Playing with my beads...MiniDuo experiments

Four colors of the new MiniDuo beads arrived in the mail a few days ago but they're not very exciting colors. Most of the good colors won't be available until August but I wanted to give them a try now. The colors that I got are "Crystal Gold Luster", "Jet Red Luster" (which is very dark metallic green), Jet Hematite (very dark metallic blue) and "Jet Bronze" (very dark copper).

The first thing that I tried with them was Deborah Roberti's free "Dragonfly Bangles" pattern which you can download HERE. This pattern was designed to work with MiniDuos. It was a challenge to find a combination of all the different types of beads called for that would appeal to me with only those four MiniDuo colors to work with. I decided to play it safe and use the bronze MiniDuos since they match the dark bronze seed beads that I use most of the time. Below is the sample that I made:

DRAGONFLY BANGLES

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Vega on Jet"
• MiniDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Rosaline Moon Dust"
• Rulla beads "Opaque Gold Smoky Topaz Luster"

I'm not sure yet if I'll make a bracelet like the sample. I've got another color combination that I'd like to try first and see if I like it better.

For my next experiments, I wanted to try mini versions of some of my favorite patterns. I wanted to see if the MiniDuos would work as a replacement for regular size SuperDuo beads when scaling down the sizes of all of the other beads. I looked through my pattern stash for anything that called for size 11/0 or larger seed beads, SuperDuos and no other kinds of accent beads in a size smaller than 4mm. My plan was to swap the SuperDuos with MiniDuos, 11/0 seed beads with 15/0 beads and any 4mm fire polished or druks beads with 3mm beads. This worked great with all four of the patterns that I tried. For a couple of them I had to adjust the number of seed beads in some spots but I sometimes have to do that with those patterns anyway when I make them the original size.

For each of the examples below, I made a normal size sample and a "mini" sample using nearly the same colors. For some of them I did have the exact colors in both sizes and for others I just chose colors that were similar. After making all of these samples, I'm thinking that scaling down the bead sizes doesn't always look right. I'm a bit fussy about the use of 15/0 seed beads in some of the designs. They look fine in three of the patterns that I tried but I'm not crazy about the look of them in the "Wave of Love Earring" sample. For some reason I think that they look too thin and delicate for the design. The beads all fit just fine in the smaller sizes but I just don't care for the way they look. I do like the smaller size earring though so maybe I'll give the pattern another try with seed beads in a different color. I'll try to find a color that doesn't appear as such a distinct outline around the edge of the earring.

WAVE OF LOVE EARRINGS 
Regular size:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Copper"
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"

Mini size:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• MiniDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• MiniDuo beads "Jet Bronze"

You can get the free pattern HERE. Click on the word "wavemotif" to get the PDF file.

 
MAYA EARRINGS 
Regular size:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Red Luster"

Mini size:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• MiniDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• MiniDuo beads "Jet Red Luster"

You can buy this pattern at Around the Beading Table HERE. Deb also has a bracelet pattern, HERE, which has the same motif. I'm pretty sure that it would be possible to make a mini version of the bracelet. I do like the fine seed bead netting on this example. I suggest using Miyuki seed beads for the mini version of this motif if you want to get smooth, even netting. Toho 15/0 seed beads are much too irregular and angular to use for something like this where neatness is crucial. Toho 11/0 beads would be fine for the full size version. They do a very good job making that size. They're just a bit larger than Miyuki's 11/0 seed beads.

HARMONY BANDS 
Regular size:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Hematite"

Mini size:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• MiniDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• MiniDuo beads "Jet Hematite"

This pattern is also from Deb Roberti and you can buy it HERE. I really like the width of the original size bracelet so I probably won't make a mini version. I only wanted to see if it would work.

INDIA BRACELET 
Regular size:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Red Luster"
• 4mm druks "Bronze"
• 4mm druks "Jet Black"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Pink Coral Moon Dust"

Mini size:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• MiniDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• MiniDuo beads "Jet Red Luster"
• 3mm druks "Jet"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Polychrome Copper Rose"

This is one of my favorite patterns and I really wanted to see if I could make a narrower version of it. You can buy the pattern by Perl'agogo on DaWanda HERE. As far as I know, there is only a French version of the pattern. I don't actually have a copy because I figured out how to make it by looking at the photos. I was pleased to find that this bracelet works very well with the MiniDuos. I only wish that I had some other colors to play with an but I'm sure that it won't be long before I do. As soon as they're available I'll buy them in some of my favorite colors.