Retreat Goodies

I just got back from a 4 day bead retreat in Fairy Stone Park Virginia. What a great time! 14 women, beads galore, and lots and lots of fun!

This bracelet gave me fits. The pattern came from here, but as I do not remember much of my high school French, I had a hard time figuring out how to make it work. I had to start over twice and I ended up not doing it exactly the way the instructions said to, but it worked. I have some other ideas about making it work better, so I'm going to try another one soon. This one is made with Tourmaline AB2X Swarovski crystals and Delicas. I am going to be adding 3mm crystals along both outside edges (Crystal Brandy color).

This "dainty wire woven bracelet" comes from a pattern by Gen Smith. It was lots of fun. A friend made one in 24 gauge instead of the 20 gauge I used and it was very pretty as well. The wire is Parawire and the crystals are Swarovski.

This St. Petersburg lariat is 54" long from tip to tip (49" plus a 2.5" fringe on each end) and has approximately 350 Czech firepolished beads, pressed glass drops, and Swarovski drops, along with a tube and a half of seed beads.

This cuff is made with approximately 300 Czech 4mm firepolished beads in green iris. There is a core of size 8/o seed beads which makes the bracelet take it's curved shape. If I make another (I want to, this time with crystals) I will make sure to use the appropriate color of Fireline, because too much of it shows.