Bead Soup Book

It is out now! I got my own copy in the mail last Friday :-). It was so exciting to open and look through it. I must say it is a great book, with many different projects, in many different styles and by many different artists. Comprehensive instructions, and just tons of inspiration to get.

And, oh yes, I am one of the contributors with a jewelry piece. It's the stone soup one. I am not allowed to show you the necklace here, but this teaser picture I am allowed to show. :-)

I am also allowed to show you the soup I used. I got it from Lori Anderson herself. Isn't it just plain irresistible!!??!! And I tell you, apart from being just beautiful and very inspiring, this soup had a very special effect on me.

The first time I saw the soup I made an instant and unexpected inner "journey". In my mind I was taken back in time, to the late summer of 1982, when I was 17. And my father and I went on a week's holiday to Fårö, a smaller island just north of the island of Gotland in Sweden. In the middle of the Baltic Sea.

The stone focal with the wild flower motif ressembles the raukar and the sandy colors. The turquoise color reminds me of the sky on Gotland/Fårö, where the sky is big and always present. And most often also the sea. Nature, wind, sunshine, fresh air, rocks, raukar, sparse nature, sand, sand stone, wild flowers, sheep walking freely ... It truly is a magical place.

Lori's soup, with its color scheme, components, and the focal - together they took me there in an instanse. I was very moved by the whole experience, as it was so immidiate and really took me somewhere else in space and time. 

My father and I stayed in a hostel where we had our breakfasts and evening meals, and in the days we explored the unique and beautiful landscape and the pictoresque sceneries of Fårö. Here and there we settled in a special spot for a couple of hours. I was painting, and my father took photographs. I cherish my memory of this trip so much, even more since my father passed away a couple of years ago. It was a beautiful gift to be able to go there via Lori's bead soup. Thank you so much for everything Lori

I wish you all to be able to go there one day. Both Ingmar Bergman and Olof Palme had holiday houses there. Or why don't you watch the film Persona by Ingmar Bergman, partially filmed on Fårö.

The collage of pictures above I made for myself just after I got the soup. (I don't think I ever have done anything like that, but this time it felt necessary.) I made it to illustrate for myself my inspiration during the process of designing and making of the piece I made. (I took all the images from different places on the internet, but I am pretty sure none of them are copyrighted.) 

An now to my GIVE-AWAY!!!!

Because this book came about as an off-spring of Lori's famous Bead Soup Blog Parties in the first place, I thought I'd for my give-away offer you one of the pieces I made in the last party.



It is a bracelet I call "India", and I have used only beads and components from the soup that my partner Marsha Neal sent me. We had decided on a theme, the film "The Party" with Peter Sellers from 1969. Hence the Indian theme ;-). Read more about it here.

If you are interested in owning this bracelet, please leave a comment on this post. Make sure I will be able to get in contact with you IF you are the winner. I'll pull the winner randomly by using a random generator on the 8th or 9th. Check Lori's blog PrettyThings for more details on how the drawings works.

Please also make sure to check all the other post in this week long blog tour. There are so many things you can win. You'll find all the info on Lori's blog.

All my best,
Malin