Bracelet Remake: Double Diamond Bracelet

I posted this as my Bracelet of the Day back on April 27th. The one I posted was one of the first bracelets that I made when I first learned to bead and HERE is a link to the free pattern that I used. In fact, the file name for the photo is "Bracelet 17" and I'm now on "Bracelet 161". I've actually made a lot more bracelets than that but some were multiples of the same one and a lot were samples that I later scrapped. Only complete, finished bracelets get a number. I do the same thing for my earring photos.

I was sorting through my bracelets yesterday and came upon this one. As I'd mentioned in my other post, it was starting to get a little ratty-looking and threads were coming loose. I really like the bracelet so I decided to remake it last night. I wasn't looking forward to working with the cheap Chinese seed beads but I didn't have anything close to that nice copper color in Japanese seed beads. Luckily, I remembered that I'd culled a bunch of them, back when I used to use those beads, and they were set aside in a little bag. I used a #12 needle and Nymo B thread so I had no trouble making multiple passes through the beads. 

I wasn't happy with the way I'd attached the clasp originally so I came up with a different sort of loop this time. Good thing that I did because the bracelet would have been a little snug without the loop being a little longer. Apparently the thread in my old bracelet had stretched out a bit so the whole bracelet "grew" a little over time. I made that bracelet before I knew about conditioning and stretching your thread before using. Now my beadwork never gets loose over time and my thread is MUCH easier to work with. I use Thread Heaven to condition my thread and would never even make a sample without using it on my thread first. Here's a photo showing a brand new container of Thread Heaven next to one that shows how mine usually looks in a very short time:

Click HERE to go to the Thread Heaven website for more information. HERE is a page where they explain how to use the product.

The photo at the bottom of this post shows the old and new bracelets side-by-side (the top one is the older one). One thing that's pretty obvious is that the copper beads have lost a lot of color since I originally made the old one. I was reminded of this problem last night when I ended up with orange fingers by the time I'd finished making the new bracelet. 

UPDATE: I did some searching online and I think those teal beads are from Miyuki. The name is "Colorlined Teal Matte AB". Here's what they look like close up:

DOUBLE DIAMOND BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Cousin "Copper" (Walmart)
• 8/0 seed beads "Matte Variegated Teal" (F259A - unknown brand)