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Learning by doing – the bracelet edition
Nov. 19th, 2009 04:58 pmA friend commissioned me to make her a bracelet. She wanted something bangly in cool colors and crystal/clear. I hadn't made a proper bracelet before so it presented me with some design challenges. Bracelet 1.0 (the flash washed out the color, but it is actually a nice, dark cobalt):
I made tubular peyote beads an inch long out of #11 beads in cobalt transparent, cobalt transparent matte, and crystal. The silvery beads are from the stash. Strung them on tigertail that is strung end to end with transparent blue seed beads. Crimped the ends and attached the clasp with jump rings. First time using a magnetic clasp and I am in love. Good thing I bought a bunch because I'll be using them! I worked peyote over the crimps and the loops of tigertail to hide them – a pain in the butt, but effective. Result: ok, but not great. The tubular beads are too long and make the bracelet angular instead of round.
On to Bracelet 1.1 (same beads, just better lighting for a truer color):
This time I made the tubular beads ½ inch long. I spaced them with 6mm clear glass druks (that fit part way into the ends of the tube beads, neatly hiding the tigertail and making stringing seed beads on the wire unnecessary), cobalt glass donuts, and some pewter beads from the stash. AND I attached the mag clasp directly to the tigertail this time – no jump rings. Also used crimp cover beads to hide the crimps, for a much smoother look the piece. My friend loves it. Success!
I made tubular peyote beads an inch long out of #11 beads in cobalt transparent, cobalt transparent matte, and crystal. The silvery beads are from the stash. Strung them on tigertail that is strung end to end with transparent blue seed beads. Crimped the ends and attached the clasp with jump rings. First time using a magnetic clasp and I am in love. Good thing I bought a bunch because I'll be using them! I worked peyote over the crimps and the loops of tigertail to hide them – a pain in the butt, but effective. Result: ok, but not great. The tubular beads are too long and make the bracelet angular instead of round.
On to Bracelet 1.1 (same beads, just better lighting for a truer color):
This time I made the tubular beads ½ inch long. I spaced them with 6mm clear glass druks (that fit part way into the ends of the tube beads, neatly hiding the tigertail and making stringing seed beads on the wire unnecessary), cobalt glass donuts, and some pewter beads from the stash. AND I attached the mag clasp directly to the tigertail this time – no jump rings. Also used crimp cover beads to hide the crimps, for a much smoother look the piece. My friend loves it. Success!