Native American Fringe Earrings #47 - Pink & Black

• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Metallic Bronze" (DB22)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Matte Black" (DB310)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Luster Newsprint" (DB261)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Galvanized Matte Pink Blush" (DB1166)

Today's earrings have the same bottom fringe design as yesterday's but the top section is different. I came up with the design for the top and the fringe is from a pattern by Anna Belous. I blogged about this same colorway before HERE. I wasn't happy with the size and shape of that earring so I took it apart and re-used the beads to make these earrings.

You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Native American Fringe Earrings #46 - Black, Grey & Maroon

• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Matte Black" (DB310)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Dyed Opaque Maroon" (DB654)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Light Smoke" (DB1498)

I'm pretty sure that this is the first pair of fringe earrings that I've made to go with a specific article of clothing. I blogged HERE about having trouble finding a red bead color that matched one of my tops and I was hoping to make some of these earrings to go with it. The elusive color is maroon and I have Delica beads in exactly the right color. I also happen to have Delicas in a very pale gray that's nearly the same as the background color on my top. The maroon beads look a little too red in my photos but in real life they match my top perfectly. 

I really wish that you could see these earrings as they really look in person. They look big and clunky in the photos and they're actually very tiny and delicate.

I adapted this earring design from one of Anna patterns. Check out her free pattern blog HERE.

You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Tampa Variation - Rose & Turquoise

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Copper Rose"
• SuperDuo beads "Pink Luster Turquoise"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Milky Rose Bronze Vega" *

* I got these fire polished beads from Supply Emporium HERE.

This is an adaptation of the bracelet pattern that you can buy on Etsy HERE. Read my original post about this bracelet HERE.

By the time I finished making today's bracelet I was tired of making this pattern. So, I've decided not to make bracelets from the three sample motifs below. The sample on the left and the one in the center have the same color beads with the exception of the seed beads. The pewter-colored "Pearl Luster" SuperDuos in the sample motif on the right are no longer available.

LEFT SAMPLE:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"

MIDDLE SAMPLE:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster"

RIGHT SAMPLE:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet Picasso"
• SuperDuo beads "Pearl Luster"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Rosaline Moon Dust"

I think I've mentioned before that I use Tulip needles pretty much exclusively. They're expensive but they usually last for many months before breaking and they don't get horribly bent out of shape like cheap beading needles. They're also much easier to thread than cheap needles. I've never paid full price for them because I keep an eye out for site-wide sales and then stock up on them. I usually hold out for a 30% off sale and I recently caught a one-day 40% off sale at Bello Modo. Although I have Tulip needles on hand in sizes 11, 12 and 13, I use the size 12 ones 99% of the time. Anyway, I just noticed this morning that Red Panda is now carrying them in size 12 HERE. Betsy also has them in size 11.

Bracelet of the Day: Tampa Variation - Turquoise Blue & Gray

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Ashen Grey"
• SuperDuo beads "Green Turquoise/Ivory Nebula Duet"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Moon Dust Turquoise"

The SuperDuos that I used in this bracelet are in one of my favorite "Duet" colors.

This is an adaptation of the bracelet pattern that you can buy on Etsy HERE. Read my original post about this bracelet HERE. Red Panda has the SuperDuo Duets beads HERE.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Tampa Variation - Cream & Gold

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Bronze Pale Gold"
• SuperDuo beads "Pastel Light Cream (25110)"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Mirror Gold"

This bracelet is the first of three more colorways. All three feature 3mm fire polished beads instead of 4mm bicones.

This is an adaptation of the bracelet pattern that you can buy on Etsy HERE. Read my original post about this bracelet HERE.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Tampa Variation - Turquoise & Yellow Picasso

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• SuperDuo beads "Green Turquoise Dark Travertine"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Yellow Copper Picasso"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Opaque Turquoise Picasso"

My previous "Tampa" set was more dressy than this casual, grungy version. As I mentioned in Tuesday's post HERE, I've discovered that 3mm fire polished beads fit the motif better than 4mm bicones. That's great because I have a lot more colors in fire polished beads, especially ones that go well with my stash of SuperDuos.

This is an adaptation of the bracelet pattern that you can buy on Etsy HERE.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Tampa Bracelet Variation - Olive & Plum

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Pink"
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Gold"
• 4mm Swarovski bicones "Khaki"

I had admired the "Tampa Bracelet" pattern from Vivatutorial on Etsy for quite some time but had never tried it. Just recently I came across a bracelet for sale in an Etsy shop and it really sparked my interest. It's a variation of the "Tampa Bracelet" where the motifs are connected with jump rings and you probably know how well I like that idea. You can buy Aviva's pattern HERE and you can see Linda Smith's adaptation HERE.

I ended up making some of my own changes to the design. Although I think that bicones suit the Art Deco style of the bracelet quite well, I didn't like that they tend to cause the motif to warp because they bump against the seed beads in the center of the motif. I also have a very limited color selection of 4mm Swarovski and Czech bicones so I decided to try using 3mm fire polished beads instead. 4mm fire polished beads are too big but the 3mm ones fit perfectly. I also replaced the 3mm bicones that go between the three SuperDuos with 8/0 seed beads. They work great and save me from having to find bicones in colors that go with the other beads that I want to use. Of course that lowers the cost of making this bracelet as well. I did use bicones in today's bracelet because I happen to have some olive green ones that go well with this colorway. I'll be blogging about a few other colorways soon and I used fire polished beads in all of them.

Another thing that I changed is the shape of the seed bead embellishments. The first time I added those four seed beads, mine sat a little differently than how they look in the photos on Etsy. The point bead naturally popped up closer to the outer ends and I really liked the look. It adds to the Art Deco shape of the motif.

As you can see, I also made a matching pair of earrings. The only change was to replace the 8/0 seed bead at one end of the motif with an 11/0 bead.

STILL NO PINTEREST

It's starting to look like they've abandoned Pinterest and aren't going to fix it. It apparently works when visiting other peoples' boards but doesn't work when you view your own boards. That pretty much makes Pinterest useless to me. I'll give them a few more days to fix it before I stop bothering to add any new photos from my blog.

Does anyone know of a good alternative for Pinterest? I'd hate to have to switch to something else though and have to find all of my pins again.

UPDATE: I'm very happy to report that sometime late this afternoon, they finally fixed the problem with Pinterest!!!

 

YouTube Beading Tutorial - XOXO Bracelet

XOXO BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Turquoise Heavy Travertine"

JP posted this video tutorial HERE on YouTube about a week ago and I thought her bracelet looked really cute. I was in between projects so I gave it a try. I dug through my stash of fire polished beads to find a color that I had enough of to make this bracelet and I had quite a few of this color. Although there are only two kinds of beads, it takes a LOT of both fire polished beads and seed beads. JP must have an even tinier wrist than me because she only needed eight motifs for her bracelet. I needed ten motifs to fit my wrist so I'm guessing she must have a 5-inch wrist. My bracelet measures 7 inches long and fits my 6-inch wrist nicely. I needed 80 fire polished beads and about 5 grams of 11/0 seed beads. I made a different clasp loop on mine so I also used two 8/0 seed beads. I think I used at least 4 yards of thread. I started with three yards and had to add more.

I used Toho seed beads to make my first sample. Toho beads do work but the motifs came out a little loose. For my final bracelet I used Miyuki beads because the "Metallic Chocolate" goes well with the dark specks in my fire polished beads. They're a very unusual color that I found at BeadsParade on Etsy HERE. The specs are actually dark green but from a distance they appear to be brown.

I like how my bracelet turned out and it has an interesting feel to it because the motifs are two-sided. For some reason it's not a very photogenic bracelet and my photos don't do it justice. In my close-ups, it looks like loads of beads. Here is a screenshot from JP's video so you can see how nice her bracelet looks:

Check out JP's YouTube channel HERE. She has a lot of nice beading videos. Although this particular bracelet pattern is not available, JP sells beading patterns in her Etsy shop HERE.

PINTEREST STILL BROKEN

It's been broken for three days now. I sure hope that they are able to fix it soon. I will continue to add the beadwork photos from my blog to my Pinterest boards and just hope that nothing goes missing.