Bracelet of the Day: Eclipse Bracelet - Jet Vega

ECLIPSE BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Vega"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Amethyst Crystal Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Alexandrite Celsian"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Bronze"

This is the last of the five "Eclipse Bracelets" made from Deborah Roberti's new pattern, which you can buy HERE. I just recently discovered "Jet Vega" SuperDuo beads even though the color has been around for a long time. They're not actually black, as the name suggests, they're a very dark metallic wine color. If I'd known how pretty the color is, I would have bought some ages ago.

I've got good news about some 3mm druks that I'd heard had been discontinued. The color I'm talking about is "Jet Copper Picasso" and they look like this:

It's one of my favorite colors because it goes well with so many other bead colors that I use. Here are a few examples of bracelets that have these druks in them:

 
Anyway, while browsing around Etsy, I found out that the color hasn't actually been discontinued. They're just going by a different name now. They're calling them "Matte Siam Ruby Bronze Picasso". I just bought some from BobbiThisnThat HERE. As you can see in her photo, they're actually translucent red beads with a dark picasso finish on them. You don't see the red at all unless you hold them up to the light. In normal light they appear to be a very dark grungy brownish bronze color. I checked my old batch with the old name and they're also red when held up to the light.

Also, last night I found another Etsy shop called DRBead that has a very nice selection of 3mm druks and in some colors that I've never seen anywhere else. I don't know how long the sale is on but they have a 25% off coupon code and they've got a flat $3.50 shipping rate in the US. I never would have found that Etsy shop by searching for "druks" so it can be helpful to search for other terms when looking for them. DRBead calls them "Smooth Round Czech Glass Beads". The reason that I found them was because I did a Google image search for a color name rather than a type of beads. I think I searched for "3mm jet bronze picasso". When I tried searching again adding the word "druk" in the search, that shop didn't come up. Oddly enough, when I do a Google image search for "Smooth Round Czech Glass Beads", that shop doesn't come up either but I do get hits for their ArtFire shop that way. Anyway, if you go to DRBead on Etsy, use the search box and search for "Smooth Round Czech Glass Beads". Otherwise you'll have to look through their entire shop to find anything and they've got over 5,400 items listed. Add "3mm or 4mm, etc." to the search to narrow it down to one size. One color they don't have is "Jet Copper Picasso/Matte Siam Ruby Bronze Picasso".

Happy Valentine's Day!