- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Pink"
- SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Gold"
- 4mm Swarovski bicones "Khaki"
I had admired the "Tampa Bracelet" pattern from Vivatutorial on Etsy for quite some time but had never tried it. Just recently I came across a bracelet for sale in an Etsy shop and it really sparked my interest. It's a variation of the "Tampa Bracelet" where the motifs are connected with jump rings and you probably know how well I like that idea. You can buy Aviva's pattern HERE and you can see Linda Smith's adaptation HERE.
I ended up making some of my own changes to the design. Although I think that bicones suit the Art Deco style of the bracelet quite well, I didn't like that they tend to cause the motif to warp because they bump against the seed beads in the center of the motif. I also have a very limited color selection of 4mm Swarovski and Czech bicones so I decided to try using 3mm fire polished beads instead. 4mm fire polished beads are too big but the 3mm ones fit perfectly. I also replaced the 3mm bicones that go between the three SuperDuos with 8/0 seed beads. They work great and save me from having to find bicones in colors that go with the other beads that I want to use. Of course that lowers the cost of making this bracelet as well. I did use bicones in today's bracelet because I happen to have some olive green ones that go well with this colorway. I'll be blogging about a few other colorways soon and I used fire polished beads in all of them.
Another thing that I changed is the shape of the seed bead embellishments. The first time I added those four seed beads, mine sat a little differently than how they look in the photos on Etsy. The point bead naturally popped up closer to the outer ends and I really liked the look. It adds to the Art Deco shape of the motif.
As you can see, I also made a matching pair of earrings. The only change was to replace the 8/0 seed bead at one end of the motif with an 11/0 bead.
STILL NO PINTEREST
It's starting to look like they've abandoned Pinterest and aren't going to fix it. It apparently works when visiting other peoples' boards but doesn't work when you view your own boards. That pretty much makes Pinterest useless to me. I'll give them a few more days to fix it before I stop bothering to add any new photos from my blog.
Does anyone know of a good alternative for Pinterest? I'd hate to have to switch to something else though and have to find all of my pins again.
UPDATE: I'm very happy to report that sometime late this afternoon, they finally fixed the problem with Pinterest!!!
Re: Pinterest. Could you have a virus affecting your use of pinterest? I am not uploading pictures but I can motor around and see boards and pin things as usual. I can see my owm boards too.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not a virus and Pinterest is aware of the problem. I've been in contact with a couple of their tech people. They said that not everyone is affected but a lot of people are. I found a message board where a bunch of people were talking about the issue and they describe exactly what I'm seeing. I can't scroll down past the first couple of rows of pins. I get stuck in a loop where I see the same pins over and over no matter how far I scroll down the page. There is also a huge time gap between the newest pins in the first row and what I see in the second row. The pins in the second row are from many weeks ago and some of my most recently added pins aren't there at all. Sometimes I can see them flash on the screen for a second and then they're replaced by older pins. That gives me some hope that my pins haven't been deleted.
DeleteI never use the mobile or Pinterest app, and after I logged in, touched the pin icon at top right of page, which opened my boards page. Recent pins are showing. I hope you find out your problem with them. Maybe there is a pin limit? I'll be curious as to what you discover
ReplyDeleteHi Gypsy. I'm accessing Pinterest from my computer, not a mobile device. I've been meaning to try it from my tablet and see what happens there. Read my comment above for an explanation of the problem and the fact that Pinterest is aware of the problem. Also, this problem doesn't seem to be apparent when you go to someone else's board, only on your own boards.
DeleteLovely, lovely, lovely!
ReplyDeleteI went into Vivatutorial and to buy the pattern and it says it is sold out. I looked through all the bracelet tutorials and it is not there.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie. Just keep checking back there for the pattern to be relisted. There is sometimes a delay after someone buys a copy. If you look under "Sales" in her shop, you'll see that she's been selling a lot of that pattern lately.
DeleteThanks Linda. Also wanted to let you know that you really inspire me. I love your creativity and color combinations. I appreciate all your blogs. You are awesome!
DeleteThanks, Julie
Delete