Bracelet of the Day: Valentine Bracelet - Jet & Bronze

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• Kheops® Par Puca® beads "Jet"
• Pinch beads "Bronze"
• 4.6mm SS19 chaton montees "Silver Shade in a gold setting" (Swarovski Xirus 1088)

I blogged HERE about a bracelet that I've been working on for my sister-in-law. I'm adapting her bracelet from a necklace photo that I saw HERE. I'm still waiting for some gold seed beads that I ordered. So, in the meantime, I thought I'd give the pattern a test run using dark bronze seed beads and some "Silver Shade" montees that I bought at the same time that I bought the montees for the gold bracelet. The "Silver Shade" montees are clear stones like the "Clear" ones that I bought for my sister-in-law's bracelet but the sparkle isn't quite as intense. The slightly subdued look suits my style better and I think they look well with the darker seed beads too. This bracelet is for myself, by the way. I have those bronze Pinch beads that I bought to test the bracelet pattern and they need to be used for something. They're not my favorite beads but I do like them well enough in this little bracelet. I might have enough of the bronze ones left to make one more "Valentine" bracelet but I'll need to buy more montees. I did use a few of the bronze Pinch beads to try out a YouTube tutorial the other day and I will blog about it tomorrow.

I bought the Silver Shade montees HERE at CrystallizedMontees on Etsy.

Here is the sample that I made using gold seed beads and 24K gold Pinch beads so that you can compare it with my bronze version.

When I made my first sample of the bracelet, I used one needle but it was a little tricky making sure that I added the montees right side up. When I made today's bracelet, I used two needles. Although I don't enjoy working with two needles, it did make this design a little easier to make. I only really had one issue and that was trying to tie the two ends of the thread when I got to the end of the bracelet. The threads were very long and kept tangling when I tried to tie them. I wasn't ready to cut them off because I needed to add the second clasp loop and reinforce the bracelet.


You might have noticed that I added some 15/0 seed beads between the Pinch beads and the Montees. I'm pretty sure that the original design doesn't have them or at least I don't see any in the photos. When I made a sample without them, the bracelet was kind of stiff. Adding those tiny beads gives the bracelet more "movement". Another thing that seems to be important is to cross through the montees forming an "X" with the thread. When I went straight through them through their side holes the Pinch beads didn't flare out like petals.

The designer, VinJulEve, adapted this bracelet from her "Mirano" pattern which is for sale on DaWanda HERE (Unfortunately, this pattern is no longer available).