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| BELLE OF THE BALL EARRINGS |
I made these two samples yesterday with the free "Belle of the Ball Earrings" tutorial that you can find HERE. I made the earring on the right following the tutorial as closely as I could. I don't have any Swarovski 6mm bicones or 3mm Swarovski pearls so I had to use what I had on hand. I'm sure that using Chinese bicones and Czech pearls affected my outcome a little but at least I was able to see how the pattern works as written.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, this pattern is no longer available.
I thought that the earrings would look much nicer with metallic seed beads than with transparent beads and I was right. I love the cute shape but I'm not keen on the bicones. I think they look a little awkward and angular. So, I made my next sample using druks. I like that sample much better but it still needs a little tweaking. I used Miyuki seed beads for that one and while they do look neater, the number of beads needs to be adjusted to fit better around the druks.
One thing that I'd like to change is that 6mm druk at the top of the earring. I think it's too big. My plan is to replace that one with another 4mm druk like the two in the lower part of the earring. I also want to try making the earrings with fire polished beads and see how they look.
These are the beads that I used in the samples:
LEFT SAMPLE:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 3mm druks "Opaque Green Luster"
- 4mm druks "Opaque Green Luster"
- 6mm druks "Opaque Green Luster"
RIGHT SAMPLE:
- 15/0 seed beads Toho "Bright Bronze" (221)
- 3mm Czech pearls "Old Lace"
- 4mm bicones "Amethyst" (Chinese)
- 6mm bicones "Amethyst" (Chinese)
So helpful seeing your samples and reading your thoughts on making them. Look forward to seeing how they go with fire polished
ReplyDeleteYou'll be pleased to know that the pattern works great with fire polished beads. I made two pairs last night; one with fire polished and the other with druks. I hope to take the photos today.
DeleteAm thoroughly enjoying your work. Your patterns are lovely. Very new at beading although I've done bead crochet. Your style of work is so very classy and vintage. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melinda.
DeleteI especially love the pair on the left. The druks look so much like Amazonite! Can you please share where you got them?
ReplyDeleteThe 3mm ones are tricky to find. I found them on Etsy but it was a long time ago. Artbeads has them in 4mm and 6mm and Red Panda has 4mm only. I don't know of any one site that has all three sizes.
DeleteIt won't help you, Jeanie, but I just looked at Robin's Beads in the UK and they have the Opaque Green Luster druks in 3mm, 4mm and 6mm. I just thought of another place you could look. Haute Hobby on Etsy. They have a lot of druks.
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