Bracelet of the Day: Bobble Band Variation - Champagne & Bronze

BOBBLE BAND VARIATION

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki “Metallic Matte Bronze” (11-2006)
• 11/0 seed beads “Transparent Gold Lined” (from Deb)
• 6mm fire polished beads “Champagne” (Nirvana)
• 3mm fire polished beads “Crystal Twilight”

I wanted to make a bracelet that would go with the "Little Dots" earrings that I posted about on March 31st. This pattern was perfect because it uses the same, or similar, fire polished beads, and the motifs have a similar sort of diamond shape. I added 11/0 accent beads above each large fire polished bead to add some sparkle. Otherwise I think that the bracelet would have looked too dull. I don't have the color information for those seed beads. They're a clear "crystal" color with a pale gold metallic lining. Once again this is one of Teejay's adaptations of Deborah Roberti's "Bobble Bangles" pattern.

Bracelet of the Day: Loretta Bracelet - Matte Brown Iris

LORETTA BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (11-D4222)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (15-D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (8-D4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Matte Brown Iris"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Matte Brown Iris"
• 4mm and 6mm jump rings
• Lobster claw clasp

Once again, today's bracelet was inspired by the bracelet that is posted on the Orsi gyöngyei blog HERE. She used the free Loretta Earring pattern posted HERE to make a bracelet by connecting the motifs with jump rings through 8/0 seed beads. I made this bracelet and earrings set for a Christmas present last year.

I may need to take a little break from my Bracelet of the Day posts pretty soon because I've nearly run out of photos to post. It looks like I've got around 20 more bracelets left to post about. I've made quite a few more bracelets that I haven't posted about but I don't have good photos of them and I've long since taken them apart. Once I've posted all the bracelets that I've got photos of, I'll only post a Bracelet of the Day when I've got a new one to post.
 

Bracelet of the Day: Tallulah Tila Variation - Bronze & Violet

TALLULAH TILA VARIATION

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki “Dark Bronze” (11-457D)
• Tila beads “Matte Metallic Bronze”
• SuperDuo beads “Opaque Violet Dark Travertine”

This time I left off the netting that goes across the SuperDuo beads for a lighter, more airy look. I love the soft, muted colors of this one:

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)