SILKY SQUARES EARRINGS
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- Silky beads "Purple Velvet Matte"
- SuperDuo beads "Purple Velvet"
I made the bracelet in the photo below quite a while ago and blogged about it HERE. The design is by Vivian Rodriguez and there is no pattern available for it that I'm aware of. You can read my original post about her bracelet HERE.
I needed some earrings to go with my bracelet and Deb's "Silky Squares Earrings" are perfect because they have Silky beads and SuperDuos in them just like the bracelet. You can buy Deb's pattern at Around the Beading Table HERE. The pattern also includes instructions to make a matching bracelet. I see that I used Pastel Bordeaux SuperDuo beads in the bracelet so it must be the same color as Purple Velvet because they match the Silky beads and the Purple Velvet SuperDuos that I used to make the earrings.
VIVIAN'S BRACELET
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- 8/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- Silky beads "Purple Velvet Matte"
- SuperDuo beads "Pastel Bordeaux"
I also want to mention that yesterday my blog hit 2 MILLION pageviews since I started it in January of 2014!!! That's pretty darn good for just over two years. I'm having a blast and I hope that you all are too!
I made this set to go with a top that was tricky to match. It looks like it has black flowers and decorative trim on it, but they have a somewhat blue cast. Pure black didn't look right but these slightly blue/black rondelles were the perfect color. I can't tell you where to buy them though because Teejay sent them to me. All I know is that they're Chinese. The bracelet is Deborah Roberti's "Bobble Bangles" pattern which you can buy HERE. If you look very closely at the bracelet, you'll see that I added some maroon accent seed beads. That color is pretty close to the main color of my top.
The earring design is from an Italian YouTube tutorial by lunasulmare1 but the video is no longer online.
BOBBLE BANGLE
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Inside-Color Montana Blue Oxblood Lined" (363)
- 4mm rondelles "Jet Hematite AB" (China)
CIPOLLOTTI EARRINGS
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 4mm rondelles "Jet Hematite AB" (China)
- 2mm Czech pearls "Antique Gold"
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
- DiamonDuo beads "Antique Chrome"
- 3mm melon beads "Turquoise Bronze Picasso"
On February 29th, I mentioned HERE about a pretty bracelet designed by Margareta Gustavsson that I saw on Facebook HERE. I haven't been able to determine if the designer is selling a pattern for it so I figured out how to make it by looking at the photo. It's really very easy to make once you know the stitch. I'll let you know if I hear of a pattern for sale for this bracelet and please let me know if you discover a pattern.
It's cute as a single row bracelet but I went ahead and made a double one. I didn't have enough of any one color of fire polish beads to make a complete bracelet so I used some 3mm corrugated melon beads instead. I think they look very cute with the DiamonDuos.
I made the little sample below while figuring out the stitch but I think that the colors are much too dark. Thankfully I had enough of the Antique Chrome beads left after making my wrap bracelet to make this bracelet.
- 15/0 seed beads "unknown color and brand" (457C)
- 11/0 seed beads Czech "Tarnished Berry" (CZ457B MR)
- DiamonDuo beads "Hematite"
- 3mm fire polished beads "Matte Smoky Topaz Picasso"
You can buy the DiamonDuo beads at Queen City Bead on Etsy HERE.
This will be my last blog post for a while. We have visitors coming for a few days and I need time to clean the house and get ready for their visit. I had to put all of my beading stuff away yesterday and won't have access to it again until later next week. After our company leaves, it will take some time to catch up with my beading and make some more things to blog about. In the meantime, play with your beads and have fun! I'll be back before you know it with more beadwork to inspire you.
DAISY CHAIN BRACELET
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter (D4222)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter (D4222)
- SuperDuo beads "Pearl Luster"
- SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet Picasso"
- 4mm druks "Grey Luster"
This is the bracelet that I made during my test run of Marcie's new "Daisy Chain Bracelet" tutorial. The colors are very subtle but I love the soft gray and violet combination. I had a hard time getting the violet to show up in my photos but I think you can see it best in the photo at the top of this post.
You can buy Marcie's pattern on Etsy HERE.
I just found out this morning that one of my favorite music artists, Loreena McKennitt, is performing here in Houston tonight. It sure would be fun to go to the concert but tickets are awfully expensive. I don't even know if there are any available at this late date. Oh well. I'll just play all of my Loreena albums today while I do some beading and pretend that I'm at the concert.
I love the colors that Puca used in the photo below:
The problem is that I have no idea what color beads Puca used so I looked through my stash and came up with a variety of colors that I thought might be close.
I didn't have any blue seed beads that were even remotely close to the color that Puca used so I had to search for some online. I'm pretty sure that I've got the right color even if none of my other bead colors are actually the same as the ones she used. I found the blue seed beads at Aura Crystals HERE. They're Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F). I only saw one other blue color that was close but the finish wasn't the same as what I see in Puca's photo. These seed beads are a very pretty shade of blue and I'm very glad to have them. I'd like to find this color in 8/0 seed beads but Aura doesn't have any in that size.
I also tried several different seed bead colors for the main metallic color and can't seem to pin down what Puca used. In the end, I will go with Miyuki Dark Bronze because it goes well with the other beads that I will use to make my bracelet.
The bicones are a bit of a mystery too. Assuming that she used Swarovski bicones, Swarovski makes at least three similar shades of blue. They come in Montana Blue, Denim Blue, Indian Sapphire and others. I do have some 3mm Montana Blue bicones and they are kind of similar to the ones in Puca's photo. They'll do in a pinch, but I think they're a little too dark. I also have some Indian Sapphire bicones in 4mm so I made one sample with those even though they're not the right size. I'm pretty sure that is the color that Puca used. It's a little brighter than Montana Blue and looks like the same shade of blue as the seed beads. If I make a bracelet in these colors, I will either have to be content with the Montana Blue bicones that I have or order some 3mm Indian Sapphire bicones. I might actually go with 4mm bicones because I like how they look in the motif. I only have twelve of the 4mm bicones on hand so I'll have to buy some either way if I want to use Indian Sapphire.
I came up with four different SuperDuo colors to try from my stash but none of them look the same as Puca's color. I'm pretty familiar with most of the SuperDuo colors that are available and I'm stumped. I have no idea what she used. My beads are all either too much like copper, silver or gold. Puca's look to me like they're a sort of light matte metallic bronze. The five colors that I tried in my samples below are Crystal Bronze Copper, Gold Matte, Pearl Coat Brown Sugar, Pastel Light Brown Coco and some matte metallic gold/brass SuperDuos from a Gold Iris Matte mix. The Gold Iris Matte ones are my favorite and those are what I plan to use. They give the motif a warmer appearance than the color in Puca's photos and that suits me just fine.
The O-Beads are puzzling me because I've never seen them in a color that's close to the ones in Puca's photo. I currently have them in three colors but none of them are quite right. However, I've decided that I like how the Gold Matte O-Beads look with the SuperDuos that I plan to use.
Read my previous posts about "Rani" HERE, HERE and HERE.
Puca has given me permission to post this pattern for download on my blog. Click HERE to download her free "Rani Bracelet" pattern.
Below are all of my color samples:
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| SAMPLE #1 |
SAMPLE #1:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
- 11/ seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Crystal Bronze Copper"
- O-Beads "Jet Bronze"
This was the first sample that I made and I decided right away that the chocolate seed beads are too dark. I also think that the SuperDuos are too copper and not what Puca used. I do think that this colorway is pretty though.
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| SAMPLE #2 |
SAMPLE #2:
- 15/0 seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
- 11/ seed beads Toho "Transparent Montana Gold Luster" (204)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Crystal Bronze Copper"
- O-Beads "Jet Bronze"
Everything is the same as the first sample but I used a lighter seed bead color. It's also pretty but not the same as Puca's colors.
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| SAMPLE #3 |
SAMPLE #3:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
- 11/ seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Pastel Light Brown/Coco"
- O-Beads "Jet Bronze"
I don't care for this colorway at all. The SuperDuos look too much like silver or gray.
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| SAMPLE #4 |
SAMPLE #4:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/ seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Pearl Coat Brown Sugar"
- O-Beads "Crystal Full Amber"
I really thought that these might be the SuperDuos that Puca used but they also look too much like silver.
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| SAMPLE #5 |
SAMPLE #5:
- 15/0 seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- 11/ seed beads Toho "Antique Bronze" (223)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Gold Matte"
- O-Beads "Gold Matte"
These SuperDuo beads are much more yellowish gold than the color in Puca's photos. I think they're a little too bright.
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| SAMPLE #6 |
SAMPLE #6:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/ seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Czech bicones "Montana"
- SuperDuo beads "Gold Iris Matte"
- O-Beads "Gold Matte"
I knew at once that this is my favorite colorway. I like everything about it except that the bicones are a little too dark. The Gold Iris Matte SuperDuo mixture has several colors in it and I picked out all of the ones in this shade of gold. It seems to be the main color in the mix so I think I have plenty of them to make my bracelet.
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| SAMPLE #7 |
SAMPLE #7:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/ seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Swarovski bicones "Indian Sapphire"
- SuperDuo beads "Gold Iris Matte"
- O-Beads "Gold Matte"
The only difference between this sample and Sample #7 is that I used different bicones. As I mentioned above, I only have this color in 4mm but, as you can see, they work quite well in the motif. Now I have to decide if I will make do with the 3mm Montana bicones or buy some Indian Sapphire bicones. Then, I have to decide whether to use 3mm or 4mm but I'm leaning toward 4mm.
SPILLING THE BEADS, I MEAN BEANS...
Since I wrote this article a few days ago, I've gotten information about the bead colors that Puca used in her examples. It turns out that one of the SuperDuo colors that I used was correct. She used "Gold Matte", which sometimes goes by the name "Crystal Bronze Pale Gold". The confusion was caused by the colors in Puca's photos not being true to life. So, I edited her photo to make the SuperDuo beads match the actual color as closely as I could without negatively affecting the other bead colors too much. The blue beads do look a little too much like turquoise in the edited photo but that couldn't be helped. Below you can see the before and after photos:
I did guess the blue seed bead color correctly and it turns out that Puca used some O-Beads that I've been meaning to buy but haven't gotten around to buying yet. Here is the complete list of the beads that Puca used to make her examples:
- 15/0 seed beads Toho "Bright Bronze" (221)
- 11/ seed beads Toho "Bright Bronze" (221)
- 11/0 seed beads Toho "Higher Metallic Matte Mediterranean Blue" (511F)
- 3mm Swarovski bicones "Indicolite"
- SuperDuo beads "Gold Matte"
- O-Beads "Metallic Mix"
The Indicolite bicones are a very vibrant blue color which you can see below. It's pretty but a little bolder color than I typically use. For that reason, I will probably go ahead and use Indian Sapphire for my bracelet as well as the other bead colors that I mentioned above. Although Puca's color choices are superb, I don't really want to be a copycat and make mine exactly like hers.
Here are the Indian Sapphire bicones:
Puca: Je vous remercie pour votre belle conception.
P.S. - Since writing this article, I have ordered bicones in 3mm and 4mm Indian Sapphire and Indicolite as well as the "Metallic Mix" O-Beads. I also ordered more of the "Gold Iris Matte" SuperDuos. I hope they get here soon so I can get started on my wonderful bracelet.
If you missed February's calendar, you can see it HERE. Read that post for ideas for displaying the calendar. Click on the calendar page to see it full size.
