Thursday, August 26, 2010

Jeweled Links Variation




Nancy Cain published this lovely pattern in the February 2010 Beadwork magazine, and a friend of mine, Sherry Grove, followed that pattern to create her own Blingy Jewel.
You know me, I can never leave well enough alone, so played with the pattern a bit. I didn't have many 3mm bicones and no 3mm pearls at all, so the first change was making those 4mm. I left the numbers alone, as the original pattern created a 7.25 inch bracelet- a bit tighter than I prefer. I did change the number of pearls near the toggle end, as Nancy suggested, to make it fit perfectly.
I added embellishments in the form of 3 bead picots on the outsides of the rings, which also stablized their form. The slider base for one bead was done in 15s, rather than delica 11s, and I added 3mm matagamas to those ends under the outside 'stars'. I also added matagamas between the pearls at the outsides of the toggle, as well as alternating pearls and bicones to the toggle connector.
All in all, I am pretty darn happy with my version, and hope Nancy would be as well!
Click on any photo to make it full size.

5 comments:

Las Creaciones de Boricua said...

It's very pretty!!!!!!!!!

DVArtist said...

It turned out beautifully.
Nicole/Beadwright

Gypsy said...

Thank you Mimi and Nicole. I did follow her directions about what thread to use where, and are not happy that some of the seed beads next to the center embellishment of the toggle fell off last night! AAARRRGH! No more nylon thread for me of ANY kind!! only Fireline for bracelets.

Unknown said...

Oh that darn nylon! I only use firline now too! I hate when they fall apart! It's so pretty though!

Ingrid said...

Very yummy indeed! You are my idol! :)