Nunzia's "Earrings Number One" - My Variations

As I mentioned the other day, I wanted to find a way to make the bottom part of these earrings a little less cluttered with unruly beads. In the process of trying out an idea, I realized that I liked the look of the earrings best before most of the netting beads were added to the bottom. Just one little tweak made my version work very well. I've since come up with a couple of extra embellishments but my original tweak is my favorite version. Here is a photo that I took of Nunzia's original version (on the left) next to my favorite variation (center) and one of my embellished versions (on the right):

The center one has a cleaner, simpler look and has more of the Art Nouveau style that I love.

To keep this post from being horribly long, I will post several samples and two complete pairs of the earrings today. Then, in a later post, I will tell you about the changes that I made to Nunzia's pattern so you can try my versions. Before I forget, HERE is the link to Nunzia's free YouTube video tutorial.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Antique Silver-Nickel" (464A)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Antique Silver-Nickel" (464A)
• SuperDuo beads "Amethyst Matte"

I don't like this sample at all but I wanted to see how the earrings would look with translucent SuperDuo beads instead of opaque ones. They don't work well at all because they're too dark. They look black but they're actually amethyst. Also, the silver seed beads are fatter than most of the other metallic seed beads I have so they make the shape of the earring a little too wide.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Stone Green Luster"

I love this one. This is one of my embellished variations and it's my favorite of those two versions.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• SuperDuo beads "Champagne Luster"

I like this one too. I think that the SuperDuos look like ivory. I went with lighter bronze seed beads because of the very light color of the SuperDuos.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"

This is my other embellishment variation.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Blue Turquoise Picasso"

I love this one. I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo but the SuperDuos puffed up a bit more in this one than in some of the others. It all depends on the shape and size of them how much they puff up or lay flat in these earrings but I like them either way.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• SuperDuo beads "Chocolate Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Yellow Copper Picasso"

I tried something a little different with this sample. I used some SuperDuos that matched the metallic seed beads for the three in the bottom half of the earring so they'd become part of the "metal" base. Because I used so many dark beads, I made the "flower" a dark color that didn't stand out too much. They're nice but I might try this idea again with "Dark Bronze" seed beads and SuperDuos and use a slightly lighter color for the flower. The 8/0 seed beads aren't really "Metallic Chocolate" but they're very close to the same color. Miyuki doesn't make that color in size 8/0. I don't have the color info on them but they're obviously not Miyuki because of the irregular shape of most of them.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

You've seen a sample of these before but these are a finished pair that I made for myself. This is one of my favorites.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Copper Picasso"

You've also seen a sample almost like this pair but this time I omitted the second seed bead color and used only the chocolate beads. I've decided that I prefer the seed beads to all be the same color. I also made these using my favorite variation of the design. I think these are my all-time favorite.

It might be a couple of days before I post my tweaks to the earring pattern. I took photos of each step but I need to write up the changes that I made to Nunzia's original tutorial before I can post them.