Bracelet of the Day: SimplElegance Bracelet - Turquoise & Pewter

SIMPLELEGANCE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 7mm CzechMates 2-hole cabochons "Turquoise Copper Picasso"

Here is one last "SimplElegance" bracelet and I love this colorway. Once again, I used 7mm cabochons. This time I used only one seed bead color because I didn't have another color that would go with this colorway. I think it looks just as nice without the accent color. You can buy this pattern HERE in the AsszaBeadingArts Etsy shop.

 

Bracelet of the Day: SimplElegance Bracelet - Rose Gold

SIMPLELEGANCE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Matte Champagne" (4204F)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 7mm CzechMates 2-hole cabochons "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

I made today's bracelet with the larger 7mm 2-hole cabochons. I did have to tweak the pattern a little to make the cabs work as I mentioned in THIS post. You can buy Assza's pattern HERE in her Etsy shop.

 

Bracelet of the Day: SimplElegance Bracelet - Pewter & Copper

SIMPLELEGANCE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Vintage Copper" (01770)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 6mm 2-hole cabochons "Chalk White Gold Luster"

Once again I made this pattern with 6mm 2-hole cabochons instead of druks. Read more about it HERE in my previous post. Before making today's bracelet, I made a sample with some brighter silver seed beads. I decided that they were too bright next to the dark copper so I switched to these light pewter beads. Below is my sample with the silver beads:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Silver" (4201)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Silver" (4201)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Vintage Copper" (01770)
• 6mm 2-hole cabochons "Chalk White Gold Luster"

To satisfy my curiosity, I also made a sample using Toho seed beads and 6mm druks. That was a huge failure. There is no doubt in my mind now that Assza used Miyuki beads to make hers. In fact, I suspect that she used the same two colors of seed beads that I used to make today's bracelet. I don't think that any amount of tweaking can make Toho beads work with this pattern. Below you can see my Toho sample:

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Hybrid Opaque Matte Lilac Luster" (Y507F)
• 6mm druks "Opaque Luster Metallic Amethyst"

I have loads of 7mm CzechMates 2-hole cabochons in beautiful colors so I got to wondering if there might be a way to make them work with this pattern. It looks like they will work with only a couple of tweaks. I might even like how they look better than druks or 6mm cabs because you can see more of the cab inside the "bezel". To make the larger cabs work, I had to put ten 15/0 seed beads on either side of the cabochons instead of nine. Because I now had an even number of beads instead of an odd number, I only attached the pairs of 11/0 beads to two of the 15/0s on each side instead of three. No other tweaking was necessary. Below is my sample with the larger cabs:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Vintage Copper" (01770)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Light Pewter" (4221)
• 7mm CzechMates 2-hole cabochons "Turquoise"

You can buy this pattern HERE in the AsszaBeadingArts Etsy shop.

 

Bracelet of the Day: SimplElegance Bracelet

SIMPLELEGANCE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 6mm 2-hole cabochons "Alabaster Metallic Azure"

I found this pretty pattern HERE in the AsszaBeadingArts Etsy shop. Although the designer lives in Hungary, the pattern is in English and it's only $3.90. She doesn't specify Miyuki or Toho seed beads so I assumed that Miyuki would work the best and I think I was right about that but I haven't actually tried Toho beads. This bracelet is only about 1/2-inch wide and very delicate.

I made a couple of small samples and decided that I wasn't all that happy with the 6mm druks because they tend to either stick up too much or they're sunken in too much. I also wasn't keen on the method used to make the motifs. So, I tried using 6mm 2-hole cabochons instead which required an entirely different method. The end result looks pretty much the same as the original made with druks except that the bracelet comes out flat on the back. I'm sorry that I can't explain how I made mine differently because I don't have permission from the designer to do so.

Here is a sample that I made with 6mm druks:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 6mm druks "Turquoise Lister"

Here is how it looks from the back:

I added 8/0 seed beads on the ends of my bracelet so that I could attach my clasp with jump rings. I ran into an issue with one of my clasp loops in the spot where it attached to the bracelet. As I was weaving around to get into the proper position to add the netting, I broke both of the 15/0 seed beads that my clasp loop was attached to. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've broken a bead so it took me by surprise. I was using FireLine and a size 12 needle so it shouldn't have happened. If I make this pattern again, I will come up with a way to change the end beads to 11/0s instead of 15/0s. They're just too tiny for the kind of stress that is put on the ends of the bracelet and for the number of times you have to go through them. Thankfully, I was able to sneak in two new beads and I also was able to pull my clasp loop, which had gotten very loose due to the missing beads, back into position without it being too noticeable. I really didn't want to take the whole thing apart and start over so I was very relieved that it worked. If I'd been making the bracelet as a gift for someone, instead of for myself, I would have started over.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Pearl & Gold

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Gold" (4202)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Gold" (4202)
• MiniDuo beads "Pearl Coat Cream"
• 3mm Czech pearls "Cream"

This is the tenth and final pair of "Squares Earrings". You may have noticed that I've only used Miyuki seed beads to make all of these earrings. I thought it would be pointless to try using Toho beads because it's not likely that the motifs would come out right without a lot of tweaking.

I found these pearls at Artbeads.com. They have the same "pearl coat" finish as the MiniDuos and the colors are a perfect match. The finish isn't as shiny as regular Czech glass pearls. I would call it a "satin" finish. HERE is the page where I found them.

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Aqua & Silver

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Full Labrador" (27000)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Full Labrador" (27000)
• MiniDuo beads "Pearl Coat Aqua"
• 3mm druks "Jet Full Labrador"

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations. These earrings are the "Squares" version of the earring pattern.

In case you haven't noticed, last week I started a new blog called Time for Tangling which is exclusively for my Zentangle tangles and drawings. I moved all of my posts about tangles from here over to my new blog which you'll find HERE. At the moment, the people at Zentangle are running a new video series so I'm blogging about it and will be posting my project as I add to it over the course of the series.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Rouge & Silver

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Full Labrador" (27000)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Full Labrador" (27000)
• MiniDuo beads "Satin Metallic Rouge"
• 3mm druks "Mirror Rose"

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations. These earrings are the "Squares" version of the earring pattern.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Pink Luster & Aztec Gold

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
• MiniDuo beads "Opaque White Ruby Gold Luster aka Dark Pink Luster"
• 3mm druks "Aztec Gold"

When I made the first earring of this pair, I used the bit of gold KO thread that I already had on my needle. It was only enough to make one earring so I used black Nymo D thread to make the second earring. The difference between the earrings is barely noticeable so I didn't bother to remake one of the earrings. I can tell which is which when I look closely at them in my hand but I can't see any difference in any of the photos, can you?

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations. These earrings are the "Squares" version of the earring pattern.

Simply Beads has the Aztec Gold seed beads HERE and HERE.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Copper & Pewter

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Vintage Copper" (1770)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Vintage Copper" (55003)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• MiniDuo beads "Matte Vintage Copper"
• MiniDuo beads "Antique Silver"
• 3mm druks "Antique Silver"

As I've mentioned a few times before, I love the combination of copper and pewter. Today's earrings kind of go with the "Claudia" bracelet below which I blogged about HERE. The copper SuperDuos in the bracelet are quite a bit darker than the MiniDuos in these earrings but that might not be noticeable when I'm wearing them. 

I'm not sure why the 8/0 copper seed beads have a different color number than the 11/0 ones because they are the same color. I'm pretty sure that the real color number is "55003" because that's the number that comes up most of the time with a Google search. That's also the number used by the Czech distributor who makes them. I only used four pewter seed beads and they're in the center of the earring. I used pewter beads because I didn't want to have copper MiniDuos next to copper seed beads.

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations. These earrings are the "Squares" version of the earring pattern.

Simply Beads has the 11/0 copper beads HERE and the 8/0s are HERE. If you make these earrings according to Deb's pattern, you won't need any 8/0 seed beads. I used two of them to connect the jump rings at the top.

 

Circles & Squares Earrings - Lavender & Blue

CIRCLES & SQUARES EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Nickel Plated" (190)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Nickel Plated" (190)
• MiniDuo beads "Dark Sky Blue"
• MiniDuo beads "Saturated Lavender"
• 3mm Melon beads "Opaque Lilac Luster"

I finally found a use for these pretty Melon beads.

You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table or HERE in her Etsy shop. The pattern includes instructions for bracelets and matching earrings in two variations. These earrings are the "Squares" version of the earring pattern.