Bracelet of the Day: Cindy Bracelet - Jet with Smoky Vitrail

CINDY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
• 4mm druks "Matte Smoky Topaz AB Vitrail"
• Silky beads "Jet"

I've been stepping outside my color comfort zone lately by trying some beads with unusual finishes on them such as these "Matte Smoky Topaz AB Vitrail" druks. They can be tricky to match with other bead colors but I've been able to come up with some pleasing color combinations with some of them. Here's a photo of the druks so you can see them a little better:

Matte Smoky Topaz AB Vitrail

 
They're a dark matte gray on one side and then there's this cool sort of iridescent pinkish green stuff on the other side. I made sure that I rotated all of the druks so that the interesting side was showing from the front. Whether they look green or pink depends on how the light hits them. The "Apollo Gold" druks that I used in Sunday's bracelet are along the same lines as are the "Matte Apollo Milky Pink" druks in Monday's bracelet.

Apollo Gold

Matte Apollo Milky Pink

 
Read more about this bracelet pattern, HERE.

Bracelet of the Day: Cindy Bracelet - Garden Fire Picasso

CINDY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 4mm druks "Fiesta Sage Green"
• Silky beads "Garden Fire Picasso"

I bought the Garden Fire Picasso Silky beads from GC Supplies Texas on Etsy. Unfortunately, Marcia no longer has this color for sale. The bits of greenish blue picasso on them go very well with the sage green "Fiesta" druks. My friend, Teejay, sent me those from England. She got them from Robin's Beads. I haven't seen the Fiesta line of druks anywhere else online and Robin has them in a lot of pretty colors. Go to the Czech Glass Pearls and Druks section of the site, HERE. The Fiesta line is available in 2mm, 3mm, 4mm and 6mm. While you're there, check out the Czech pearls and druks. Robin has the best color selection I've seen anywhere.


UPDATE: I've since found out that the "real" name for the "Garden Fire Picasso" Silkies may be "Smoke Grey Travertine".

Read more information about this bracelet pattern, HERE.

I might attend my first "Trunk Show" at a local bead shop on Friday or Saturday. They'll be featuring all kinds of Czech beads which is right up my alley.

Bracelet of the Day: Cindy Bracelet - Alabaster Vega

CINDY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
• 4mm druks "Matte Apollo Milky Pink"
• Silky beads "Alabaster Vega Luster"

For information about where this pattern came from, read THIS post. This is the second in a series of nine "Cindy" bracelets that I'll be posting over the next week or so as I make them. I ended up making a different clasp loop for this one to get the length right. I decided that a longer loop would look nicer than extra jump rings. I'm finding more and more opportunities to use the "Montana Gold Luster" seed beads. It's such a pretty color. It seems to be a combination of silver, copper and gold all at once somehow. They're blue beads but I don't think they'd look right in a blue bracelet. I guess I won't know until I try though.

I made three more "Cindy" bracelets last night and I hope to take the photos later today.

Why not buy some Silky beads if you haven't tried them yet? Below is an updated list of bead shops selling them. Let me know if I missed any good ones.

WHERE TO BUY SILKY BEADS:

1960 Beads (local shop)
Aria Design Studio Etsy
Auntie's Beads
Bead Addiction Online
Beadaholique
Beadoholique (local shop)
Beads DirectUSA
BeadsOfBohemia Etsy (Czech Republic)  
BeadsToWeave Etsy
Beadstuff
Charlene's Beads
Fusion Beads
GC Supplies Texas Etsy
GJ Beads (UK)
GoodyBeads
HauteHobby Etsy (Italy)
Off the Beaded Path Etsy
Old Bicycle Shop (UK)
Potomac Bead Company
Red Panda
Robin's Beads (UK)
Rockin Beads
ScaraBeads
The Half Moon Bead Shop (UK)
 

YouTube Beading Tutorial - Spectacular Necklace

Before getting to work on the "Cindy" bracelets that I mentioned earlier, I wanted to try a YouTube video tutorial that I'd had my eye on for a while. I don't want to make a necklace but I thought perhaps the motif might make pretty earrings if it was made with smaller beads. I'm happy to say that I think it will work great. The full size motif would be a little too bulky as an earring but the scaled down version is perfect and just as pretty, as you can see.

You can watch the "Spectacular Necklace" video HERE on Gina's Gem Creations YouTube channel. I hadn't watched any of Gina's tutorials before and she's a very good teacher. You'll have no trouble following along.


UPDATE: Here is what they look like from the back (I forgot to take a photo of them yesterday):

BACK VIEW

I just randomly grabbed some beads that went well together to try the full-size component first. After making that one, I only had to get out some matching 3mm druks and some 15/0 seed beads to make the smaller one. Here's the bead size breakdown for the full size component:

• 8mm druks
• 6mm druks
• 4mm druks
• 8/0 seed beads
• 11/0 seed beads

Here is what you'd need to make the small one:

• 6mm druks
• 4mm druks
• 3mm druks
• 11/0 seed beads
• 15/0 seed beads

Of course you can use pearls or round crystals instead of druks. I used Miyuki seed beads and found that there were some gaps left in the stitching. Gina uses Toho beads for hers. If I make earrings, I'll have to remember to add extra seed beads if I use Miyuki beads. You can't really see the gaps from the front but I had to pull the netting very tight to draw it in on the back. So, I think that my components might look a little more compact and raised up in the middle than Gina's for that reason.

Large Component:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8mm druks "Acid Washed Purple"
• 6mm druks "Matte Iris Purple"
• 4mm Czech pearls "Deep Lilac Satin"

Small Component:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 6mm druks "Matte Iris Purple"
• 4mm Czech pearls "Deep Lilac Satin"
• 3mm Czech pearls "Tahitian"

Bracelet of the Day: Cindy Bracelet - Alabaster Rose Red

CINDY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki Bright Brown Bronze" (457P)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki Bright Brown Bronze" (457P)
• 4mm druks "Apollo Gold"
• Silky beads "Alabaster Red Luster"

You can read the details about where I got the inspiration for this bracelet in yesterday's post HERE. Yesterday I made nine different samples in various colors and this was one of my favorites. I've made two so far and I will try to make the other seven over the next couple of days because I liked all of the color combinations.

Although I used bronze seed beads, a copper clasp seemed to go better with the over all color of the bracelet. The bronze seed beads are an unusual color that I've only seen at Charlene's Beads. They do look very similar to Toho's "Bronze (221)" so you could substitute that color if you don't want to buy the ones I used.

Bracelet of the Day: Cindy Bracelet - Chalk Lazure Blue

CINDY BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "White Opaque Blue Luster" (55054)
• 4mm druks "Blue Luster"
• Silky beads "Alabaster Lazure Blue"

I just finished working on my "Silky Cameo Bracelet" pattern yesterday so I finally have time now to make some new beadwork to post here. This bracelet is one that I've been planning to make for a while but I got busy with other projects. I adapted this from a pattern that was in the April/May 2015 issue of Bead & Jewellery Magazine. The pattern that gave me the idea is called "Petals & Pearls Bracelet" by Donna Sanders. I used the "Chain Variation" of the pattern which was intended to be used as the chain in a necklace. I think it makes a perfect little bracelet.

I named my version "Cindy Bracelet" after my sister. It's just the sort of style that she likes. I replaced the SuperDuos with Silky beads. Although the bracelet is quite thin, it has a nice weight because of the heavy Silky beads.

I needed to make some earrings that were small enough to go well with this dainty little bracelet. "SuperDuo Flower Chain Earrings" is my go-to pattern when I need to make some small earrings quickly. You can download the free pattern from THIS post or from the list of free beading patterns on the right side of my blog. 

Although there aren't any SuperDuos in the bracelet, these are the same color as the Silky beads and the druks in the bracelet. Just as I did with the bracelet, I used Miyuki "hybrid" 8/0 seed beads to attach the jump ring because Miyuki doesn't make 8/0 beads in the metallic chocolate color. I bought them from Haute Hobby on Etsy. That's the only place where I've seen that color.

SUPERDUO FLOWER CHAIN EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "White Opaque Blue Luster" (55054)
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Lazure Blue"

Beading News - Brocade Bracelets pattern

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and haven't abandoned my blog. I've been working like mad to get my "Silky Cameo Bracelet" pattern ready to post here for download. I posted a preview of it HERE. This one is taking much longer than usual and I still have to make a couple more example bracelets so that I'll have photos to post on my blog. Because I've spent so much time on this, I haven't had time to bead anything else in ages. I'll probably have to put another day or two into this pattern and then I hope to make some other projects that I can blog about. My plan is to post the free bracelet pattern on July 10th.
 
Deborah Roberti has a new pattern for sale at Around the Beading Table. It's called "Brocade Bracelets" and you can buy the pattern HERE. There are two versions of the bracelet; one is a narrower band and the other is a wide cuff bracelet.

Enough chit-chat. I'd better get my household chores done so that I can get back to work on Silky Cameo.