It's a Hawaii Thing

As you know, Artbeads sends me some items to review from time to time. The theme for this particular iteration is "Holiday Traditions." So rather than the standard Swarovski crystal wreaths, Christmas trees, and candy canes, I decided to go with a charm bracelet of foods my family eats during the holidays.  From left to right, we have mochi (we pound ours by hand), shaved ice, red fish, Maui gold pineapple, a bowl of rice, and a bowl of ozoni (mochi soup.)

Hawaiian Eats Charm Bracelet

I had to make the bowl of soup in a 10mm round sterling silver bezel (lined with a small piece of white mulberry paper), using a small button pearl for mochi, a green bugle bead for the vegetable garnish, and three of the tiniest Swarovski xillion flatbacks for carrots. Instead of mixing resin, I used Judykins Diamond Glaze to hold it down. Here's a close up of my improvised soup and a photo of the real thing:

Technically, the rice in the bowl shouldn't be perfectly round.  (That's the shape used to make food offerings to your deceased ancestors.)  Also, the kazari style mochi on the far left should have a tangerine on top (which is more of an oblong shape, not a round like an orange).  :)  But I made the rice bowl, pineapple, and mochi charms entirely out of supplies I had on hand.  The "carrot garnish," red fish, and shaved ice were made of items received from Artbeads as part of the product review.   (I also got some gift tins, which I originally intended for use with this project, but I changed my mind.  You'll see those later this week.)

In particular, I really liked the quality of the silver findings used for the shaved ice.  (I used a Bali silver bead cone and one Bali silver headpin.)  Nice and heavy, great worksmanship.  (Incidentally, the bead cone used to make the "bowl" is on sale this week for 15% off.)  Obviously, these items aren't to scale, but this was a ton of fun to make.

What kinds of foods remind you of family gatherings?  Do you have a specialty dish?

**Note: I received some of these products free of charge from Artbeads.com in exchange for an honest product review. I have not been paid for this endorsement as it pertains to the products received.

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