Bracelet of the Day: Straight and Narrow

STRAIGHT AND NARROW BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (8-457D)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Alexandrite Celsian" *
• 3mm ivory pearls (Beads One)

This pattern was a special download from the August/September 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine. It's super easy to make yet turns out very pretty. I've tried different types of fire polished beads and decided that I like how it looks best with clear, sparkly colors rather than opaque colors or ones with Picasso finishes. I made one change to the pattern. It calls for 4mm pearls but I thought they covered up the fire polished beads too much and I wanted the color to show as much as possible. I have a feeling that 4mm was a typo in the magazine though because the bracelets in the photos look like they have 3mm pearls on them. The idea is that they should just cover up the hole in the center of each little square of fire polished beads.

First you build a right angle weave base with the fire polish beads, then you go up and down both sides of the bracelet adding 8/0 seed beads along the edge between each one. The final embellishment is to cross each square diagonally with two 15/0 seed beads with a pearl between them.

I have one tip for working this one. As you're adding the embellishments, watch out for the bracelet wanting to twist. Smooth out the beads whenever this starts to happen so that it will end up flat when you're finished.

The pattern is available for download HERE for $7.99.

* They used "Aqua Celsian" in the photo on the pattern and it looks very nice.