2020 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop REVEAL!

 

Welcome to our annual Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Reveal!  This is the 6th year that we've joined this creative project; it's an event where beaders and jewelry designers partner up, swap beads, create and then showcase their creations in blog and social media hops.  Take a look below at the swap we sent and the swap we received!


Our partner this year was Rozantia Petkova from Bulgaria!  She is a regular jeweler blogger known for her accomplished wire work designs, especially creations with beautiful sea glass.  We were so excited to have her as our partner this year, her passion for her craft really shines through in her wonderful creations. ♥

We sent Rozantia a curated collection of beads that focused on gorgeous lampwork beads and a lampwork pendant made by the Dry Gulch gals.  We also sent glass, crystal and stones plus Shibuichi findings.  We can't wait to see what Rozantia creates with her Swap N Hop mix!


  

The beautiful components Rozantia sent us include amazing creations from Bulgaria!  This whimsical collection features pretty lampwork Angel Cat and Hamsa Hand beads from Petrovna Lampwork in Bulgaria, a cute hand painted pebble by Bulgarian artist Niuffa, a flower ceramic component from an artist in Kentucky, USA and finally a BEAUTIFUL hand wrapped sea glass pendant from Rozantia along with her own decoupaged washi tape wood beads.

Each of us tackled a specific item in this collection - the wide range of artisan pieces really made us think out of the box!

Also, we had a twist in the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop this year!  Participants had to add something colored in the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year to our projects.  The color is Classic Blue, so we sent metallic blue crystal beads for Rozantia's project, and she sent us a handmade washi tape bead in Classic Blue for our project.






 


Our first creation came from Gianna, our resident seed beader!  She used Rozantia's washi tape beads as beautiful accents for her design.  She was inspired by the Asian style the washi beads exhibited, so she hand forged an oriental inspired pendant out of iron wire and dangled a gorgeous mother of pearl "gong" pendant from it.  The beautiful Classic Blue bead in the pendant (as well as several beads in the chain) is Rozantia's washi tape creation.  Gianna also wired together two matching linked chain necklaces with vintage glass, freshwater pearls and blue Chalcedony stones.  To really bring a taste of the Orient to this design, she also incorporated several colors and shapes of lovely cloisonne beads!

 

Next, Deborah tackled the brightly colored Hamsa Hand lampwork bead.  She hand knotted coordinating colors of beads using nylon cord and made a fun orange tassel for the pendant.  This bright and summery necklace features vintage Czech glass beads, blue Jade stones and a hand stamped "Good Vibes" brass charm from Catherine.  This necklace is actually a Mala, which is a design made with exactly 108 beads and used by ancient monks and modern yogis alike.  Fun fact, the warm pine wood beads in this Mala have been scented with delicious cedar.

The other artisan piece was a fabulous black Angel Cat bead made by the same Bulgarian artists that created the Hamsa Hand focal.  Catherine loves to wear bracelets and earrings, so she incorporated the Angel Cat into a multi-strand boho leather bracelet.  We've actually featured this Gypsy Spirit bracelet design in several classes for our bead shows, but Catherine used copper glass rings and Czech wampum tubes to "weave" the leather cording in her Angel Cat bracelet.  The clasp features a gorgeous red and gold Czech glass button too.

Finally, Rozantia's beautiful wire wrapped sea glass focal didn't need much to create a gorgeous necklace!  In this collaboration, Deborah hand knotted olivine sea glass beads and sparkling crystals on nylon cord.  Catherine then forged the "bail" connector and the clasp from brass and copper wire to finish off the hand knotted necklace.  This necklace absolutely glows and we love the nature-like colors. ♥

Thank you all for viewing our 2020 Swap N Hop creations!  We want to send Linda Anderson of Bead Peeps a big thank you for hosting the 6th Annual Swap N Hop.  Don't forget to hop to all the links below to see what the other Swap participants created!

2020 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Partners! 

NON Seed Beaders 

Linda Anderson (Hostess) http://www.instagram.com/cherryontopdesign

Nadine Edris http://www.facebook.com/MoondanceJewelryMaine

Rozantia Petkova https://bairozan.blogspot.com/

Catherine La Vite https://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!

Kari Asbury https://www.facebook.com/kariasburyjewelry/

Divya N https://www.jewelsofsayuri.com

Joanne Bell https://www.facebook.com/twinkiedinkyshop/

Sarah Reid http://www.instagram.com/sarahreiddesigns

Gloria Allen https://www.facebook.com/GloriaAllenDesigns/

Jenny Kroeger http://www.facebook.com/reliccharm

Michelle Marson https://www.instagram.com/ellecountry/

Inge von Roos https://ingetraud.wordpress.com/

Colleen Foley https://www.facebook.com/colleenfoleycreations/

Marde Lowe http://fancimardesigns.blogspot.com

TerryJeanette Carter http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com

Beccy Peterson https://www.facebook.com/Beccyp58/

Jackie Marchant http://www.instagram.com/jackiemariemarchant

Kathy Lindemer https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

 Seed Beaders 

Dora Oresic https://www.facebook.com/nakitich/

Palak Udeshi https://www.facebook.com/udeshipalak/

Christina Hickman https://www.instagram.com/laughingsalmon/

Allison Rochelle http://www.instagram.com/akwindsong

Tina Hemr http://instagram.com/mariecaroldesigns

Naomi Knafla https://www.instagram.com/naomiknafla/?hl=en

Renetha Stanziano https://www.instagram.com/rrstanzi/?hl=en

Heather Canepa http://www.instagram.com/canepaheather

Dry Gulch Weekly Pick ~ Amazonite Stones

Welcome to the Dry Gulch Weekly Pick!  Each week, the gals at Dry Gulch Beads & Jewelry feature a bead or component or color of the week, and this time we're showcasing the very beautiful stone Amazonite.  We'd love to see what YOU have created with Amazonite, let us know in the comments!

Amazonite is a gorgeous and classic stone that has been used in jewelry since ancient times.  A form of feldspar (a common mineral within the Earth's crust), Amazonite is a brilliant blue-green opaque stone that is also relatively soft, which makes it perfect for beadwork and carvings.  In the country of Jordan, archeologists discovered over 2,000 pieces of Amazonite jewelry dating from ancient times!


The word Amazonite is actually relatively knew, a mineralogist in the 1840s renamed the stone from its original title Microline.  It is believed he derived the name from the beautiful colors of the Amazon River and jungles in South America, however, there are no known mines of the stone in the Amazon.  Today, Amazonite is mostly found in Russia, Myanmar, India, Brazil and the USA.

    

There are several varieties of Amazonite, including Russian Amazonite which features a deeper green color with zebra-like white striping, and Flower Amazonite, which features earthy colors like black, rust and cream mixed with the blue-green colors.  Flower Amazonite is a variety of Amazonite mixed with minerals like black Tourmaline, white Albite, metallic Pyrite (rarely!) and other minerals.  It is technically considered a lower grade of traditional Amazonite, but the range of earthy colors paired with the lovely sky blues really make this variety a true show-stopper.  Other trade names for this stone are Rainbow Amazonite, Black Cloudy Amazonite and Black Gold Amazonite; it is usually mined in Africa.

    

Click our banner below to shop these gorgeous stones on our website!

Shabby Chic Necklaces from Dry Gulch

Happy New Year from Dry Gulch!  It's been a while since we've blogged, but we've been hard at work behind the scenes creating and making for a big and fabulous 2020!  We joined the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop again this year, which is a blog/social media hop event where we partner up with other beaders around the world to swap beads and then post the creations we make with them.  Be sure to check out the Facebook group for more info on this fun event!

In December 2019, we started doing our Dry Gulch Weekly Pick videos, which are short snippets and info bites of some of the beads and stones we carry on our website.  Be sure to take a look at our newest video this week here on our website.  Some of the jewelry we've created with past edition's Weekly Picks are displayed below, you'll notice that we have a love for soft colors like cream, clear and pastel as they're perfect for making designs that you can wear with any outfit.  Let us know which of these creations is your favorite in the comments below!