Playing with my beads...Starlight Earrings

I spent a few days trying every way that I could think of to make the "Starlight Bracelet" pattern work without success. I'm sure that there's nothing wrong with the pattern. The problem is that I don't have any 2mm round crystals and the pattern calls for 128 of them. I found some on THIS site but it would cost over $19 for that many. I do have some 2mm Czech pearls, which I thought might work, but they don't. They're apparently slightly larger than the 2mm crystals Kelly Wiese used in her bracelets and they cause the motifs to warp and go all wonky. I had no trouble at all making the bezels with the pearls, just the motifs that connect the bezels.

Here's a photo of one of my better attempts with the bracelet pattern:

I eventually gave up on the bracelet and decided to turn the pretty bezels into earrings. I didn't change anything about the bezels themselves, other than using pearls instead of crystals, and then I attached the earring wires like I did with my "Tiny Treasures Earrings" which I posted about HERE.

First I made a couple of samples using 12mm round rivolis, as directed by the pattern, but then I got the idea to try using some 12x10mm oval chatons. The ovals work very well and I like the slightly oval shape of the earrings even better than the round ones. You see, the round stones come to a point in the center and the oval ones have flat tops. For some reason, even though they're a little smaller than the round rivolis, more of the surface of the oval chatons shows through the opening in the bezel, I suspect because of the flat top. In any case, I have a lot more oval stones than round ones and in a lot more colors. I came up with six different color combinations of chatons, 3mm bicones and 2mm pearls.

Here are my two round sample earrings:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12mm round rivolis "Black"
• 3mm bicones "Green-Pink-Yellow" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Dark Sage Satin" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12mm round rivolis "Seal"
• 3mm bicones "Bittersweet AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Old Lace" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

And, these are the samples with oval chatons:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Amethyst"
• 3mm bicones "Amethyst AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Light Bronze Satin" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Aquamarine"
• 3mm bicones "Amethyst AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Old Lace" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Light Amethyst #4120"
• 3mm bicones "Amethyst AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Light Champagne" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Pale Peach"
• 3mm bicones "Light Topaz AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Old Lace" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Topaz"
• 3mm bicones "Bittersweet AB" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Old Lace" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 12x10mm oval chatons "Amethyst"
• 3mm bicones "Black" (Chinese - no info available)
• 2mm pearls "Light Bronze Satin" (Czech - Aria Design Studio)

I'm not sure which ones are my favorites, but I really like the oval one with the dark amethyst stone and satin pearls. To tell the truth though, they all look very much the same against my dark hair. I love the one with the black bicones but the pearls stand out a bit too much because the black bicones don't show up. If you'd like to give the Starlight Bracelet pattern a go, you can buy it HERE.

In case you haven't seen it yet, Deb Roberti has a pretty new bracelet pattern out as of last night. It's called "Craving Crystal". I'm working on some today which I will post as Bracelets of the Day, hopefully in the next few days.