Playing with my beads...some very tiny earrings

I've been playing with a couple more patterns from Deb Moffett-Hall in the past few days. They are both bracelet patterns that include matching earrings. One is called "2012 February Bracelet & Earrings" and the other is "2013 May Bracelet & Earrings". You can find Deb's patterns HERE. Click HERE for the 2012 patterns and HERE for the 2013 patterns. Below you can see what those two patterns look like.

UPDATE 4/28/17: Deb has changed her website and all of her patterns are now available individually and the names of the patterns have changes as well. I also see that she no longer sells any kits. Here are the updated links to these two patterns:

B12FB Pearl RAW Bracelet & Earrings

B13MY Pearl RAW Links Bracelet & Earrings

The "February 2012" earrings call for the same "daisy spacers" as the "Silver Lace" pattern that I blogged about last Thursday, HERE. I only have some bronze ones so I have a very limited selection of seed beads that go well with that color. Here's what I came up with for my first sample earring:

I think it's very cute and very tiny. It's only 3/4" wide and 1" long, not including the wire. In case you're wondering, I did change the loop at the top of mine. Here are the supplies that I used in that sample:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (15-458)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (11-458)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (8-458)
• 4mm druks "Champagne Gold Picasso"
• 4mm daisy spacers "Bronze"

Because I wanted to have more color options with this pattern, I tried omitting the daisy spacers in my next sample:

After a little experimentation, I ended up replacing the daisy spacers with 11/0 seed beads and I used two 11/0 seed beads instead of 15/0's between the pearls on the inner ring of beads. That worked quite well but it needs some work. The earring is a little too soft. Apparently the daisy spacers give the earring more structure. I do like that I can pull this earring into more of an oval shape though. I think if I were to just reinforce the stitching a bit more, it might make a nice little earring. Here are the supplies for that one:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (15-457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (11-457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (8-457)
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze - #17" (Beads One)

The next pattern that I tried was the "May 2013" pattern. Based on the photo on the pattern, I thought they might be larger earrings than the February ones. Imagine my surprise when they turned out to be about half the size! They're only 1/2" wide and about an inch long. I haven't tried making the bracelet pattern yet but I can tell that it's going to be a very delicate bracelet. Deb sent me the kit for this one but you can also buy just the pattern. I used the beads that came in the kit for my sample earrings.

These are the beads that come in the kit:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Gold" (15-D4202)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho Permanent Finish Matte Galvanized Starlight "Camel" (557F)
• 4mm pearls "Gold" (Preciosa - #70585)
• 4mm bicones "Crystal Aurum Full" (Preciosa)

I already had some black thread on a needle so that's what I used for my first sample earring (it's the one on the left in my photo). Right away, I saw that black wasn't going to look very nice with the pale gold beads. It shows too much in a few places and gives the beadwork a sort of "dirty" look. It's more apparent in real life than in my photo. The kit came with some white thread but I just happen to have a spool of K.O. beading thread that Dolly Smith sent me that is EXACTLY the same gold color as the beads in the kit. The earring that I made with that thread (the one on the right) is much nicer and neater looking. I don't generally match my thread to the beads I'm using because black is usually fine for most things. However, this unusual gold color does seem to look best with matching thread.

Of course I wanted to try the pattern with some of my own beads and I also tweaked the loop a bit on this one. I'm not sure if I'll make some like this but I like it and might be worth some more experimenting. Here's what I used in that one:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm druks "Opaque Rose & Topaz Luster"