Bracelet of the Day: Dragonfly - Gold & Pewter

DRAGONFLY BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)  
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 Czech seed beads "Etched Amber Gold Full"
• CzechMates "Metallic Suede Dark Green"
• SuperDuo beads "Bronze Gold"

I told you in THIS post about some interesting Czech "Etched Amber Gold Full" seed beads that I found at 1960 Beads and I mentioned that I wanted to use them to make a Dragonfly bracelet. It was tricky finding all of the necessary beads in colors that go with those seed beads and also go well together. I had no other seed beads in 15/0 or 11/0 that matched the 8/0 etched beads or the gold SuperDuos that I wanted to use. So, I did end up using Duracoat Pewter seed beads as I mentioned that I might do in my other post. Oddly enough when they are next to the gold beads the colors sort of blend to form a very soft golden color. Plus, I went with the softer colored "Bronze Gold" SuperDuo beads rather than the brighter "Crystal Amber Gold Full" ones which were a little too harsh and yellow next to the other beads.

I also had a hard time finding CzechMates in a color that would go well with the Czech etched beads. I settled on some very dark "Suede Dark Green" tiles that I thought would make a nice contrast to the lighter, glittering gold beads. I decided that if I were to use a light color for the tile beads, the pretty details made with the golden beads wouldn't show well enough.

Because I wanted to incorporate more of the special etched seed beads into this bracelet than just a few half-hidden along the edge, I embellished the edge slightly differently than I've done with other Dragonfly bracelets that I've made. Instead of adding one 11/0 seed bead between each pair of SuperDuos, I used one of the 8/0 beads with a 15/0 pewter bead on either side of it. This created a soft, scalloped edge that I think is pretty and I will probably use that idea again sometime. That tweak might not work well when using Tila beads instead of CzechMates though because the pairs of SuperDuos don't flare out quite as much with the smaller Tila beads. I did make a sample with Tilas and found that just a single 8/0 seed bead fits nicely in that spot. I will show you that bracelet in tomorrow's post.

The pattern is from In Memory of Eridhan on Etsy and you can buy it HERE (Unfortunately, this pattern is no longer available).