' in that I sort of made the clasp but this shade of blue was perfect for the soup.)

When I got my bead soup, I was thrilled to find out that it was from the very talented Jen Cameron from Glass Addictions. Her beads are droolworthy, don't you think?

I have to be honest. That focal bead - that big, beautiful, bold focal bead - scared the living daylights out of me! I have since found out that the name for this bead is 'Nightmare Insomnia'. I think that is quite fitting! It is so very large and has a very definite presence, I worried that I would be able to give it a treatment that made it shine. (Perhaps I suffered a few nightmare insomnia moments obsessing about that! ;-)

Jennifer had this to say about her inspiration for these 'Nightmare Insomnia' series beads on the Art Jewelry Elements blog (which is a great blog, by the way. Go and follow it!):

 

My 10 year old daughter, who turns 11 in July, inspired this series. The first time I made one of these, it was 4 years ago in the midst of a particularly bad spell of nightmares for her. Every single night she would wake up screaming and end up crawling in bed with us, plastered against me...elbowing, kicking, tossing and turning. Plus I would be sweating because I was crammed in between her and hubs. This means I really wasn't getting much sleep.

 

One night, as I was torching, I was stewing about this particular issue, and suddenly my beads started growing these stylized spider end caps thingies on them before I realized what was going on. The next morning when I showed my lovely daughter, she responded with "that's really mean that you made those because of my nightmare, but also really cool."

 

I continue to make them even though she no longer wakes up screaming about spiders or crawls into bed with us.

When I read this description it really clicked for me! This bead is huge and now that I see those spider tentacles on them I totally get the energy and intention that went into making them. They are so very unique. Turning a negative scary experience into a positive one.

The colors that Jen coaxes from these lava hot glass rods is quite amazing. Whole universes exist in those swirls! The Nightmare Insomnia bead that I got, and the coordinating glass nuggets, were in this rich honey butterscotch color. So yummy for fall! Along with it I received a cool stamped pewter hook clasp, a strand of these deep inky black and blue button pearls and a whole slew of clear and opaque pink faceted beads.

{Sneak peek of the Portobello Mushroom soup I created with these genius ingredients!}

I have to admit that I really puzzled over the pink. They stumped me. I am not a pink sort of girl. I find it a hard color with which to design. And although I could see flashes of pink underlying the swirling golds and tans and bits of rusty orange, I just didn't feel this color.

So I left them out of my design.

That is the thing with the bead soup... you are required to send a pretty clasp, a focal and coordinating beads, but you are only expected to use the clasp and focal. The rest is up to you. As a challenge, this is where you get to have a little say in what you end up with, so if you are at all concerned that you won't like your ingredients, you shouldn't worry about it. Just like any good cook knows that a pinch of this and a dash of that makes all the difference in the final dish, you can tailor the end result to what feels comfortable to you. That is exactly what I look for in a creative challenge... pushing me out of my comfort zone but also giving me the tiniest bit of control.

I can't show you the full piece (buy the book!), but I can tell you that the picture of it is beautiful. To this mix, I added stamped pewter rings, steel washers and wire, silver pewter daisy spacers, a carved bone bead, Swarovski crystals in a smoky gray color and a whole tube of silver lined frosted topaz seed beads. Do I have you drooling yet?

Luckily for you, Miss Jennifer sells her one-of-a-kind nightmare insomnia beads in her Glass Addictions Etsy shop. You can pick one up to see where this special bead will lead you.

And if you hurry, you may still be able to enter your comment on Jen's blog to win one of the Nightmare Insomnia beads of your very own! I would love to see how it inspires you!

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In the spirit of Bead Soup, I put together a little bead soup mix of my own to give away to one lucky random commenter on this post.

My Bead Soup Prize Mix includes a new 'Sari Snapshot' Simple Truth pendant in juicy shades of orange and grape along with a strand of really cool purple swirly faceted glass beads, orange shell heishi, carnelian/peridot/amethyst carved leaves, brass connector beads and a Vintaj leaf clasp.

To win, answer any one of the following questions (you don't have to answer them all!):

•  Do you participate in swaps, hops and challenges? If so, what do you love most about them? If not, what would make you consider it? (Come, join us!)
• Have you ever participated in a swap, hop or challenge that pushed your creative limits in a way that was totally unexpected? What did you learn?
• Tell me what you would do with this Bead Soup Prize Mix.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday, October 9th. 
 
Be sure to have a way for me to contact you (either turn on your email in your blogging profile or add your email to the comment). I will ship this soup mix anywhere in the world so that I can add another beady penpal to my list! ;-)

My personal thank you to Lori Anderson. I am honored that you invited me to participate in this beautiful book and be a part of a ring of talent such as this. It really is a great collaboration with some very wonderful designers and artists, people that I truly admire, and I am humbled to play a small part.