Friday, July 27, 2018

Update on the eyeglasses chain repair


I mentioned in THIS post last week that a friend asked me if I would try to repair her beaded eyeglasses chain. I finally had a chance to take a close look at it yesterday to see what I would need to do. It turned out that fourteen beads were missing but that actually made the job a little easier. Instead of having to re-weave several little daisies, I only had to remove the broken thread and straggler beads and restore a couple of daisies to keep the same color sequence. Once that was done, I wove all the way through the entire chain, as well as the loops on the ends, with FireLine to reinforce the whole thing. It's a good thing that I did this because I ran into several spots along the chain that probably would have come apart soon.

Below is my original photo that shows the broken part of the chain:


 

Monday, July 23, 2018

Corundum & Claudia Set - Turquoise & Gold


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • SuperDuo beads "Turquoise Blue Picasso"
  • Smooth SuperDuo beads "Blue Turquoise Picasso" (sample earring)
  • Smooth SuperDuo beads "Matte Gold"


I blogged HERE about this "Claudia" bracelet that I made with the smooth kind of SuperDuo beads. I thought I'd try making Kelly Dale's "Corundum Earrings" with the smooth ones to see if they would work. They do work but the earring comes out flat as you can see in my sample below. They make a cute earring but I decided to make my final pair with smooth SuperDuos in the center and regular SuperDuos around the outside.


You can buy Kelly's earring pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" pattern HERE.




 

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Corundum & Claudia Set - Navy & Ivory


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
  • SuperDuo beads "Navy/Ivory Luster Duets"
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet Hematite"


Read about this "Claudia" bracelet HERE. These earrings are a tweaked version of Kelly Dale's "Corundum Earrings". I used 8/0 seed beads all the way around and added a point at the bottom.



You can buy Kelly's earring pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" pattern HERE.



 

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Corundum & Claudia Set - Graphite & Copper


CORUNDUM EARRINGS    
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet Hematite"
  • SuperDuo beads "Bronze Copper"


Read my post about this "Claudia" bracelet HERE.

You can buy Kelly's "Corundum Earrings" pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" pattern HERE.




 

Friday, July 20, 2018

Corundum & Demoiselle Set - Azure & Gold


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
  • SuperDuo beads "Satin Metallic Azure"
  • SuperDuo beads "Bronze Pale Gold"


I blogged about this "Demoiselle Bracelet" HERE.

You can buy Kelly's "Corundum Earrings" pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Sam Wescott's "Demoiselle Bracelet" pattern is for sale HERE on Etsy.




 

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Corundum & Demoiselle Set - Arctic Blue & Bronze


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • SuperDuo beads "Satin Metallic Arctic Blue"
  • SuperDuo beads "Lustre Gold"


Read my post about this "Demoiselle Bracelet" HERE. In case you're wondering why I've been blogging about so many pairs of "Corundum Earrings", it's because they go very well with this bracelet as well as my "Claudia" bracelet and they're quick to make. I finished making my birthday projects and I'm finally getting around to making earrings to go with a lot  of the bracelets that I have made for myself.


You can buy Kelly's "Corundum Earrings" pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Sam Wescott's "Demoiselle Bracelet" pattern is for sale HERE on Etsy.
 
I have another project that I need to work on. It's for my cashier friend at the Kroger store where I shop. Her beaded eyeglasses chain broke and she asked me to see if I can fix it. I'm hoping to repair the damaged part without having to remake the entire chain. It appears to have been made using a variation of "Potawatomi Stitch" but I'm thinking that I might just use Right Angle Weave to restore the little flowers between the two sections of the chain once I've determined if I've got all of the missing beads. Below you can see what I'm talking about:




Here is a closeup of the beadwork:






 

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Corundum & Claudia Set - Chalk Picasso


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • SuperDuo beads "Matte Dark Bronze"
  • SuperDuo beads "Matte Chalk Picasso"


Read my original post about this "Claudia" bracelet HERE. You'll also find the link to download my free pattern in that post. You can buy Kelly's earring pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE.




 

Monday, July 16, 2018

Corundum Earrings & Claudia Bracelet - Steel Blue & Graphite


CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • SuperDuo beads "Antique Silver"
  • SuperDuo beads "Pearl Coat Steel Blue"

I blogged about this "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" bracelet HERE. I just finished making another one in the same colorway for a gift and wanted to make some matching earrings. I went with Kelly Dale's "Corundum Earrings" pattern because it's a simple design (as in not too fussy or delicate) and I had some silver SuperDuos that went quite well with the Cali beads that I used in the bracelet. Unfortunately, I've only seen these dark silver SuperDuo beads with black speckles in one Etsy shop that no longer sells them. I think that Deb Roberti and I bought out all that she had and she never got them in stock again.

Besides leaving off the top section of the earrings, I also used 8/0 seed beads in between the trios of SuperDuos instead of 11/0 beads. Doing this keeps the earrings from cupping as much as they normally do. As I usually do, I also added an 8/0 seed bead at the top to attach a jump ring.


You can buy Kelly's earring pattern HERE in her Etsy shop or watch her YouTube tutorial HERE. Download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" pattern HERE.




"LACE PEARL EARRINGS" PATTERN UPDATED
 

Way back in February, I blogged HERE about the sample earrings above that I made using Rosina Ottolini's free "Lace Pearl Earrings" pattern. The other day she posted an updated version that now has full English instructions and brand new diagrams. You can download the pattern HERE on her blog.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Maya Earrings - Turquoise, Copper & Pewter


MAYA EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • SuperDuo beads "Moon Dust Turquoise"
  • SuperDuo beads "Metalust Burnt Copper"
  • SuperDuo beads "Pearl Luster"



I originally blogged about the bracelet in the photos below HERE and in THIS post from last week I showed you some "Russian Leaf Earrings" that I thought I might make to go with it. Since then, I came up with a much better idea for the matching earrings. Deb Roberti's "Maya Earrings" go great with the bracelet design and I was even able to use three different colors of SuperDuo beads to pick up on all of the bracelet colors. I'd forgotten that I had these copper SuperDuos that are almost the same color as the 2-hole cabochons that I used to make the bracelet. I made one pair of these earrings for a birthday present to go with one of these bracelets. I liked them so well that I made a pair for myself to go with my own bracelet.

You can buy Deb's earring pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The copper and turquoise SuperDuo beads are still readily available but unfortunately, the pewter colored "Pearl Luster" ones that I used are no longer made. You can substitute an antique silver color but they will be a bit brighter than the pewter seed beads. You can buy the turquoise beads HERE at Aura Crystals or HERE at Red Panda. Aura Crystals has the copper SuperDuos HERE and Red Panda has them HERE. Note that the earring pattern doesn't call for any 8/0 seed beads. I added one at the top of mine to connect a jump ring.