Saturday, December 31, 2016

Christmas Bracelet #2 - Eowyn Band

  • 15/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Nebula aka Metallic Blue Iris" (82)
  • 15/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • 11/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Nebula aka Metallic Blue Iris" (82)
  • 11/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Nebula aka Metallic Blue Iris" (82)
  • 8/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • DiamonDuo beads "Coral Bronze"
  • Pinch beads "Matte Metallic Antique Gold"
  • O-Beads "Hematite"
  • 3mm pearls "Dark Red Copper" (Chinese)


Teejay's "Eowyn Band" is a variation of the "Elbereth Band" that I blogged about yesterday HERE. "Eowyn" has 2-Hole Cabochon beads instead of DiamonDuos and there are a few other subtle differences between them. Teejay has a knack for combining colors that would never occur to me to put together. As you can see here, the results are stunning.


There currently is no pattern available for this bracelet but we may create one some day.





Friday, December 30, 2016

Christmas Bracelet & Earrings #1 - Elbereth Set



  • 15/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 11/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • 8/0 seed beads Matsuno "Raspberry Copper" (457A)
  • 6mm 2-Hole Cabochons "Chalk Blue Luster"
  • Pinch beads "Crystal Chrome"
  • O-Beads "Metallic Mix"

Once again, Teejay has outdone herself creating unique, original bracelet designs for my Christmas presents. And, for the first time, she made a few pairs of earrings as well. When she sent me several bracelets for my birthday back in April, I gave those designs flower names. Two of those designs are available as free patterns; Ivy Bracelet and Bluebell Bracelet. I hope to finish the Honeysuckle Bracelet pattern soon and then perhaps Teejay and I will start working on the patterns for some of the Christmas bracelets. In any case, I've decided to use a "Lord of the Rings" theme for the five Christmas bracelets. All five are named after female characters from Tolkien's books.


There currently is no pattern available for this bracelet but we may create one some day.





Teejay made two different pairs of earrings to go with the "Elbereth Bracelet". There are similarities between them but the second version is longer and has some 2-Hole Cabochons.





  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 8mm Candy beads "Chalk Lumi Green"
  • Pinch beads "Crystal Chrome"
  • Pinch beads "Chalk Blue Luster"
  • O-Beads "Metallic Mix"









  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Brown Iris" (458)
  • 6mm 2-Hole Cabochons "Chalk Blue Luster"
  • 8mm Candy beads "Chalk Lumi Green"
  • Pinch beads "Crystal Chrome"
  • Pinch beads "Chalk Blue Luster"
  • O-Beads "Metallic Mix"











 

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Liz Band & Corundum Earrings Set - Jet & Pewter


LIZ BAND
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet Matte"
  • 3mm druks "Jet Matte"

Today's bracelet and earrings set was also a Christmas gift for my sister. The first two that I showed you, HERE and HERE, featured bronze seed beads but I also wanted to make her a set with silver and black.



I blogged about this bracelet design way back in 2014 HERE, HERE and HERE. It's a variation of another bracelet design that Teejay adapted from Deborah Roberti's "Bobble Bangles" pattern. At the time of those posts we were calling the bracelet "Duo Bobble" but the actual name will be "Liz Band" when I get around to making the pattern. There will be three variations called "Liz Band", "Lizbeth Band" and "Lizzie Bracelet".


UPDATE 2/13/18: A free pattern is now available for "Liz Band". Visit THIS post to download the pattern.




CORUNDUM EARRINGS
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet Matte"
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet Old Silver"



I used Kelly Dale's "Corundum" design for the matching earrings. The diamond shape ties the set together quite well. Kelly has a YouTube tutorial for these earrings HERE. You can also buy the pattern in her Etsy shop, HERE, and she has a matching "Corundum Necklace" pattern for sale HERE. I've blogged about these earrings a couple of times, HERE and HERE.




 

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Tweaked Jolie Band & Arula Earrings Set


TWEAKED JOLIE BAND
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 6mm 2-hole cabochons "Jet"
  • Arcos® par Puca® beads "Jet"
  • 4mm druks "Jet"
  • MiniDuo beads "Jet"

This set was also a Christmas present for my sister. I was going to use Minos beads instead of druks until I noticed that the jet Minos beads are much smaller than Minos beads in other colors. If I had used them, the bracelet would have been a little too short and I didn't want to use more than two jump rings on each side of the clasp. Also, adding another motif would have made it much too long. I went with 4mm druks because 3mm druks also seemed a little too small to give me the length I needed. I actually like how the 4mm druks look between the motifs and will keep this idea in mind for future Jolie bracelets.


Download Deborah Roberti's free "Linda's Tweaked Jolie Band" pattern from Around the Beading Table HERE.


Here are the earrings that I made to go with this bracelet:


ARULA EARRINGS VARIATION
  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 3mm druks "Jet"

This is my adaptation of the free "Arula Earrings" pattern which is normally made with Rulla beads instead of druks. You'll find the free tutorial HERE and I've blogged about it before HERE and HERE.





 

Monday, December 26, 2016

Mystery SuperDuo Bracelet & Mini Rondo Earrings


MYSTERY SUPERDUO BRACELET
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet"

I made this bracelet for my sister for Christmas after she hinted that she could use some black bracelets. When I showed you a bunch of black bracelet samples in THIS post, I was getting ideas for bracelets to make for Cindy. I waited until after Christmas to show you these bracelets so that she wouldn't see them online.




Click HERE for the free "Mystery SuperDuo Bracelet" tutorial.



After making three black bracelets for Cindy (I'll show you the other two in future posts), I decided to make earrings to go with each of them. I was hoping to use patterns that I have made before but nothing seemed like the right style to go with this modern-looking bracelet. So, I looked through my stash of untried earring patterns and this one caught my eye but I did tweak them a little. The pattern calls for 4mm bicones which didn't suit the look that I was going for. I used 4mm druks instead of the bicones. A 4mm druk would have been much too large for that spot at the very bottom center point of the earring so I used a 3mm druk instead.



MINI RONDO EARRINGS

  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet"
  • SuperDuo beads "Bronze"
  • 4mm druks "Jet"
  • 3mm druks "Jet"



The free version of the "Mini Rondo Earrings" pattern by Rosina Ottolini is in Italian but the diagrams are very easy to follow. The free version can be downloaded from Craftsy HERE. If you'd like an English version of the pattern, it is for sale HERE on Craftsy and also on Etsy HERE.

NOTE: Since I typed up this post last week, Rosina has removed all of her free patterns from her Craftsy shop. You can still buy the English version of the "Mini Rondo Earrings" there and on Etsy. The earring pattern that I mention below is no longer available.

 


I recommend using Nymo D thread to make these earrings. It's thicker than Fireline so the earrings hold their shape a little better. I actually made one earring of this pair with Nymo D and the other one with 6 pound Fireline. Although you can't see any difference in the photos, the Fireline one is more flexible. I wanted to try one with Fireline to see if would be any easier to get my needle through the beads than with Nymo. It really didn't make any difference though. The beads are all large enough to get the thicker thread through the beads many times. Any trouble that I did have getting my needle through was due to how close the beads are together in the curved area near the top of the earring. I suggest using a flexible size 12 Tulip needle to make these. Take it one bead at a time as you go around the perimeter the last couple of times and you'll get your needle through the beads eventually with a little patience. It's important to reinforce the earrings several times or they won't keep their shape.

I have one other tip for making these earrings. The earring wire is attached using a jump ring that goes through the SuperDuo bead at the top. I tried that successfully a couple of times but later decided that this is too risky. If you do decide to go that route, make sure that you test to make sure that your jump rings will fit through the holes of the SuperDuos BEFORE you add them to the earrings. If your jump rings are too thick, you'll need to come up with an alternate method for attaching the wires. I added some 11/0 seed beads at the top with an 8/0 seed bead in the center for the jump ring to go through in two of my sample earrings below.



PICCOLISSIMI RONDO EARRINGS

I also tried Rosina's "Piccolissimi Rondo Earrings". They're a smaller version that looks similar to the "Mini Rondo Earrings". I'm not all that keen on them and I think the larger version has a nicer shape. Although I didn't end up using that pattern, I thought you might like to see the samples that I made. Note that the black sample doesn't have a wire attached. I was unable to find a jump ring that would fit through that SuperDuo. That's why I don't recommend using that method for attaching the wires.




  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • SuperDuo beads "Jet"
  • SuperDuo beads "Bronze"
  • 4mm druks "Jet"



  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • SuperDuo beads "Matte Dark Bronze"
  • SuperDuo beads "Chalk Copper Picasso"
  • 4mm druks "Blue Luster"

Below is a sample of the "Mini Rondo" earrings done in another colorway. I didn't have any 3mm druks in the same color as the 4mm ones so I made the center point with seed beads instead.



  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
  • SuperDuo beads "Matte Dark Bronze"
  • SuperDuo beads "Pink Luster Turquoise"
  • 4mm druks "Pink Luster Turquoise"