Bracelet & Earrings of the Day: Coin Bands - Red & Black

COIN BANDS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (4221)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Black" (49)  
• CzechMates 2-hole tile beads "Opaque Red"
• 3mm druks "Jet"

Today's bracelet of the day is the one that I showed you samples of HERE on Friday. I went ahead and made some matching earrings using the bracelet motif. I edited the red beads in these photos as well as I could. Bear in mind that the red still looks quite a bit brighter in these pictures than it does in real life.

Here are some photos of the matching earrings:

You can buy Deborah Roberti's "Coin Bands" pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table.

 

Playing with my beads...Red Beads

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Black" (49)  
• CzechMates 2-hole tile beads "Opaque Red"
• 3mm druks "Jet"
• 4mm druks "Jet"

You've probably noticed that it's not easy to find beads in pretty shades of red. With a few exceptions, we are limited to what is called "Opaque Red" and most kinds of Czech beads come in this color. I call it "Christmas Red" and Deb Roberti calls it "Fire Engine Red". Whatever you want to call it, it's not the sort of red that appeals to me very much. This wouldn't be an issue for me except that I've had requests to make bracelets and earrings with red beads.

So, I just bought some opaque red SuperDuos, fire polished beads in two sizes and some CzechMates tile beads. Thankfully they aren't quite as bright and garish as the photos that I saw online but they're still a very bright red. I've decided to challenge myself to come up with bracelets and earrings that don't look like they should only be worn at Christmas time and that I wouldn't mind wearing myself.

I thought I'd start with the CzechMates and my go-to CzechMates bracelet pattern is Deb Roberti's "Coin Bands". You can buy Deb's pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table.

I made the sample on the far left as the pattern instructs except that I used two seed bead colors. I knew that red and silver alone would look a bit like Christmas jewelry so I wanted to add a touch of black. I purposely went with Toho's 11/0 black seed beads because they're fatter than Miyuki's. I wanted to make sure that the space in the corners of the motifs was nicely filled with black. I also thought they might help keep the curves of silver seed beads around the outside edge more rounded and I think they do help.

I was pretty happy with the way that first sample turned out but I thought that the red was a little overwhelming. So, I came up with the idea of adding some black druks between the motifs to add a little more black and also to spread the read beads a little farther apart. I tried 4mm druks first as you can see in the middle sample. I liked them very much and thought that was what I would do for my final bracelet but decided that I'd better give 3mm druks a try as well. The sample on the far right has 3mm black druks and I like them even better than the 4mm druks. They give the motifs a little breathing room but don't spread them apart as much as the 4mm druks.
 

Claudia & Russian Leaf Set - Jet & Red

CLAUDIA CALI BEAD CHAIN

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• Cali beads "Dark Red aka Blood Red"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Matte"

RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS

• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Black" (DB10)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Dyed Maroon" (DB654)

When I took the photos for my previous post about these Russian Leaf earrings, I forgot to take a photo of them with the bracelet that goes with them. Read about the earrings HERE.

Download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" pattern HERE. You'll find Cali beads at Queen City Bead on Etsy HERE.

 

Russian Leaf Earrings - Juniper Berry & Light Pewter

• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (4221)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (DB1851)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Opaque Dyed Juniper Berry" (DB2135)

The light pewter Delicas give these earrings a bit of sparkle.

Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE. You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs. You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

Below is the color chart that I used to make this design:

 

Russian Leaf Earrings - Navy & Silver

• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Dyed Navy" (DB2143)

These earrings are accented with a simple silver "V". Go to THIS post for the color chart that I used. There is also a PDF file that has instructions for picking up each bead color when making this design. To learn how to make Russian Leaf earrings, see the links below.

Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE. You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs. You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Russian Leaf Earrings - Black & Gold

• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Gold" (4202)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Gold" (DB1832)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Black" (DB10)

This is the other colorway that I showed you a sample of HERE. I had a heck of a time getting the gold beads to look the right color in my photos. The actual color is closest to the photo where they are on my hand. It's a very yellow gold.

Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE. You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs. You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Russian Leaf Earrings - Black & Maroon

• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Black" (DB10)
• 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Dyed Maroon" (DB654)

I blogged the other day HERE about the sample earring that I had made in this colorway. After making the second earring, I painted the backs of them with clear nail polish to make them more rigid. I do that with all of my Russian Leaf earrings now. I bought Sally Hansen brand at Walmart because it was the cheapest kind they had. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the strong nail polish odor dissipated within about an hour. I had previously used an old bottle of Love My Nails brand and it took at least a day for the odor to go away.

Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE. You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs. You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.