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.