Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Bracelet of the Day: Bobble Bangle - Alexandrite Twilight


BOBBLE BANGLE
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Alexandrite Twilight"

This is a bracelet that I had to finish making before starting on my big beading project. Although the purple color is very subtle in these photos, I made this to go with the pair of Gypsy Earrings below, which I blogged about recently. I debated about the thread color to use to make this bracelet. I tried black but it showed very badly through the transparent fire polished beads. I didn't bother to try white thread because I knew that it would look horrible between the bronze seed beads. I settled on some dark khaki Nymo D thread and it worked very well. It doesn't show through the crystal beads and it's just dark enough to not be very noticeable between the seed beads.

You can buy Deborah Roberti's "Bobble Bangles" pattern at Around the Beading Table, HERE.



13 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. This is beautiful!!!!!!!!!! I need to make this. Thanks.

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    1. This pattern works well with so many kinds of beads. About the only kind I haven't tried are bicones but I prefer to use bicones as accent beads rather than for an entire bracelet. Sure, there are exceptions to my "rule" and it depends on the pattern. I love Jaycee's "Celtic Bracelet" which has lots of bicones in it and probably wouldn't look right with rounded beads.

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  2. Hi Linda, in addition to your amazing designs I always admire the beautiful bead colors that you use, and every time I want to buy more beads ;-). I used to buy superduo beads in a local store until it was closed. Artbeads became my next source. Only today while looking for more colors at RedPanda site I discovered that tapered superduos come in 2 sizes: 2.5x5mm and 2x5mm. When you’ll have time can you please give a brief answer to my questions. Did you use both sizes of superduos? If yes, what is your preference? Thanks, Raisa

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    1. Red Panda does have one of the largest selections of SuperDuos. I'm aware that they come in two sizes but I've never worried about that. I use them interchangeably and have never had a problem. I don't keep track of the sizes when I label my beads and I have no preference. They're all good.

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  3. I was looking back at your Bobble bracelets. I made this with 4mm Fire Polish beads and 11/0 seed beads from Miyuki. I used 13 on the inner row not counting the 4-bead flower looking sequence on each end. The bracelet was huge. I had a toggle clasp in a small size and no jump ring. I'm really puzzled how it came out so big. I had to cut it apart - thankfully I have the thread burner to help with that. Counting your inner beads here, it looks like you had 15 or so since the fold doesn't show the exact number. Oh well, I'm giving it a rest before another attempt. Your blog is always inspiring and informative.

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    1. Hi Sandy. The bracelet in the photo is an 8-inch bracelet. For my own 6-inch bracelets, I have about 10 4mm druk beads down the center, not including the bits on the ends. I used 12 when I made one with rondelles.

      Something that might make a difference, that isn't mentioned in the pattern instructions, is that I always reinforce each motif before I add the next one. I just circle around through the seed beads again to tighten everything up. Maybe that makes mine a little shorter.

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  4. Thanks, Linda! That is very helpful. I was concerned that it seemed less secure at that point where the sides came together.

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    1. I found the stitching to be very loose where the sides connect if I didn't reinforce the seed beads.

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  5. Just read through this again and looked for Dark Khaki Nymo D thread. Closest color I could find was Olive. Where can the Dark Khaki be found? Thanks for any help.

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    1. Hi Ruth Ann. The thread that I used might have had a different name even though it was a khaki color. I had bought several large spools of Nymo D thread in three colors from the clearance bin at the local bead shop. None of the spools were labeled except for the name Nymo on the price sticker. I got brown, dark green and khaki but I have no idea what the official color names were.

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    2. Thank you, Linda. Perhaps just a khaki would do the job.

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