Free Beading Pattern - Honeysuckle Bracelet

HONEYSUCKLE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• DiamonDuo beads "Chalk Lumi Purple"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Olive Picasso"
• O-Beads "Opaque Green Luster" 

I first blogged HERE about a birthday bracelet that Teejay designed for me way back in 2016. At the time, this and the other bracelets that she sent me didn't have names. I later gave each of them a flower name and I called this one "Honeysuckle". I have already published free patterns for "Blue Bell", "Clover" and "Ivy" and you can find links to them on the right side of my blog under Free Beading Patterns.

You can make this design as a bracelet, an ankle bracelet and it works very nicely as a necklace. My friend, Jean Callaghan, made the lovely necklace below.

Click HERE to download the free pattern.
 
If you like this pattern, please consider making a voluntary donation through PayPal using the DONATE button on the right.
 
NOTE: I don't mind if you sell the projects that you make with my patterns, but please mention that you got the pattern from Linda's Crafty Inspirations. Please contact me for information about teaching this or any of our other patterns in a class.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• DiamonDuo beads "Pastel Blue Zircon"
• SuperDuo beads "Pastel Burgundy"
• O-Beads "Oxidized Bronze Berry"
  

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
• DiamonDuo beads "Chalk Lumi Blue"
• SuperDuo beads "Pastel Bordeaux aka Purple Velvet"
• O-Beads "Oxidized Bronze Chartreuse"
  

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• DiamonDuo beads "Turquoise Shimmer"
• SuperDuo beads "Red Luster"
• O-Beads "Metallic Antique Gold"
  

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• DiamonDuo beads "Coral Shimmer"
• SuperDuo beads "Steel Blue"
• O-Beads "Jade Picasso"

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• GemDuo beads "Chalk Beige Lumi"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Blue Luster"
• O-Beads "Chalk White Lila Vega Luster"

 

Arabesco Earrings - Three Samples

I previously blogged about Deb Roberti's "Arabesco Earrings" HERE and HERE. Although I love all three of these colorways, they don't match any of my clothes so I will take them apart and use the beads to make something else. Below are the bead lists for the earrings in the photo above from left to right.

LEFT EARRING

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
• Paisley Duo beads "Polychrome Mix Berry"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Transparent Amethyst Luster"

CENTER EARRING

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• Paisley Duo beads "Polychrome Plum"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Polynesian Pink Olive"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Amethyst Valentinit"

RIGHT EARRING

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• ZoliDuo beads "Alabaster Lila Vega"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Amethyst Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Stone Pink Luster"

You can buy Deb's "Arabesco Earrings" pattern HERE.

 

Peyote & Brick Stitch Empress Earrings Sample

PEYOTE & BRICK STITCH EMPRESS EARRINGS

• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Light Bronze" (DB22L)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Matte Glazed Anjou Pear" (DB2290)
• 4mm Czech bicones "Chrysolite Celsian"

Read THIS post for more information about Bronze Pony's video tutorial for making these earrings. I also blogged about them HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. I really like this colorway but it doesn't go with any of my clothes.

 

Odds & Ends - Earrings #233 Samples

As you can see, I'm trying out a new photo background today. I had a small amount of money left on a Hobby Lobby gift card which was enough to buy a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper. This one caught my eye and I really like the colors on it. It obviously won't replace my standard background paper because it is a little bit dark and busy but I thought it was just the thing for these sample earrings. Below you can see them on my old background for comparison. The greenish beads in the center earring are a little washed out but the other colors came out quite true to life. I also think that the beads pop a bit more than in the other photo but that may be due to the lighting at the time I took the photos rather than the background paper.

I followed THIS "Earrings #233" YouTube video tutorial by Lor and Beads. I had high hopes for these earrings because they are unique and cute but they come out a little too wonky for my liking. I had pretty good luck with the earring on the far right in the photo but the other two are a bit of a mess. I've decided not to bother making more of them. Do check out her other videos. She has some others that I will be blogging about in the future.

As you will see when you look over my bead lists below, I tried both Toho and Miyuki seed beads. The sample that came out nice has Miyuki beads but I had just as much trouble with Miyuki as with Toho in the other two samples so the brand of beads isn't the issue here.

SAMPLE 1

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Denim Blue Metallic Matte" (511F)

SAMPLE 2

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Union Opaque Blue Luster" (65431P)

SAMPLE 3

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Matte Metallic Bronze" (2006)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Matte Metallic Bronze" (2006)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Hybrid Opaque Turquoise Blue Picasso" (4514)

Winter Blossom Earring Sample

WINTER BLOSSOM EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 4mm druks "Goldenrod Picasso"
• SuperDuo beads "Yellow Dark Travertin"

Now that life is pretty much back to normal since my husband's bicycle accident, I'd really like to get back to beading again. So, the other day I started sorting through some beading projects that I was planning to work on before all of my plans went out the window back in March. I found a few sample earrings I had made using various patterns that I probably won't make the mates to. I would like to recycle the beads by taking them apart. Before doing that, I took photos of the samples to show them to you today and in my next few posts.

I made this sample earring by following THIS free to watch "Winter Blossom Earrings" video by  JRPDesigns. She also has the pattern for sale HERE in her Etsy shop. It's a cute earring but I have so many other things that I need to work on first. I may revisit this pattern in the future.

Life update...

I'm sorry for not posting anything in so long. I had actually been beading a lot of color samples and was about ready to start making some bracelets to blog about when all of my creative plans went out the window. At at the beginning of the month, my husband went for a short bicycle ride around the neighborhood one evening and ended up in the hospital after falling off his bike. He hit his head, was knocked unconscious and woke up in the hospital. I was getting very worried when he wasn't back after dark and later got a call from the hospital to let me know that he was there. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken hip, a laceration on his forehead as well as other more minor injuries. Thankfully a man saw him fall and called an ambulance.

After spending two weeks in the hospital, my husband finally came home last weekend. He will be alright but now we're facing weeks of in-home therapy for him and he has to avoid putting weight on his bad leg for the next month or so. So, I've had to put my beading stuff away for the time being and I won't have time for beading or drawing for a while.

 

Rattan Band - Ivory & Bronze

RATTAN BAND

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Black" (49)
• GemDuo beads "Chalk Beige Lumi"

Once again, I used Toho seed beads for the accent color because I only have matte black in Miyuki beads. I really wanted to use red for the accent color but I don't have any seed beads in opaque red.

You can buy Deb's "Rattan Band" pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table.

 

Rattan Band - Turquoise Bronze & Pewter

RATTAN BAND

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222))
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Turquoise Blue Marbled" (1207)
• DiamonDuo beads "Turquoise Bronze"

For today's "Rattan Band", I decided to take a chance and use Toho seed beads for the accent color because I didn't have a matching Miyuki color. I was lucky that these particular beads didn't cause any issues and I don't recommend using Toho seed beads for the main color. They are too big and will cause the beadwork to do crazy things. 

In case you are wondering why I have listed 8/0 seed beads in today's and yesterday's bead lists, that's because I added one on each end of my bracelets for attaching a jump ring for the clasp.

You can buy Deb's "Rattan Band" pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table.

 

Editing Beadwork Photos

The bracelet that I blogged about HERE yesterday was particularly challenging to get the bead colors to look correct. I thought you might be interested in seeing how a photo looks when it comes out of my camera vs how it looks after I do the color correction and other editing. When you see how bad the "before" photo looks below, bear in mind that it was the best of the six shots that I took of that pose. I generally take four to six shots of each of the poses and have to choose the ones that I think look the best.

Below is the original photo as it looked straight from my camera. Note that I already cropped and resized the photo.

And, here is how it looks after I used all sorts of filters and tools in Paint Shop Pro to make it look as close to realistic as possible:

By the way, I made another "Rattan Band" yesterday in a very pretty colorway. I will blog about it as soon as I am able to take photos of it. 

Rattan Band - Matte Ultra Green & Bronze

RATTAN BAND

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Matte Metallic Bronze" (2006)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Matte Metallic Bronze" (2006)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Matte Metallic Tarnish" (2091)
• GemDuo beads "Ultra Green Luster Matte"

I finally got around to trying Deb Roberti's "Rattan Band" pattern. I love how this bracelet feels. It is soft and flexible as you can see in the photo below. I have two or three more colorways that I'd like to try with this pattern. 

You can buy Deb's "Rattan Band" pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table.