As I write this, I’m watching rivers of raindrops slide down my window, silvering the world outside. I imagine the raindrops soaking deep into the gradually thawing earth, awakening the roots, seeds and bulbs that silently wait there ready to burst into their spring growth. Creation energy is whispering in the air…
That gently awakening energy has inspired me to create my own beady concoctions here in my studio. Taking direction on bead color mixing from Beverly Ash Gilbert’s Beaded Colorways book, I’ve experimented with some bead soup of my own in a neutral, winter-inspired palette. I originally wrote about my color inspiration here.
The small moonstone cabochons I found in my stash are encircled with some beads from each soup I mixed.
I’ve added some pearls and gemstones in similar hues to round out the soups.
Another free-form bracelet is cooking…
Art and Tea 
Delicious looking beads and colors, Karen. You just get lost in the natural colors of them.
Even though neutrals are not my preferred colors, these mixes are beautiful! Is that not the most delicious book? I just got my last week.
Thanks Judy and Arline! Delicious is the perfect word to describe both the beads and the book!
I love the distribution of colors!
Hello, your bead soup has beautiful colors. I live in Japan where many of these beads are made. You will be surprised to know that we can not buy all the colors here. Most are made for the States only. Can I ask you the names or product numbers of the white and ivory colored beaded around the moonstone? I realize a lot of time has past…. I just love those ivory colors and would love to try to find them the next time I am in the States.
Thanks so much, Pam! I couldn’t find a number for the beads right next to the moonstone, however, the beads right below that had the number MD0671. Hope that helps! I got it at my local bead shop.
I am also studying color with Beverly Ash Gilbert’s book! Did you make the bracelet or necklace you were working on? If so, please do put a photo of it on your blog. I would love to see it. I am sure many people would. It looks so elegant!
Thanks for the information. Were they Miyuki beads? I want to make a bead soup out of white/ivory colored beads….
I have a friend who loves tea as I do. I sent her a link to your blog. Your tea photos look so yummy!
Hi Pam, you can see my completed braclet here: https://artandtea.com/2010/04/28/from-bead-soups-to-a-free-form-bracelet/ Yes, I believe some of the beads are Miyukis. Thanks again for your kind words!
[…] soup”, as Beverly calls it. I’ve created bead soup before and wrote about it here and […]