Delft blue bracelet

Blue and white porcelain inspired me to try these colours in bead embroidery and a bracelet seemed like the right amount of work to do.




Materials all gathered: glass seed beads, a ribbon for the bracelet base, thread and an embroidery needle.




Made the frame first, starting with the darkest blue beads. Not sure if I like it this way...




Finished the first flower! The frame looks all right now, I think. The overall image reminds me more of those Mediterranean blue and white tile mosaics than porcelain, actually.




When finished embroidering, double folded the ribbon and sewed by hand all around the edges. The hardest part is making a clasp. Out of several options coming to my mind, I decided to sew some double rings to the back side where I could attach jump rings, pieces of extension chain and a toggle clasp.

Jasper in plentiful company

This jasper pendant called out for some beads in the same mellow colours and seed beads in gentle pink and beige felt like the best way to imitate the stone's spots and stripes. In order to match the weight of this pendant, thousands of seed beads would be needed though, so I started making the strands until the necklace seemed balanced.




The necklace has ten seed bead strands, which are actually formed of five closed loops folded in double. The pendant and clasp are connected by three strands of the same cube seed beads that are adding some texture to the long strands.
A note for myself: never ever buy those tiny size 15/0 seed beads again, they are just impossible to work with (like beading with sugar!) and have to be strung straight to the cord without a needle. But they look so cute...