Flower Power Bracelet - Day 3

Imagine my surprise when I looked down at the bracelet on my arm when I was out shopping today. The center flower looked like a water lily. The five inner petals absolutely refused to stay fanned out and stood right up, surrounding the montee in the center. So, is this a new variation and is it something I can replicate, or is it just a lucky accident? Doesn't matter, because I like it.

I decided that I wanted to show a bit more about the fringe to make clearer the way I work. I created about an inch and a half of the 3-bead peyote with a doubled thread. I realized that I forgot to explain how I get to a single thread. No big deal. I simply make a couple of overhand knots, then clip one of the threads.

Here are some of the fringe elements in my bracelet. This is how it looks before I really get into the whole process. I have a tendency to overdo, although I like to think of my fringe as exuberant rather than overdone.




As a comparison, the photo on the right shows the very first segment I did on the bracelet itself.


I added the two fringe that straddle the middle bead to the sample. Hope this helps. There will be a lot more fringe ideas in the days to come.



Finally, here's a closeup of the picot that is worked along both edges.


Several of my students and friends have asked me about buying beads for the embellishment--the flowers, the leaves, the gemstone chips, the pearls, etc. (I assume these people are probably new to beading because all I have to do is start rummaging through my stash which has been growing for better than 15 years.) Here's my advice to them: start checking out these various types of beads when you're in your local bead store, looking for any strings that have a mixture of colors, or iris or aurora borealis finish which will often enhance very different color schemes. Then there are tubes that are color mixtures of drops, triangles, and cubes. When Suza Beads was still in business, they used to have a huge bowl of beads from which we could buy a small plastic bag full for a very reasonable price. Of course, we weren't allowed to pick out just the beads we wanted, but Nancy never blindfolded us so we always got a great selection. I haven't looked on E-Bay or Etsy, but I'd bet you could find some nice mixtures there for a very reasonable price. And don't forget to check beads leftover from other projects. It's expensive to buy five or six strands just to get the six or seven of each bead that you want to use. There's also no rule about using a large variety of beads either; it's just what I like.

Flower Power Bracelet - Day Two

I've made and sewn the flowers to the bracelet base and now I'm ready for the embellishments/fringe between the flowers. I like my fringe to be very generous and varied, so the first thing I do is start gathering the beads I need. I use a lot of different beads--flowers, drops (all sizes), pearls (top-drilled and keishi), petals, lentils, cubes, triangles,gemstone chips, metal rounds, charms, margaritas, crystals, and on and on. Since I usually repeat the same beads between each flower, I throw at least seven to twelve of each choice into the mix. Then I stir them all up together like I have done in this photo. I have a good mixture of texture (crystal to matte), color (light to dark), and size. Double-click on the photo to see all the different possibilities and the proportion of each.

The fringe is placed through the center bead in the three-bead peyote base, working fringe on both sides of this bead. My reasoning for this placement is as follows: the fringe is supported by the beads on either side of the center bead and the center bead is full of thread so the fringe thread won't be rubbing against the beads (one very good reason why fringe thread breaks). I usually use one color of 15/0 beads for the fringe. For this bracelet I was going to use a light blue, but realized that it wouldn't do anything for the pink to violet flowers, so I switched to a 15/0 cut silver bead.

I bring the thread from right to left through bead #1, string on seven to nine 15/0 beads, a flower bead, a 2mm crystal, skip the crystal and take the needle down through the flower and the 15/0s and back through bead #1. Put on seven to nine beads, a disk bead, a spacer, a 2mm crystal, skip the crystal and come back down through the 15/0s before taking the needle through bead #2. This is the principal thread movement, but sometimes I move to the next bead and sometimes I put two fringe through one bead. The diagram seems to suggest that there are beads on both When the bracelet is worn, these fringes fall and fill in the middle area, but if there's an apparent gap, I will often have one fringe with four or five beads on either side of the focal bead straddle the middle bead as shown.


Here are some other favorite fringe choices. The first is two chicklet or nibblet beads with a 2mm crystal between them. I skip the chicklets and come back down through the 15/0s, snugging up the chicklets to place them side by side. I've used a disk bead on some of the fringe with a spacer and a 2mm crystal on top. Another favorite is stringing three magatamas (large drops) on the end of the line of beads before coming back down.

One other technique of mine as stated in the first paragraph is to repeat the beads I use in each segment (the portion between the flowers created from beads). While I don't put these in the same order, I do place them on opposite sides of the middle bead. You'll see a keishi pearl on the top of one segment and on the bottom of the ones on either side. This is especially true of any beads that I've used as an accent, such as the fuschia keishi pearl in the finished bracelet. It's a subtle way of directing the eye across the entire bracelet.

After I've finished all the fringe, I have one final area to complete. I turn the bracelet over and finish the two ends of the peyote by placing some type of picot along the edge, usually the one I've used here. This is an 11/0, a 4mm fire polish, another 11/0. I bring the needle up through the first edge beads, place the three beads on the needle and go down through the next bead. Up through the next bead, add the three beads and go down through the next. This final row hides the threads along the edge where I've made my knots and adds more support to the fringe.



And finally, the finished bracelet:

Beaded Flowers - Day 6

I usually work a 3-bead peyote band on this flower and teach it as the Flower Power Ring shown here. These also make very nice earrings when glued to an earring back. The bead used is a 6x8mm Czech petal bead, sometimes called a cupped leaf bead. There are two Czech beads with the same dimensions, but they are different when worked into a flower. The one I'm using today has a wide base and an oval shape, while the one I'll use tomorrow has more of a teardrop shape. So today it's the Flower Power and tomorrow it will be the Water Lily.

The petal beads shown here have a vitrail coating on one side. When you purchase a string of these, half of the cupped side will be the vitrail coating and half of the beads will be the plain glass. I separate them out and use the vitrail on the bottom layer and the plain glass on the top layer. I use the new 10/0 Delicas for the seed bead rounds since 11/0s are too small to allow the petals to sit nicely. This flower has a top-drilled pearl in the center which I like for the contrast. A top-drilled 6mm crystal, a 6mm round crystal, a 3.9mm montee, or a Swarovski sequin would also work well. The 3mm bicones in the final round simply add a twinkle to the finished flower.

Begin in the usual manner with about 48 inches of thread doubled to 24 and ten 10/0 Delicas, going through every other one and pulling into a circle (In The Beginning). Add a petal bead between the beads in the outer ring.When you have finished the round, bring your needle through one of the beads in the initial inner ring where indicated by the arrow. I hold on to the starting thread as well as the ring of Delicas until I've put on my first round of petals and usually until I've put on the center pearl. Then I tie off the starting threads and clip the ends about 1/8" away from the beads.



Place the top-drilled pearl on your thread and take the needle across the circle and through a bead also on the inner ring. Come through the pearl again and bring the needle across the ring and through a bead to anchor the center. Now work your needle up to one of the Delicas in the outer ring.





Work one round of peyote with the Delicas placed on top of the first round of petal beads as shown by the arrow. Step up at the end by going through the first bead in the round.Work the next round of peyote with the last five petal beads, stepping up at the end by going through the first petal added.




Finish the flower by adding one round of 3mm crystals between the petals and coming through the last petal bead to step up. Work the thread to the bottom of the flower. You can finish it off now if desired, but I leave the thread on until I'm ready to sew the flower to a bracelet or necklace.