Lovely Lace Bracelet - More Samples

I've been working on the "Lovely Lace Bracelet" tutorial all day today and it should be ready to post in the next day or two. In the meantime, here are some more color ideas and bead options that I tried last night:

 
I tried three different things with this one. All three have 8/0 seed beads in the lace edging instead of 3mm druks. I know that it's not easy to find 3mm druks so it's good to know that there's a good alternative. 8/0 seed beads work very well. I used 3mm druks in the connector motifs on all but sample #3. For #3 I used 8/0 seed beads as Teejay's tutorial suggests. Again, they're a good alternative but I think I prefer the look of druks. Using druks spreads the motifs out a little wider too. With 8/0 seed bead connectors, the motifs are a little taller and more narrow.

One other thing that I tried with samples #2 and #3 was to use 4mm druks in the centers. As you can see, they work just fine. Since 4mm druks are much easier to come by, this is nice to know. The only adjustment that I needed make was to add four extra 15/0 seed beads to the ring of beads that circle around the center druks. So, you will pick up three seed beads for each of the four sections instead of just two. You'll see what I'm talking about when you read the tutorial later.

Of these three samples, my favorite is #1 and I plan to make myself a bracelet like that but I will use bronze druks in the edging instead of 8/0 seed beads.

SAMPLE #1:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (8-457D)
• 3mm druks "Champagne" (Nirvana Beads)
• 3mm druks "Bronze Antique" (Nirvana Beads)

SAMPLE #2:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (8-457D)
• 4mm druks "Siam Matte"
• 3mm druks "Jet Matte"

SAMPLE #3:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (8-457D)
• 4mm druks "Siam Matte"
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Caramel Ceylon" (8-593)

I'm not all that keen on this one but I wanted to see if the pattern would work with metallic matte beads. It does work fine but the colors are a little too dark. Again, I used 8/0 seed beads in the lace edging because I have more color options that way. For most colors of my "metal" seed beads, I have all three sizes; 15/0, 11/0 and 8/0 but I only have a few druk colors that match my metallic seed beads. Of course I could use a contrasting druk color on the edging but I'm not sure if I'd like the look of that.

SAMPLE #4:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Brown Bronze Matte" (15-457P)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Brown Bronze Matte" (11-457P)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Brown Bronze Matte" (8-457P)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki Hybrid Picasso "Transparent Flame Red" (4503)
• 3mm druks "Sky Blue Picasso"

Sample #5 has 8/0 seed beads in the edging and also 8/0 seed beads in the connectors. It's not bad but I don't think it looks as pretty as with druks.

SAMPLE #5:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Silver Lined Milky Nutmeg" (8-2114)
• 3mm druks "Opaque Amethyst Luster"

I love this combination of colors and beads and will probably make myself a bracelet like this one. I used the same druks as in sample #5 but put them in the connectors instead of in the centers. I used ivory pearls for the centers. I think that using druks in the connector motifs gives the bracelet a smoother, rounder look.

SAMPLE #6:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Pewter" (D4222)
• 3mm pearls "Ivory" (#10 - Beads One)
• 3mm druks "Opaque Amethyst Luster"