Playing with my beads...

Here are a few experiments from yesterday and today. The first photo shows some color variations of the "Pearl Earrings" that I wrote about on May 6, HERE. If you read the comments below that post, there's a discussion with someone who posted their version of the earrings I was trying to recreate. Their method worked great and here are some of the results:

I only have one color of 10mm round crystals so I was limited to varying the seed bead color and the bicones and pearls that surround the center bead. My favorite is the sample that's second from the right. I'm not crazy about how the light colored pearls and druks stand out so much in the other samples. The Smoky Topaz Luster druks blend in nicely. As soon as Beads One has their next sale, I'll pick up some 10mm crystals in other colors to play with.

My next experiment was to try another one of Cynthia Newcomer Daniel's earring tutorials called "Zosia Rivoli Earrings" which you can buy on Etsy, HERE. I'm not sure yet how well I like them and the pattern was very difficult to figure out. The tutorial was so confusing that I'm surprised that I actually completed an earring on my first try. I'm sure that it won't be so bad the next time now that I know what to expect and I will try using an 11mm rivoli next time. My 12mm one seemed a little too big for the bezel. There are too many gaps between the seed beads and no amount of tugging on the thread would pull them closer together. I didn't have a lot of color choices for the beads to go with my rivoli so I went with bronze druks and a blue bicone that sort of went with the "Seal" color of the stone. I think I might have more colors to choose from to go with some of the 11mm rivolis that I've got.

It doesn't look too bad in the photo but there are lots of spots that really should have been tightened up and reinforced.

As therapy after that ordeal, I tried my very first peyote bezel from one of Deborah Roberti's patterns called "Holiday Bracelet" which you can buy HERE. I knew this one would be fun and easy to follow and I was right. Here is the result:

It's a very pretty motif but I'm not sure yet what I'd use it for. My wrist is too skinny for such a large scale bracelet. It's also a little too big for an earring. Perhaps a pendant would be good use for it as the pattern suggests.

Here are the ingredients that I used in my experiments:

PEARL EARRING #1 (going from left to right in the photo):

• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm bicones "Amethyst #C12" (Beads One)
• 4mm druks "Bronze Illusion"

PEARL EARRING #2:

• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (11-457L)
• 4mm bicones "Light Smoked Topaz #C29 AB" (Beads One)
• 6mm druks "Gold & Smoky Topaz Luster"

PEARL EARRING #3:

• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm bicones "Light Smoked Topaz #C29 AB" (Beads One)
• 4mm druks "Bronze"

PEARL EARRING #4:

• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm bicones "Light Smoked Topaz #C29 AB" (Beads One)
• 4mm druks "Gold & Smoky Topaz Luster"

PEARL EARRING #5:

• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm bicones "Amethyst AB - #C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze" (Beads One - not online)

ZOSIA RIVOLI EARRING:

• 12mm rivoli Swarovski "Seal" (#1122)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (15-457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (11-457L)
• 4mm bicones "Denim Blue" (from Walmart)
• 3mm druks "Bronze"
• 4mm druks "Bronze"

HOLIDAY BRACELET BEZEL:

• 12mm rivoli Swarovski "Seal" (#1122)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delicas "Metallic Dark Steel" (DB26)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delicas "Metallic Bronze" (DB22)
• 4mm bicones "Jet #C04" (Beads One - no longer available)
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze" (Beads One - not online)