Bracelet of the Day: Mystery SuperDuo Bracelet

MYSTERY SUPERDUO BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (8-457D)
• SuperDuo beads "Blue Luster"

The other day, Deborah Roberti posted a photo of a bracelet that she saw on Pinterest. She posted it on her Facebook page in hopes that someone might know where it came from or if there is a pattern available for it. A couple of people posted links to the blogs belonging to the apparent creator but the date on the photo is later than anything that's been posted on the blogs. This is the original photo that Deb found:

Click HERE if you want to read Deb's Facebook post.

So, although I don't have a name for today's bracelet, I did figure out how to make it, or at least how to do the stitch. There's no way of telling how the creator finished the back of the bracelet or what kind of clasp was used. The original is a little too wide for me so I made this 2-row version for myself and it came out kind of cute. I wasn't sure how to finish off the ends of the bracelet and I think my clasp loops need a little work. The loop that I made is fine but I don't care for the three seed beads that I used to cover the holes in the SuperDuos at the ends of the bracelet. After looking more closely at it on my screen, I think what I might do next time is add another 8/0 seed bead in the center on the very end and add an 11/0 seed bead on either side of it.

Once I'd worked out the stitch, it didn't take long at all to make my 2-row bracelet. I see now though that I probably should have used a slightly looser tension to help keep the bracelet a little bit straighter. It seems to have a slight wave to it but at least that's not visible when I'm wearing it.

I haven't got an actual tutorial written up for making this but I did take a bunch of photos as I made my sample. You might be able to work it out by looking at the photos. I really ought to get the steps written down though so that I will remember what I did. 

If anyone knows what this pattern is called, and where it came from, please post a comment.

UPDATE: I posted the tutorial for this pattern HERE.

Suede SuperDuo Beads - They're Back!

I've been checking periodically to see if Aria Design Studio has the "Suede" SuperDuo beads back in stock and tonight I see that they are back and there are more colors than before. Here's the list of colors that are available:

Metallic Suede Blue:

Metallic Suede Brown:

Metallic Suede Dark Purple (I have some of the purple and it looks much more purple than this photo):

Metallic Suede Dark Teal:

Metallic Suede Gold:

Metallic Suede Navy:

Metallic Suede Olive:

Metallic Suede Pink:

Metallic Suede Teal:

Here are some of the projects that I've blogged about that I made with the Suede SuperDuos:

Click HERE to go to Aria Design Studio's Etsy shop.

Bracelet of the Day: Duo Bobble - Purple and Light Bronze

DUO BOBBLE BAND (LIZBETH BAND)

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Amethyst White Luster"
• 3mm pearls "Light Bronze - #39" (Beads One)

Here's a "Duo Bobble Band" in another pretty color scheme. It's going to be a birthday present for a friend but it's alright to post it now because I know that she won't read my blog.

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.

Playing with my beads...some very tiny earrings

I've been playing with a couple more patterns from Deb Moffett-Hall in the past few days. They are both bracelet patterns that include matching earrings. One is called "2012 February Bracelet & Earrings" and the other is "2013 May Bracelet & Earrings". You can find Deb's patterns HERE. Click HERE for the 2012 patterns and HERE for the 2013 patterns. Below you can see what those two patterns look like.

UPDATE 4/28/17: Deb has changed her website and all of her patterns are now available individually and the names of the patterns have changes as well. I also see that she no longer sells any kits. Here are the updated links to these two patterns:

B12FB Pearl RAW Bracelet & Earrings

B13MY Pearl RAW Links Bracelet & Earrings

The "February 2012" earrings call for the same "daisy spacers" as the "Silver Lace" pattern that I blogged about last Thursday, HERE. I only have some bronze ones so I have a very limited selection of seed beads that go well with that color. Here's what I came up with for my first sample earring:

I think it's very cute and very tiny. It's only 3/4" wide and 1" long, not including the wire. In case you're wondering, I did change the loop at the top of mine. Here are the supplies that I used in that sample:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (15-458)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (11-458)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Olivine" (8-458)
• 4mm druks "Champagne Gold Picasso"
• 4mm daisy spacers "Bronze"

Because I wanted to have more color options with this pattern, I tried omitting the daisy spacers in my next sample:

After a little experimentation, I ended up replacing the daisy spacers with 11/0 seed beads and I used two 11/0 seed beads instead of 15/0's between the pearls on the inner ring of beads. That worked quite well but it needs some work. The earring is a little too soft. Apparently the daisy spacers give the earring more structure. I do like that I can pull this earring into more of an oval shape though. I think if I were to just reinforce the stitching a bit more, it might make a nice little earring. Here are the supplies for that one:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (15-457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (11-457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Bronze" (8-457)
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze - #17" (Beads One)

The next pattern that I tried was the "May 2013" pattern. Based on the photo on the pattern, I thought they might be larger earrings than the February ones. Imagine my surprise when they turned out to be about half the size! They're only 1/2" wide and about an inch long. I haven't tried making the bracelet pattern yet but I can tell that it's going to be a very delicate bracelet. Deb sent me the kit for this one but you can also buy just the pattern. I used the beads that came in the kit for my sample earrings.

These are the beads that come in the kit:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat Galvanized "Gold" (15-D4202)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho Permanent Finish Matte Galvanized Starlight "Camel" (557F)
• 4mm pearls "Gold" (Preciosa - #70585)
• 4mm bicones "Crystal Aurum Full" (Preciosa)

I already had some black thread on a needle so that's what I used for my first sample earring (it's the one on the left in my photo). Right away, I saw that black wasn't going to look very nice with the pale gold beads. It shows too much in a few places and gives the beadwork a sort of "dirty" look. It's more apparent in real life than in my photo. The kit came with some white thread but I just happen to have a spool of K.O. beading thread that Dolly Smith sent me that is EXACTLY the same gold color as the beads in the kit. The earring that I made with that thread (the one on the right) is much nicer and neater looking. I don't generally match my thread to the beads I'm using because black is usually fine for most things. However, this unusual gold color does seem to look best with matching thread.

Of course I wanted to try the pattern with some of my own beads and I also tweaked the loop a bit on this one. I'm not sure if I'll make some like this but I like it and might be worth some more experimenting. Here's what I used in that one:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 4mm druks "Opaque Rose & Topaz Luster" 

London's Garden Bracelet - Tweaked Loops

I mentioned HERE in yesterday's post that I made a different clasp loop on the latest bracelet that I made for my sister. I thought that the first one I made looked a little wonky and I also wanted to use a magnet clasp this time. To get the bead details, read THIS post.

Here is a close-up of how I originally made the loop the first time I made this pattern:

And, here is the new, improved loop:

If you recall, I make this pattern using my own single needle method so I don't know if this kind of loop is possible to make with the 2-needle method. I do think it would work if you start with just three seed beads instead of seven as shown in the Beads Magic illustration, which you can see HERE. Well, hopefully by the time you read this, the Beads Magic site is working again. At the moment it's not loading. The original design for this bracelet was published by Preciosa in a PDF file showing various ways to use Twin Beads. You can download the PDF file HERE.

Bracelet of the Day: Double Trestle Bands

DOUBLE TRESTLE BANDS

• 11/0 "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• SuperDuo "Chalk Lazure Blue"
• SuperDuo "Crystal Lazure Blue"
• Half Tila beads "Bronze" (HT-457)
• 3mm druks "Green Marble Luster Picasso"

When my sister "liked" my "London's Garden" bracelet of the day for July 13th on Facebook, I told her that I'd make one for her. Little did she know that I would also make her a matching "Trestle Band" and a pair of matching "Layered Tila Earrings". I ended up changing the clasp loops on the "London's Garden" bracelet and I'll post about that another day.

After making the "Trestle Band", I got the crazy idea to make a second one so that she could "stack" them. However, I wanted to use magnet clasps on them and I didn't think stacking would work well with magnets. That's when I came up with the idea to permanently connect the two bands together so that they only used one clasp for both. Surprisingly, it worked quite well using a couple sizes of jump rings to connect everything.

You may have noticed that I used some "Blue Luster" druks as well as some "Green Marble Luster Picasso" druks in the bracelet and earrings. My main color scheme for the set was "Chalk Lazure Blue", which is the same as "Blue Luster", but I don't have a large supply of that color in 3mm druks. But, "Green Marble Luster Picasso" is almost the same, or close enough, and I have quite a few of that color.

Here are some photos that I took of the single "Trestle Band" before I came up with the idea to connect them:

LAYERED TILA EARRINGS

• 3mm druks "Blue Luster"
• 4mm druks "Blue Luster"
• 15/0 seed beads "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• Tila beads "Bronze" (TL-457)

You can read about the "London's Garden Bracelet" HERE. The "Trestle Bands" pattern is from Deborah Roberti and you can buy it HERE. The "Layered Tila Earrings" pattern is adapted from a free bracelet pattern by MyAmari, which you can download HERE.



UPDATE 6/6/19: All of the previous links to this pattern are dead. You can get the free "Layered Tila Bracelet" pattern HERE on Bead-Patterns.com.

Here is the complete set that I made for my sister:

Oriental Earrings Update

The only things that I changed were the pearls and the kind of thread that I used in this one. I switched from ivory pearls to bronze ones and I used Nymo B instead of Nymo D. Even though I bought both both kinds of pearls at Beads One, I think the bronze ones are slightly smaller. The seed beads didn't fit as snug around the bronze ones and they fit just right around the ivory pearls in my other sample.

I don't use FireLine for making samples, because it's expensive, so I used Nymo B thread instead because it's also very thin. However, I think it's a little too thin for this pattern. I kept weaving around and around the whole thing and it didn't seem to want to tighten up or give the earring much body. I usually like to use thicker thread for some earring patterns for that reason. My first sample had more stiffness but I also had a bit of trouble getting back through some of the beads. I guess I just can't win.

Check my previous post for information about the pattern and YouTube video.

SUPPLIES THAT I USED IN MY SAMPLE:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (11-457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki Duracoat "Pewter" (11-D4222)
• 10mm round crystal "#C12 AB" (Beads One)
• 3mm pearls "Antique Brass - #13" (Beads One)
• 3mm bicones "Purple AB" (from China)
• 5x7mm fire polished drop bead (no info available)