Bracelet of the Day: Flutter - Orchid Aqua

FLUTTER BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• 4mm bicones "Purple AB - #C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 4mm bicones "Lavender" (Chinavoski)
• 4mm pearls "Polynesian Jet Orchid Aqua"

I've blogged about Deb Roberti's "Flutter Bracelet" pattern once before HERE. This time I decided to try some of the tweaks that I'd seen on the Neisz Piros gyöngyei blog, HERE. Be sure to go there and see her beautiful beadwork. I love the subtle changes that she made to this bracelet and also the colors that she used. Since I don't have the same beads that she used, I came up with this colorway using what I had on hand.

Neisz Piros replaced the seed beads that Deb calls for along the outer edges of the SuperDuo beads with 3mm bicones. I had a hard enough time coming up with two colors of 4mm bicones that went together and none of my 3mm bicones were the right color. So, instead I used 8/0 seed beads and they fit perfectly. I think that the seed beads also outline the motifs nicely. Note that I also used an 8/0 seed bead in the center of each motif instead of a 3mm bead. Deb's pattern does suggest seed beads as an option.

The other tweak that Neisz Piros made was adding 15/0 seed beads across tops of the center SuperDuos in each motif. If you look closely at her photos, you'll see that she used three 15/0 beads. However, I got better results using four. It doesn't seem to matter if they're Miyuki or Toho seed beads. Four just seem to fill the space better than three for me. That may be due to using 8/0 seed beads instead of the 3mm bicones that she used.

The "Flutter Bracelet" pattern is from Around the Beading Table and you can buy it HERE. You can get the Polynesian pearls at Red Panda HERE. The bicones that I used are both from local bead shops.