Pattern Review: Sara Earrings

I made my very first beaded bezel yesterday by following Sara Spoltore's YouTube video. You can watch it HERE. The actual name of the tutorial is "Beaded Bezel Earrings with Swarovski Cabochon and Seed Beads" but that's way too long to remember so I'm calling them "Sara Earrings". I've had the link to the video saved for ages because I thought they were so pretty. I just didn't have any rivolis/chatons to make them with. I just got a nice assortment of them from Deb Roberti the other day and she sent a couple of dark blue oval chatons that are the size called for in the tutorial.

If you haven't tried Sara's tutorial yet, I highly recommend it. Her instructions are very clear and easy to follow and the pattern is a fun one to make. I enjoyed making this so much that I'm eager to try some other bezel patterns.

Here are the materials that I used for my sample earring:

• 18x13mm crystal chaton "Dark Blue" (almost purple)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Lavender" (TR-15-52/c)
• 3mm bicones "Blue Violet AB" (Chinavoski)

Because the chaton is a bluish purple, I used some bicones that are a combination of blue and violet. The "Opaque Lavender" seed beads were used as accent beads. They aren't very noticeable on my earring because they're so pale, but they made it much easier to keep track of which beads I was going through while following the tutorial. Sara used red accent beads in hers and you can see them quite clearly in her example earring.

These earrings would also be perfect as a pendants.

Bracelet of the Day: SuperDuo Rosette Bracelet - Turquoise Picasso

SUPERDUO ROSETTE BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Olive Brown" (11-457H)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Light Blue Picasso"
• 3mm brass metal beads (from Hobby Lobby)

Yet another version of Sam Wescott's pattern. This time I used metal center beads and only 11/0 seed beads. As you can see, the netting works quite well without 15/0 beads. You can buy this pattern in Sam Wescott's Etsy shop HERE.

Bracelet of the Day: Crystal Picot Bracelet - Mint Green

CRYSTAL PICOT BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olive Brown" (11-457H)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Pale Turquoise Star Dust"
• 6mm fire polished beads "Opaque Pale Turquoise Star Dust"

The pattern is from Deborah Roberti but I made a couple of changes. Instead of using 4mm bicones, I used 4mm fire polished beads for a softer look. I also wanted to tighten up the picots and give them more distinct points. Here is a close-up of the motifs and picots made as Deb wrote the pattern:

Here's a close-up showing how I did mine:

To get the pointy picots, I had to change the thread path a bit. Rather than try to explain what I did, I made a PDF tutorial that explains the changes I made to Step #8 of Deb's tutorial. 

You can download the PDF file HERE. Click HERE to download Deb's pattern, which is now free.

Bracelet of the Day: Waves of Wonder - Hematite & Amethyst

WAVES OF WONDER

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Hematite" (TR-15-81/c)
• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Opaque Lavender" (TR-15-52/c)
• 4mm fire polished beads "Light Amethyst Mirror" (FP4-111 - Nirvana Beads)

 
As I mentioned in one of my other posts about this pattern, it can also be made with smaller beads. It comes out very thin and delicate this way. I liked this color combination so well that I made one for myself and a few for Christmas presents. The fire polished beads that I used are very different. They have metallic silver on one side (the "mirror" part of the name) and clear on the other with hints of amethyst. I bought them locally and I think they're from Nirvana Beads. But, I recently saw some that are similar at Aura Crystals HERE.

The pattern is by Lanai Kinsky and you can buy it HERE. (UPDATE: This pattern is no longer available)

Bracelet of the Day: Canterbury - Brown

CANTERBURY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Caramel Ceylon" (11-593)
• 4mm  fire polished beads "Brown Picasso"
• 6mm fire polished beads "Brown"

I don't have the color numbers or the actual names of the fire polished beads that I used in this bracelet. I bought them at Beadoholique and they don't label them there. They just give them a generic tag with the bar code and price on it. Once again, I added an accent color bead in between the larger motifs. Otherwise I think that the brown and bronze might have been a little boring. The pattern is by Nancy Peterson and you can buy it HERE.

UPDATE 3/9/2021: Nancy is no longer selling her beading patterns but she has graciously allowed me to post her "Canterbury Bracelet" pattern on my blog as a free download. To download a copy, please visit THIS post.

Organization Inspiration - Part 5: My Beading Patterns

 This is the last post in my series on how I organize my beads and beading supplies. I don't have an elegant way to store my pattern folders. They're just stacked on top of a small shelf in the bedroom. The four black file folders hold all of my printed patterns.

On top of those I have two green 3-ring binders which I use as a sort of catalog of my patterns. Whenever I print out a pattern, I create and print out a single page that includes the name of the pattern, the necessary supplies to make that pattern and a photo or two so that I can see what the project looks like. There's also space on the page where I can jot down notes later. At the moment, they're sorted into three categories: Earrings, Necklaces and Bracelets. 

 I find this cataloging system very useful when I'm trying to get an idea for something to make using a particular type of bead. Rather than having to take out all of my patterns, and look through them, I can quickly page through the catalog and pull out the pages for the patterns I might consider using. I file them alphabetically by pattern name in the binders, by the way.

As far as the file folders, these are the contents of each of them:

On the tabs inside the folders, I've got them labeled alphabetically with a few extra sections for idea pictures and a few other odds and ends. As you can see, Deborah Roberti has a whole folder to herself because I've got so many of her patterns. And, those are just her bracelet patterns. I've mixed her earring and necklace patterns in the other folder with the other necklaces and earrings.

Bracelet of the Day: Duo Bobble Band - Pewter & Blue

DUO BOBBLE BAND (LIZBETH BAND)

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 4mm rondelles "Blue-Green AB" (Chinese)
• SuperDuo beads "Pastel Light Brown/Coco"

This is another rondelle version of this pattern and I love the color. Unfortunately, I need to take this one apart and put on a different clasp. I foolishly used a magnet clasp from Walmart and it's too weak. The bracelet keeps falling off my arm.

UPDATE 1/24/18: A free pattern is now available and the new name for this pattern is "Lizbeth Band". Visit THIS post to download the free pattern.