Pattern Preview - Fiesta Fan Earrings

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 6mm druks "Brown Caramel Picasso"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Copper Picasso"
• 3mm druks "Matte Siam Ruby Bronze Picasso"

I thought you might like to see a prototype of an earring pattern that I'm working on. The design is a combination of elements from the "ADwade Earrings" and "Dana's Gypsy Earrings". I really like the option of having a large center focal bead like the "Gypsy Earrings" but I also wanted the option of having more SuperDuos across the bottom, instead of fire polished beads, like the "ADwade Earrings". I also just got a big shipment of 6mm druks from Aura Crystals and wanted to have more projects to use them in.

The sample earring above was my first attempt at combining the two designs. It worked perfectly with a few tweaks or at least it worked with Miyuki seed beads. I made another sample with Toho seed beads and it was a complete disaster. Nothing fit right and it was horribly warped. I know it was due to the Toho beads because I took that sample apart and remade it with all of the same beads except that I used Miyuki seed beads. It came out fine as you can see below.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 6mm druks "Polychrome Black Currant"
• SuperDuo beads "Purple Iris Matte"
• 3mm Czech pearls "Tahitian"

If I can iron out the problems, I'll start working on the diagrams and instructions for a future free pattern. I don't know yet when I will post it here because I've got one or two other patterns that I will probably post first.

Bohemian Beauty Earrings - Silver & Blue

BOHEMIAN BEAUTY EARRINGS

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver" (711)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver" (711)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver" (711)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Gilt-Lined Capri Blue Opal" (588)
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Blue"

Just another quick post before I get back to work on the projects that I mentioned yesterday. I blogged about this earring pattern back in June, HERE. My sister-in-law liked the blue and bronze pair at the top of that post and asked me to make some for her. She also requested the blue and silver version in the photo above.

You can buy this pattern from the Extrano Etsy shop, HERE.

ADwade SuperDuo Earrings - Blue & Silver

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver Nickel" (711)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver Nickel" (711)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver Nickel" (711)
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Blue"
• 3mm druks "Metallic Suede Blue"

Just a quick post to show you one of the projects I've been working on. I first blogged about the "ADwade SuperDuo Earrings" HERE. Then, a few days later, I blogged HERE about this pair:

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Blue"
• 3mm druks "Metallic Suede Blue"

My sister-in-law loved them so much that she asked me to make a pair of them for her with the bronze seed beads and also make a pair with the same blue SuperDuos but with silver seed beads. We both agree that they look even more stunning in silver:

Beading News: Eridhan Creations Etsy shop re-opened

Justyna's "Dragonfly Bracelet"

Although Justyna Szlezak passed away recently, her patterns are once again available for sale in her Etsy shop, HERE (Unfortunately, this pattern is no longer available). The shop has been renamed and it's now called InMemoryOfEridhan. This is the message that is posted in the shop:

"I am pleased to announce that Eridhan Creations has been reopened again!

As Justyna is no longer with us she passed over the responsibility of her patterns to me. It will be an honour to keep her shop running in her memory and so that we can continue to love and admire her work for generations to come.

The shop has now changed its name to InMemoryOfEridhan.

Some of the money from the sales will now also be given to charity.

/Sebastian"

Sunflower Earrings vs Gypsy Earrings

"SUNFLOWER EARRINGS" BY ELLAD2

SUNFLOWER EARRINGS SAMPLE #1:

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" (325)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" (325)  
• 6mm druks "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Van Gogh Marsala"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"

SUNFLOWER EARRINGS SAMPLE #2:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Duracoat Galvanized Pale Mink" (D4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Duracoat Galvanized Pale Mink" (D4221)
• 6mm druks "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Van Gogh Marsala"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"

I used silver seed beads to make my first sample of Ellad2's "Sunflower Earrings" by adapting "Dana's Gypsy Earrings" pattern.  I don't like that there's so much contrast between the seed beads and the rest of the beads. So, I switched to the "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" to make the other two samples. I wanted to try both Miyuki and Toho seed beads to see what difference there would be between the brands, if any. The smaller Miyuki silver beads pulled the bottom in a little more than the Toho beads but not by much. Oddly, I ran into more trouble with the Toho beads in my "Gypsy" sample. The netting was so crowded that they made points in a couple of spots on the the bottom edge instead of making smooth rounded curves. That was partly due to their larger size but also because those particular beads are very irregularly shaped and have straight sides. Although I do like this color scheme, I won't bother making a pair of the "Gypsy Earrings", at least not with these seed beads.

I'm not wild about the shape of the "Sunflower Earrings" and I think it's mostly because of the curled under bottom. I think that the "Gypsy Earrings" have a prettier shape. Having said that, I might give the "Sunflower Earrings" one more try but add enough extra seed beads along the bottom to make them a little flatter.

GYPSY EARRING SAMPLE:

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" (325)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" (325)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Light Tanzanite Gold Luster" (325)
• 6mm druks "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Van Gogh Marsala"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"

Here is a view of the back of the earrings so that you can see how much they cup around the bottom:

You can buy Ellad2's "Sunflower Earrings" pattern it from her Etsy shop, HERE. I blogged about "Dana's Gypsy Earrings" HERE, HERE and HERE.

I'm working on some beadwork for my sisters-in -law so I might not be posting  again until I finish those projects.

Gypsy Earrings - Rose Gold Topaz Luster

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Rose and Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Lazure Red"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

I showed you a sample earring in this color the other day, HERE, and I made this final pair for myself.

While making those earrings, I got the idea to try adding some little drop beads along the bottom edge instead of the 8/0 seed beads. I found that doing so doesn't allow enough room to add any netting along the bottom. What do you think of this variation? Do you think it looks unfinished? I think I like it but I'm not quite sure. I have a few other colors of drop beads but I'm not sure if I've got SuperDuos and fire polished beads that will go well with them. I'll see what I can come up with. I've had the drop beads for a while and this is the first time I've actually used them. I also have some of the smaller 2.8mm size in "Light Bronze". I think those are going to be trickier to find a use for. Most of the patterns that I've seen that call for drop beads call for the 3.4mm size. Here is my sample earring with drop beads:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Pink White Moon Dust"
• 3.4mm Miyuki drop beads "Metallic Dark Bronze" (457D)

As far as I know, there is no pattern available for these earrings. I saw the earrings for sale in an Etsy shop, HERE. However, I think you could probably adapt Ellad2's "Sunflower Earrings" pattern to look like these with a few tweaks. You can buy Ella's pattern HERE. You would use six fire polished beads instead of eight and replace the SuperDuo beads with 8/0 seed beads between the fire polished beads. Also, Ella uses 11/0 seed beads for the netting on the bottom and the Gypsy earrings have 15/0 beads.

I made a couple of samples of Ella's version yesterday and I'll take photos of them later today. I was a little surprised to see how they turned out. It's not very apparent in her photos that the bottom edge curls under so they're very cupped. That's how they turn out using the number of seed beads around the bottom edge that I see in Ella's photos. I may try making them again with more beads for a flatter earring but I honestly like the Gypsy earrings much better. I'll try to post the photos tomorrow.

Czech Bicones

For a long time I was buying only Chinese bicones for the most part because they are cheap. I have bought a few colors of Swarovski bicones on sale recently but I find that their colors are generally pretty boring and I end up disappointed when I see how they look in real life. They don't seem to make the kinds of colors that I really like. Their colors are a bit too bright and ordinary with a few exceptions, a couple of which I will show you.

But, I've discovered some Czech bicones that are a little more affordable than Swarovski, are much better quality than Chinese bicones and they come in colors and finishes that appeal to me very much. Red Panda has the best selection of colors that I've seen so far but I haven't looked extensively online for them. I could be wrong but I don't think that these are Preciosa brand bicones. I looked through those on a couple of sites and didn't see any of these pretty colors. The colors that I saw seemed to be very similar to Swarovski's colors. However, when I ordered some "Crystal Capri Gold" bicones from Aura Crystals, HERE, they are listed as Preciosa and they did come in a Preciosa package. Anyway, I got all of the colors below, with the exception of the "Crystal Capri Gold, from Red Panda, HERE. Betsy does have "Crystal Capri Gold" bicones but I wanted to order a lot of 144 of them.

I made these little samples so that you can see how beautiful the colors are:

Aquamarine Celsian

Chrysolite Celsian

Crystal Capri Gold

French Rose Celsian

Hematite Luster Aquamarine

These last two samples are Swarovski bicones. I thought that the "Burgundy Blue Zircon Blend" bicones were kind of different and pretty. They are a  dark turquoise or teal with dark burgundy on some parts. They're a bit darker than I expected but I think they'll look nice in a bracelet. I got them from Artbeads, HERE.

Burgundy Blue Zircon Blend

 
The ones below are called "Crystal Purple Haze" and I got them from Aura Crystals, HERE. They were expensive but I love how they've got so many different colors in them yet the over all color is subtle. I think that they'll go with a lot of outfits because there is no distinct main color.

Crystal Purple Haze

Dana's Gypsy Earrings - Lots of sample earrings

Here are nine different color combinations of the earrings that I blogged about HERE yesterday.

• 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)
• 6mm fire polished beads "Matte Apollo Gold"
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Bronze Copper"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Matte Apollo Gold"

Because I don't have many colors of 6mm druks, I used 6mm fire polished beads in some of these samples. I don't like them as well as druks but they do work pretty well. It's important to make sure that the holes are aligned with the top and bottom center of the earring. With druks, it doesn't matter where the holes are because you can't see them.

I love this color combination. I was surprised to see how well pewter and copper go together. The "Apollo Gold" beads have hints of grayish silver on them and that gave me the idea to try mixing the metals. I'm sure glad that I did. I will make myself a pair of these.

• 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 Miyuki "Matte Silver Lined Pale Rose" (23F)
• 6mm fire polished beads "Matte Pink"
• SuperDuo beads "Antique Silver""
• 4mm fire polished beads "Antique Silver"

This sample has the same "Antique Silver" beads that I used in the earrings I blogged about yesterday.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Hybrid Opaque White Lila Gold Luster" (55052)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster"

"Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster" is always a winner for me. You probably can't see them in the photo but I added some accent seed beads between the flower petals.

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 6mm druks "Turquoise Picasso"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Light Blue Picasso"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Goldenrod Picasso"

I used Toho seed beads in this sample and they work fine. However, I did have to use one less 15/0 bead on each side near the bottom where they go around the fire polished beads. I use seven beads with Miyuki and six with Toho. I didn't have to adjust the number of beads that go around the other four fire polished beads. Five fit just fine with either brand.

That reminds me of one little issue with these earrings. I have to be careful when adding the netting on the two fire polished beads on the left and right sides. If I pull the netting too tight, the strings of beads have a tendency to curl forward or backward and come off of the fire polished beads. I did come up with a little trick that helps keep those beads in place but it's still important to keep the tension just right to keep them from moving.

• 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)
• 6mm fire polished beads "Champagne" (Nirvana Beads)
• SuperDuo beads "Antique Silver"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Antique Silver"

This is another one with the "Pewter" seed beads and "Antique Silver" SuperDuos and fire polished beads. I like this one because it will go with anything because there is no accent color.

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Metallic Bronze Gold" (225)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Metallic Bronze Gold" (225)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Metallic Bronze Gold" (225)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Green Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Green Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Green Luster"

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 6mm druks "Turquoise Green Bronze Picasso"
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Lazure Blue"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Turquoise Copper"

• 15/0 seed beads "Metallic Chocolate" (no info available)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Mink Bronze" (D4213)
• 6mm fire polished beads "Polychrome Copper Rose"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Mineral Mosaic Pink"
• SuperDuo beads "Matte Chalk Bronze"

I love this dusty pink earring. I wish that they made 6mm druks in "Polychrome Copper Rose" but they don't. Something about the size of the beads in this one make the large fire polished bead stick out. The SuperDuos and 4mm fire polished beads are from the same Etsy shop where I got the "Antique Silver" beads. You can find the fire polished beads HERE and the SuperDuo beads are HERE.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Rose and Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Lazure Red"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

Just like "Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster" I love anything made with "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster". This is one of my favorite samples.
 

Dana's Gypsy Earrings - Antique Silver & Mauve

DANA'S GYPSY EARRINGS

• 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" (2114)
• 6mm druks "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Antique Silver"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Antique Silver"

 
When I saw these beautiful earrings in an Etsy shop, HERE, I just had to try making some. It was pretty easy to figure out how to make them by looking at the photos. The colors that I used in these earrings are actually the very first combination of beads that I tried with this pattern and it's probably my favorite. I've since made nine other samples in various colors and I will blog about them in the next day or two. You can see one of the other earring colors on the model below. I chose this particular purple/mauve color scheme to go with a "Bobble Bangle" bracelet that I blogged about HERE. You can see the earrings and bracelet together below.

 
I found the "Antique Silver" SuperDuos and fire polished beads in the BeadsParade Etsy shop last week and this has quickly become a favorite bead color. It goes very well with pewter seed beads and gives the beadwork a tarnished antique appearance. Nelly Lopez has very good prices, especially on SuperDuos. She also has quite a few unusual colors in SuperDuos and fire polished beads that I hadn't seen before.