Tuesday, June 10, 2014

What I learned from 500+ Blogs

*****Looking for my Bead Soup Piece? =) Click here!****


A few weeks ago, I posted about being part of Bead Soup Blog Party (This party has taken a hiatus)  where I exchanged beads with my partner, Lisa Johnson of http://spudandmrsbutters.blogspot.com and made some pieces with what she sent me.  As part of the "party", I made a commitment to myself that I wanted to go to each blog to see what was made and I DID IT!  I commented on most (probably 400+) and tried to make personal comments vs something generic like 'nice piece'.  After visiting all those blogs (including folks from 30+ countries), I started to notice some things and wanted to share with the class...

- Sometimes it's hard to comment on things that you just don't get or like (that's ok and part of the fun) 

- MANY tried something new - either a technique, a color palate or style 

- LOTS of pieces featured asymmetry 

- LOTS of pieces featured cording of some nature (i.e., linen cotton, leather, rat tail, etc...) 

- I was exposed to all SORTS of new ideas and techniques

- I found myself downloading ALOT of pieces in my "inspiration" folder - I wish more had put a watermark on their photos so I know whose pieces I'm looking at again

- The average comments per post was about 35 

 - Of those who participated, many are collecting pieces for next years soup already 

- There weren't as many seed bead pieces as I expected 

- I LOVE seeing the international pieces 

- I feel like i have to use ! for everything! 

- It's interesting to see how folks overcame their challenge

- It's interesting to see what folks considered a challenge and/or thought their partner would be challenged with

- Photo backgrounds can make or break how a piece looks =)

- If the person is an active blogger, it was REALLY helpful to have a link near the top directly to their pieces so I didn't have to scroll through everything to find it

- I was surprised at how many hadn't posted something (especially since we had an extra week). It made me sad that they didn't post and that there were many who would have given their eye teeth to be able to participate. More than that, that Lori worked so hard to pair people up and it was like her work didn't matter. =(  That hurt my heart.  And I know things come up, life happens...but post *something* - I stubbed my toe, my order was lost, my dog ate my piece...just something.

- Of those who posted nearly every.single.one. mentioned how much they appreciated how much work Lori Anderson, and her AWESOME support team, did!  

- CAPTCHA blows when you're commenting on 400+ blogs

- The creativity of the people in this group is ASTOUNDING

I've been honored to be a part of this group of EXTRAORDINARILY TALENTED jewelry designers.  They have encouraged me, challenged me and made me a better designer.  If you're a designer - JOIN.THIS.GROUP.  You'll be amazed at what you'll learn!

27 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 11, 2014

    Interesting summary! I loved the experience and got a lot out of it:) Working with somebody else's choice of beads really makes you to come out of your comfort zone.

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  2. I appreciate reading your thoughts about the blog hop. It made me stop and think about what I got from the experience. Top thought is how much talent there is, exposure to new techniques and how much I want to learn more.

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  3. I agree 100% I still have about 150 to go - didn't hop this last week as I had other stuff going on but I've been noticing the same and memory wire too!

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  4. hey Linda, great summary; I am planning to write a summary post as well but to comment on the emerging trends and styles. Will link to this post as the general summary of the blog hop

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  5. Love your summary. Haven't made it all the way through yet but am still working on it. May was such a busy month for me.

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  6. This post made my heart sing! (although it also made me feel slightly 'guilty' that I still have not finished visiting all blogs! (I still am going to though!))
    I had to agree with almost everything you said! (including the ! LOL)
    If anything this blog hop seriously has me inspired and in a way made me feel even more secure about my own creating as well.
    Thanks for this great summary!

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  7. Great comments, I am still hopping, because I also want to comment in a significant way, after reading some of the story.

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  8. wonderfull to hear you did 400, I've done around 350 and would agree with what you said, especially those captcha's.

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  9. Great re-cap...I am still trying to make it to all of the blogs...I think I am over half way through now...I have been beeding getting ready for classes I am teaching and another challenge that is coming up next month so I am hoping to get finished with all blogs by the end of this weekend. I have REALLY enjoyed being involved. This was my first time and I can't wait to do it again. Thanks so much for your recap...

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  10. all your points are those that I would reflect on - I too was saddened by those that did not post - as there is a lot of work that goes into a soup like this - thank you for your great review

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  11. I love your post and really admire you! I clearly see that you have a lot of determination when you set a goal! Excellent post and great job and I agree with you in every single point! Congratulations for an amazing recap! :)

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  12. Great post - thanks for the recap!

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  13. Great post and so agree. Though I still haven't quite finished. Life right now just isn't giving me the chance I wanted, but I will prevail and finish! Thanks for a great insight and post!

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  14. Great post! Really enjoyed reading your observations, and totally agree, though I've only been through about 1/4 of the list so far... I do hope to make it through all of them eventually! ;)

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  15. dunno if my post got posted---thank u for posting this and for visiting all of us and valuing our work especially Lori's!!!

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  16. This is great food for thought, Linda :) I think you have done a great job putting in words what many are feeling. I feel especially sad that so many still have not posted after all this time. I visited every blog, now I have been going through a second time. After a month, some blogs look abandoned :(

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  17. I too like what you have done..your comments were helpful to me.

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  18. AnonymousJune 14, 2014

    Great summary :) I think you've summed up what I saw too! I agree that it's a shame that some people didn't post :(

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  19. Thank you for taking the time, both to hop and comment. I think I'm almost done with mine if tomorrow turns out ok. I hope you truly enjoyed it!

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  20. Great summary Linda. I couldn't have said it better. I'm still hopping. Work and life keeps getting in the way. But I'm determined to get to each one. I felt kind of bad/sad too for those that haven't posted. (Surprising how many) With me slowly working my way through the list, I'm still finding quite a few that haven't posted yet.
    Those I've visited so far I've enjoyed thoroughly and have learned a lot along the way.
    I've also noticed that for all the ones I have visited, about 1/2 (or less) returned the visit. At first that kind of irritated me. Then I reminded myself I'm visiting because I want to. It's my first time participating and I want to enjoy the whole 'enchilada'. Thanks for the great post. There is one thing though I'd like to follow you but I can't see figure out how lol

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  21. Great summary! I really need to watermark my photos! I'm still hopping and feeling like I'll never be done, but it isn't boring work at all! Thanks for the recap!

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  22. Great post....this was Bead Soup 2 for me. See you next year!

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  23. Great summary! Everything is so true! I find myself using ! more!! And you hit the nail on the head....I had a great many of non-posters. This does say you are not interested in hopping and sharing and creating - just joining to see what awesome piece you might receive for FREE! I love the group of those who participate - they do inspire me and can't wait to do it again!

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  24. I agree with you, though I haven't finished the hop yet, it has been overwhelming to say the least, but I have enjoyed so much the people that did put out the effort. I know things get in the way, but really... after all of Lori's hard work, the least some could do it post something. I feel for those that sent something and didn't have their generosity even acknowledged or see any effort on their partners part.. ahh... welll..... I hope that Lori will have recovered from this year enough to do it again next year, maybe on a scaled back version? Just so we can do it again I'm willing to go through some sort of selection process.
    I loved your blog by the way!

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  25. It is very hard to write something meaningful on so many blogs; I'm sure those other beaders appreciated it! It's nice to get any kind of comment, but it's even nicer to get ones where it's obviously that they read your blog post! Kudos to you for doing so many!

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  26. Thank you for this recap - so true, I'd just add that there were some non-jewelry items much to my surprise as this was my first BSBP. I am also trying to make personal comments and was surprised to see too many blurry pics and small size pics that didn't show the details I wanted to take a close look at - to my opinion, both are shortcomings. I am still hopping at a slow pace.

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