Bracelet of the Day: Secret Santa Bracelet

Deborah Roberti's "Secret Santa Bracelet" pattern is now free and you can download it HERE. Although I already had the pattern in my collection, I had never tried it. So, the other night I made a bunch of samples using different types of beads and came up with two color schemes that I loved enough to make bracelets for myself.

First, I'll show you four samples that didn't make the cut for various reasons. I made one with 4mm bicones and 3mm fire polished beads as directed by the pattern just so that I'd know how it's supposed to turn out. I do like that one but it calls for too many bicones and I'd rather save my nice Czech bicones to use as accent beads. They're a little too expensive to use 40 of them in one bracelet. I used Miyuki seed beads and had no issues with the way the beads behaved.

I also used Miyuki seed beads in the other three samples but I replaced the bicones with 4mm fire polished beads. I think the fire polished beads are too fat for this pattern because they cause the motifs to bulge too much and go kind of wonky. I also had to pop out the point seed beads or the netting on the sides was too loose if I didn't. If you look closely at those three samples, you'll see that I replaced the fire polished beads between the motifs with 4mm druks or fire polished beads in another color. I like how that looks but I don't like how the fire polished beads stick out so much.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 4mm bicones "Hematite Luster Aquamarine" (Czech)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Green Crystal Luster"

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Milky Light Amethyst Moon Dust"
• 4mm druks "Moon Dust Milky Alexandrite"
• 4mm druks "Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Transparent Amethyst Luster"

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Moss Green"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
• 3mm bicones "Green AB" (China)

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Bronze Luster Pink White Iris"
• 4mm druks "Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Rosaline Moon Dust"

But, all was not lost. I also made two samples using Toho seed beads with fire polished beads and druks and both samples came out so nice that I went ahead and made myself bracelets in those colors. Because Toho's seed beads are larger than Miyuki's, they allowed the other beads to lie flat instead of bulging. As a bonus, these were also my two favorite color schemes and I think you can see why.

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver-Nickel" (711)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Silver-Nickel" (711)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• 4mm druks "Metallic Suede Pink"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Suede Plum Rose"
  

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Milky Turquoise-Pink Topaz Luster"
• 4mm druks "Suede Light Green"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"