Saturday, December 12, 2015

Bracelet of the Day: Secret Santa Bracelet


Deborah Roberti's "Secret Santa Bracelet" pattern is now free and you can download it HERE. Although I already had the pattern in my collection, I had never tried it. So, the other night I made a bunch of samples using different types of beads and came up with two color schemes that I loved enough to make bracelets for myself.

First, I'll show you four samples that didn't make the cut for various reasons. I made one with 4mm bicones and 3mm fire polished beads as directed by the pattern just so that I'd know how it's supposed to turn out. I do like that one but it calls for too many bicones and I'd rather save my nice Czech bicones to use as accent beads. They're a little too expensive to use 40 of them in one bracelet. I used Miyuki seed beads and had no issues with the way the beads behaved.

I also used Miyuki seed beads in the other three samples but I replaced the bicones with 4mm fire polished beads. I think the fire polished beads are too fat for this pattern because they cause the motifs to bulge too much and go kind of wonky. I also had to pop out the point seed beads or the netting on the sides was too loose if I didn't. If you look closely at those three samples, you'll see that I replaced the fire polished beads between the motifs with 4mm druks or fire polished beads in another color. I like how that looks but I don't like how the fire polished beads stick out so much.


  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 4mm bicones "Hematite Luster Aquamarine" (Czech)
  • 3mm fire polished beads "Green Crystal Luster"


  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Milky Light Amethyst Moon Dust"
  • 4mm druks "Moon Dust Milky Alexandrite"
  • 4mm druks "Bronze"
  • 3mm fire polished beads "Transparent Amethyst Luster"


  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Moss Green"
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
  • 3mm bicones "Green AB" (China)


  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Bronze Luster Pink White Iris"
  • 4mm druks "Bronze"
  • 3mm fire polished beads "Rosaline Moon Dust"

But, all was not lost. I also made two samples using Toho seed beads with fire polished beads and druks and both samples came out so nice that I went ahead and made myself bracelets in those colors. Because Toho's seed beads are larger than Miyuki's, they allowed the other beads to lie flat instead of bulging. As a bonus, these were also my two favorite color schemes and I think you can see why.




  • 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver-Nickel" (711)
  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver-Nickel" (711)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
  • 4mm druks "Metallic Suede Pink"
  • 3mm fire polished beads "Suede Plum Rose"


  • 11/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Milky Turquoise-Pink Topaz Luster"
  • 4mm druks "Suede Light Green"
  • 3mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"



4 comments:

  1. All of your bracelets are so pretty love the soft color choices will have to give the pattern a try after Christmas. TFS Ann

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  2. So pretty. Colour choice is amazing.

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  3. I have never been a big fan to cold colors... but now I have to say that the one with turquoise is my favourite. Both are stunning, definitely ;-)

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