Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
Royal Wedding Bracelet with various beads
Yesterday I blogged HERE about the free pattern by Sandra Halpenny called "Royal Wedding Bracelet". You'll find Sandra's tutorial HERE. The pattern calls for Rulla beads but I wondered if any other kinds of 2-hole beads might work with the design. I tried regular SuperDuo beads, Smooth Outline SuperDuo beads, Mini DiamonDuos, CzechMates Bricks and IOS par Puca beads. As you will see below, some of them worked quite well and others not so much.
I made the sample above with regular SuperDuo beads. They don't work well at all and the motifs don't have a distinct shape to them. They're pretty much a mess.
This sample was made with Mini DiamonDuos. Although the motifs have a different shape than when made with Rulla beads, they do have a nice shape. However, the motifs are unstable because the seed beads tend to flop in front of or behind the points of the DiamonDuos.
The sample above has CzechMates Brick beads. They work quite well with this pattern and the motifs have a nice round shape.
This sample with IOS® par Puca beads looks very similar to the Rulla version. They're just slightly smaller than Rulla beads. I would definitely use these beads to make this bracelet sometime.
These smooth outline SuperDuo beads also work very nicely with this design. I did have to make one tweak though. Instead of adding six 11/0 seed beads on each side, I only added five.
This started out to be a bracelet but I ran out of thread and I also found a thread looped around a bead. It also is made with smooth outline SuperDuos. I'm posting this photo because I thought you might like to see how a bracelet made with just this motif would look. It's delicate and thin enough to make a wrap bracelet if you don't mind using a ton of seed beads.
Supply Emporium has quite a few colors in Smooth Outline SuperDuos. Note that the 15% off coupon code has changed from "15BLOG" to "CRAFTY15".
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- SuperDuo beads "Pastel Pink"
I made the sample above with regular SuperDuo beads. They don't work well at all and the motifs don't have a distinct shape to them. They're pretty much a mess.
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- Mini DiamonDuo beads "Pastel Zircon Blue"
This sample was made with Mini DiamonDuos. Although the motifs have a different shape than when made with Rulla beads, they do have a nice shape. However, the motifs are unstable because the seed beads tend to flop in front of or behind the points of the DiamonDuos.
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- CzechMates Bricks "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"
The sample above has CzechMates Brick beads. They work quite well with this pattern and the motifs have a nice round shape.
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- IOS® par Puca® beads "Opaque White Ceramic Look"
This sample with IOS® par Puca beads looks very similar to the Rulla version. They're just slightly smaller than Rulla beads. I would definitely use these beads to make this bracelet sometime.
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- Smooth Outline SuperDuo beads "Blue Turquoise Picasso"
These smooth outline SuperDuo beads also work very nicely with this design. I did have to make one tweak though. Instead of adding six 11/0 seed beads on each side, I only added five.
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- Smooth Outline SuperDuo beads "Ivory"
This started out to be a bracelet but I ran out of thread and I also found a thread looped around a bead. It also is made with smooth outline SuperDuos. I'm posting this photo because I thought you might like to see how a bracelet made with just this motif would look. It's delicate and thin enough to make a wrap bracelet if you don't mind using a ton of seed beads.
Supply Emporium has quite a few colors in Smooth Outline SuperDuos. Note that the 15% off coupon code has changed from "15BLOG" to "CRAFTY15".
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Royal Wedding Bracelet
This is a new free bracelet pattern by Sandra Halpenny and the pattern is posted HERE on her blog. She also has a YouTube tutorial HERE. I'm always on the look-out for patterns that call for Rulla beads and I love how Sandra has used them here. The Rulla motif is what makes this bracelet special. I might even try making a bracelet with only those motifs.
If you compare the photo on Sandra's blog with the pattern diagrams, you will see that the one in her photo is a variation of the pattern. The pattern tells you to add seed bead connectors between the Rulla and fire polished bead motifs. The one in the photo doesn't have those extra seed beads between the motifs. I made a sample of each version and you can see the difference between them in the photo below:
The version with the connectors is very delicate and airy. The version without the connectors is more compact and and somewhat chunky. It's just as pretty as the other one and I might make one like that sometime. If you make yours that way, you will need a few more Rulla beads and fire polished beads than if you make the other version.
There is a typo in the supply list for the pattern. Sandra used 4mm Czech Cathedral beads but she mentions that you can also use other kinds of beads instead. It says to use 6mm crystals but it should say 4mm. I used 4mm fire polished beads and 6mm beads would have been much too large. I do have some 4mm Cathedral beads but not enough to make this bracelet. They are pretty much the same size as 4mm fire polished beads.
If you need to get some Rulla beads to make this bracelet, Supply Emporium has a very nice selection of colors. Don't forget to use the coupon code CRAFTY15 to get 15% off your order of over $30.
I got both of these fire polished bead colors at Aura Crystals. You will find the turquoise beads HERE and the Rosaline Moon Dust beads HERE.
ROYAL WEDDING BRACELET
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki/Czech "Aztec Gold" (55127)
- Rulla beads "Aztec Gold"
- 4mm fire polished beads "Gold Suede Turquoise"
The only place that I know of to get these hybrid seed beads is Potomac Beads. They have the 11/0 beads HERE and the 8/0 beads HERE. As you can see, the seed beads match the Rulla beads perfectly.
UPDATE: I found out that Simply Beads USA also has the Aztec Gold seed beads. The 11/0 beads are HERE and the 8/0 beads are HERE. By the way, I added the 8/0 beads to the ends of my bracelets. The pattern doesn't call for them.
ROYAL WEDDING BRACELET
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
- Rulla beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"
- 4mm fire polished beads "Rosaline Moon Dust"
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Bracelet of the Day: Nouveau SuperDuo Chain - Dark Coral
NOUVEAU SUPERDUO CHAIN
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- SuperDuo beads "Pastel Dark Coral"
I hadn't made this bracelet pattern in long time even though it's one of my all-time favorites. This is actually an adaptation of a necklace pattern by Cynthia Newcomer Daniel. You can buy her pattern in her Jewelry Tales Etsy shop HERE. When I bought these coral SuperDuos, I knew instantly that I wanted to use them to make this bracelet for myself.
If you'd like to see the other colorways that I've made, read my previous posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. That last article shows how I make my clasp loops.
You definitely must use Miyuki seed beads when making this bracelet pattern because of all the delicate netting. Toho seed beads will work but the netting will look horribly messy because Toho 15/0 beads are very irregularly shaped.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
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