Playing with my beads...New SuperDuos

Yesterday I got to try out a bunch of new SuperDuo colors. I chose some of my favorite patterns to make the samples. All of the SuperDuos are from Aria Design Studio on Etsy.

Before I show you the samples, I want to mention that quite often Aria's bead photos are much darker than the beads look in reality. One of the colors that I just got, but didn't use in any of the samples below, turned out to be identical to the color that I blogged about on December 3rd HERE. I made the "Persian Fans Earring" sample with some "Crystal Grey Rainbow" SuperDuos that I had just bought at a local shop. The ones that I got from Aria are called "Bronze Iris Matte" and I had no idea they would turn out to be the same beads. Here is the photo from Aria's shop:

BRONZE IRIS MATTE

And here is how they look in real life:

BRONZE IRIS MATTE

I'm actually not disappointed that they are the same color because I love it and will use them for something. Now for the samples...

POLYCHROME ORCHID AQUA

DUO BOBBLE BAND (LIZBETH BAND)

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Orchid Aqua"
• 3mm druks "Bronze" (1)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Mid Amethyst Luster" (2)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Stone Amethyst Luster" (3)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Matte Amethyst Bronze" (4)
• 4mm rondelles "Opaque Purple - #C90 AB" (5)
• 4mm rondelles "Violet AB" (6)
• 4mm rondelles "Mauve" (7)
• 4mm druks "Amethyst" (8)

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.
 

OPAQUE GREEN SENEGAL MATTE

CHALK REMBRANDT

LORETTA EARRINGS VARIATION (based on THIS pattern)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Green Senegal Matte"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Rembrandt"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Brown Picasso"

GREEN IRIS MATTE

QUICK SUPERDUO BRACELET (based on THIS pattern)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Green Iris Matte"
• 3mm druks "Bronze"

GOLD COPPER IRIS MATTE

SUPERDUO ROSETTE BRACELET (buy the pattern HERE)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• SuperDuo beads "Gold Copper Iris Matte"
• 3mm druks "Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster"
• 3mm druks "Bronze Antique" (Nirvana Beads)
• 3mm druks "Jet Matte"

OPAQUE GREEN LUSTER IRIS

 SUPERDUO ROSETTE BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Green Luster Iris"
• 3mm druks "Dark Travertin"
• 3mm druks "Green Luster"
• 3mm druks "Jet Copper Picasso"

POLYCHROME COPPER ROSE

GREEN TURQUOISE SENEGAL MATTE

POLYCHROME BLACK CURRANT

NOUVEAU SUPERDUO CHAIN BRACELET (buy the pattern HERE)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Copper Rose"
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Montana Blue/Oxblood Lined" (TR-11-363/c)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Green Turquoise Senegal Matte"
• 3mm druks "Jet Copper Picasso"

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Black Currant"
• 3mm druks "Jet"

More Persian Fans Earrings Samples

I tried several more color combinations with this pattern from Extrano's Etsy shop. You can buy the pattern HERE. I'm finding that it's a bit tricky coming up with pairs of SuperDuo and fire polished bead colors that compliment the design. Some colors seem to blend to much with the seed beads and the result is a little boring. I also tried to avoid having one color stand out so much that the rest of the beads become invisible. That first sample earring that I posted about the other day HERE seems about perfect in regard to the way the colors play together. I also like a couple of the samples below, in particular the rose topaz one and the one with the black SuperDuos.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm druks "Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Halo Regal"

I tried replacing the fire polished beads with druks in this sample. They work but they cause the stitching to bulge a bit. I don't mind that so much because it gives the earring a dimensional look. What I don't like about this sample is that the purple beads don't show up very well next to the bronze seed beads. This one is too boring.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Bronze Picasso"

I like this sample. Although there's not a lot of contrast between the colors, this would make a good all-purpose earring that would go with a lot of outfits.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Transparent Green Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Green Luster"

Although the colors are pretty, I don't really like the way the pale green SuperDuos stand out so much.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Antique Silver-Nickel" (464A)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Antique Silver-Nickel" (464A)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Transparent Amethyst Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Metallic Suede Pink"

I love the color of these SuperDuos and I think I like this earring well enough. Apparently the silver seed beads are fatter than the bronze ones because they made the earring much wider than the other samples. It's also very flat.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Amethyst Crystal Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

This is one of my favorite samples. The colors are subtle but they show up pretty well. This one came out slightly dimensional but I like the way it looks.

Video Tutorial: Orecchini con Cipollotti (Earrings with Rondelles)

This video tutorial from lunasulmare1 is in Italian and it's a little difficult to follow. Several times her hands move off the screen just when she's adding beads. Despite these issues I was able to make a few sample earrings. I made the first sample using the bead sizes that she uses. It's a HUGE earring and much too large for me. It would make a very pretty pendant but I didn't like how it banged against the side of my neck when I had it on as an earring. If you want to give it a try, you can watch the video HERE.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the video is no longer available.

Below is a photo of the original earrings from the video:

My challenge was to see if I could scale down the beads and make a much smaller version of the earring. It was easy enough to scale down the seed beads and the 6mm rondelles but I wasn't sure what to use in place of the 3mm rondelles. I went with some 2mm pearls and they worked very well and I love how they look. After making an initial test earring, I decided to change the way the top loop is added. Her method didn't work all that well with the smaller beads. My loop still looks the same from the front but I left off the extra beads that she adds on the back that I think may be to help support the heavy beads in her larger earrings.

The large earring is 1 3/4 inches long and 1 1/4 inches wide. The smaller version is 1 1/4 inches long and an inch wide.

Here is my first sample with the larger beads made as directed by the video:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm rondelles "Black-Nickel #C36" (Beads One)
• 6mm rondelles "Black-Nickel #C36" (Beads One)

Here is a completed pair of these earrings:

The two samples below are the smaller version of the earring. You might notice that my "stars" are upright in the small earrings. That's because I forgot to pay attention to where I added the top loop. Oops! It works fine that way but the look is slightly different.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 2mm pearls "Antique Gold"
• 4mm rondelles "Black-Nickel - #C36" (Beads One)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 2mm pearls "Antique Gold"
• 4mm rondelles "Opaque Purple AB - #C90 AB" (Beads One - not available online)

Dangle Earrings

The other day I saw some pretty earrings in an Etsy shop but there was no tutorial available for making them. The shop is Sleeping Cat Designs and apparently the earrings were designed by the owner, Peg. She's selling the earrings ready-made HERE.

I really like the shape of the earrings so I challenged myself to figure out how they were made. I did come up with a method that works but I also changed a few things. The first thing I needed to do was decide the best place to start making the earrings and I decided to start in the center. I recognized the center motif from Sam Wescott's "SuperDuo Rosette Bracelet" so I started from there by making the same motif as Sam's pattern and then gradually added the beads around it.

I decided to leave off the dangle at the bottom and I couldn't make a bicone fit in the center of mine so I used a 3mm druk instead. Again, that's the way that Sam makes her motif so I knew it would work. I don't like leaving empty SuperDuo holes showing on the edges of my beadwork so I adding a seed bead "border" all the way around mine. The result is a bit different than Peg's but still a cute earring.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm druks "Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet Dark Travertin"
• SuperDuo beads "Umber Copper Picasso"

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 3mm druks "Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Aquamarine Dark Travertin"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Yellow Copper Picasso"

Bracelet of the Day: Melanie Bracelet

MELANIE BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Brown Bronze" (457P)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Grey Rainbow"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Matte Brown Iris"

This started out as a variation of the "Duo Bobble Band" pattern but I ended up embellishing it to the point where it no longer looks much like "Duo Bobble Band" at all. So, I've decided to give it its own name and I will write up the instructions for it when I have the time. I might even post the pattern for download here but if I do it won't be until after the holidays.

I love the way that this bracelet turned out. It's very soft and flexible and I think that may be due to the semi-matte seed beads that I used. For that reason, I think the pattern needs more testing to make sure that it will work well with other kinds of beads. As a test, I did make one small sample using shiny metallic seed beads. I also tested to see if 3mm druks would work in place of the fire polished beads. Below is my sample and a list of the beads that I used to make it:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Aquamarine Dark Travertin"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Smoky Topaz Luster"
• 3mm druks "Smoky Topaz Luster"

I used druks on the left side of the sample and fire polished beads on the right side. The stitching seems a little tighter and more crowded with shiny seed beads which caused the seed beads in the center of each scallop to pop out a bit, especially over the druks. This also causes the edges of the scallops to curl over a little, at least with druks. I don't want to omit that seed bead though because it gives the scallops stability. I also don't want to make the scallops any larger so it looks like the best option is to use fire polished beads. I might also try replacing the center 11/0 seed beads with 15/0 beads and see if that give more room for the druks/fire polished beads. I have a feeling that probably won't work well though. I think it might turn the scallops into points and that's not the look I'm going for.

This bracelet takes a lot of thread and I had to use Nymo B because of the number of passes through some of the beads. FireLine would also work but it would be very expensive to use 5 yards or more of it. I started with a 4-yard length and then added another 2-3 yards to add the embellishment. Bear in mind that I was making this bracelet for myself so it's a very small size. I made this one 6 inches and it's a little loose on my wrist but, if I'd left off a motif, it would have been too tight. Obviously it would take a lot more thread for a larger bracelet.

 

Persian Fan Earring Selfie

This is just a short post to show you how the earring looks when I'm wearing it. This should give you a better idea of the size of it than you got just seeing it flat on my beading mat.

You can buy Extrano's "Persian Fans Earrings" pattern in her Etsy shop HERE. And, in case you didn't read my previous post, here are the beads that I used to make this sample earring:

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Grey Rainbow"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Matte Iris Brown"

Persian Fans Earring Sample

Last night I bought a new earring pattern from Extrano's Etsy shop. HERE is a link to the "Persian Fans Earrings" pattern. I used a scrap of thread that wasn't long enough to reinforce the beadwork at all so it's a little loose in spots. Overall, I'm happy with the results and I especially like the bead colors that I used. I just bought the "Crystal Grey Rainbow" SuperDuo beads the other day on sale and I think they work very well with the other beads. The earrings are a little larger than I usually wear but the design and shape is so pretty that I couldn't resist buying the pattern. Here are the beads that I used:

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Metallic Bronze Antique Gold" (225)
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Grey Rainbow"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Matte Iris Brown"

By the way, it looks like I'm finished with my Christmas beading!!! Although I can't post what I've been working on until after Christmas, I should have a bit more time to play with my beads and share my experiments here on my blog.