Bracelets Made of Earrings

For a light evening beading project I chose to make this lovely earrings called Mia from BeadsMagic

I was so pleased with how it turned out and how easy and fast it was to make one square so I just kept making them until I had enough for a bracelet. I have rather thick bones so I needed 6 squares for my hand. For my friend's hand I only had to use 5 squares. I have tried different clasp solutions with every one of them to not be to repetitive.

My favourite one is the first one I made - bronze with clear bicones.

Don't know what it is about it but I just LOVE how it turned out. There is something about it what gives it this wow factor. Is it the metallic bronze beads? Or the clear bicones? I have never used any of them for any other project before but now it's gonna be one of my favourite combinations.

Gold and green.

After finishing the first one I was truly convinced that metallic beads with any bicone would give me this WOW effect - I was wrong! My expectations were so high and the gold bracelet didn't deliver. Now, what if I would replace the bicone for some lighter colour? Would that be a solution?

Pastels.

I have shown few colour combinations to a friend of mine and she encouraged me to continue with this blue/green/peach mix. I personally have mixed feelings about it, but I learn to be more open minded about the accessories I make. Something I like might not necessary be also nice for others and vice versa.

Which colour combination is your favourite?

Simple Seed Bead Roses

So much happened in my beaded adventure since last year. I don't even know how to continue this blog now after missing so many great opportunities for all the craft related things to share. I'll just mention that I have been helping out in a hand made jewellery shop in my area and that got me plenty of experience into jewellery making. I been working there with plenty of different materials but in my heart I'm still a seed bead enthusiast and beadwaving brings me the most satisfaction.

I have mountains of 11/0 Czech seed beads which I impulsively bought last year at the beginning of my adventure. I haven't had chance to do much about them for ages and subconsciously I slowly started to move onto more expensive, but more regular in size, Japanese seed beads. But before I switch completely first I need to use up all those beads I already own.

That's where all this roses are coming from.

Silver lined

Matt 

Metallic

Clear, pink lined 

Opaque

Pattern from www.juliatraverso.blogspot.co.uk

Which flower is your favourite?

I still can't decide if this last purple beads are so spotty on purpose to create this stone looking effect or is it just some bad batch. I have got grey beads like this as well so maybe it's actually purposely? Whatever it is not it gave me as idea for a rope necklace on which I'm working at the moment.

Pendant Rose

Unfortunately dear friend of mine have to leave the country we live in for an unspecified period of time. I wanted to give her something personal, something what would remind her of me. She doesn't wear much of jewellery so I chose a very simple pattern of a rose. She doesn't wear too much colour, but black rose could be read as a symbol of death and farewell, which is not too positive of an emotion (and also you probably wouldn't be able to see it on her almost-always-black clothing). Blue rose symbolises the impossible. I wish her to face all of the impossible, and one day come back here.

Tip for today: The secret of making a good gift for someone is to consider all sides of it and its relation to a gifted person. I know it's not a secret, but I believe sometimes people forget how important the reasons are.

Pattern from www.juliatraverso.blogspot.co.uk

Bracelet Peles

This are another of the hurry-up bracelets I made for my friends. I call them the Mermaid and the Princess. For the Mermaid I followed the exact pattern with 7 large beads and 5 fringes on each. But for the Princess I had only 6 large beads which were much wider, so I add one fringe more per each bead. Also, I made those fringes couple beads longer than the pattern said, just to make them vary even more.

Today's tip: Don't be afraid to alternate the design depending to your needs.

Pattern from beadsmagic.com

Necklace Dita

I've started this one right after the first delivery of beads and crystals. Lime green is recently my thing (together with the orange-pink, but can't really find any beads this colour!) but even then it took me a while to choose base colour. I've been worried that any kind of silver lining, or pearl effect, with a combination of this many crystals, might end up looking too glamour. I wanted to achieve more 'everyday' look so I went for this translucent green. Bicones are I believe grey, with this opalescent effect, thought next to the seed beads they appear quite greenish themselves! Magic.

Today's tip: It's good to think through the bead combination of a planned project. Not only based on colours, but also on a style which you're willing to achieve. As more experience you get as easier it will be to imagine the final effect.

Pattern from beadsmagic.com

Necklace Cranberry

While waiting for a large seed bead and crystal delivery from all over the Internet my bead choices were rather limited. For this simple necklace I ended up reusing some opalescent plastic beads from my old bracelet. I have combined them with medium blue Japanese seed beads size 11/0 and  few transparent Czech seed beads with neon yellow lining. I absolutely love the colour combination, it looks so vibrant and modern. I just regret that the crystals are plastic and don't have as much shine as I would like them to have. Well, I would just have to make another one.

Today's tip: Japanese seed beads are much more consistent in size than the Czech seed beads.

Pattern from: beadsmagic.com

Necklace Flame

As it's my first bead-weaving necklace ever I didn't really know what to expect. I'm rather good with crafts, I can work my way with needle and I've got an eye for a detail, so I wasn't worried at all. It probably took me around 6 hours across two days, but after I put the clasps I couldn't be happier! There it was, my first beaded necklace. I used entirely 11/0 Czech seed beads for it. Silver lined gold beads were the ones which I had the most at that time, that's why I chose them as my basic colour. I was very surprised how shiny it became on the thread, in the baggy it looked much more toned down, slightly brownish. Finished necklace reminds me of Indian jewellery.

Today's tip: Never underestimate your silver lined beads!

Pattern from beadsmagic.com