Tila Bracelets

The July, 2012, issue of BeadStyle Magazine arrived at the bead shop on Wednesday, and we have already dived in and made several projects.

Customers really enjoy seeing the various projects actually made up, and we enjoy (usually, anyway) making them - so here is one that we have explored this week:

On page 42, there is a Tila bead project entitled Tila Inspiration. It calls for Tilas, 4mm Swarovski bicones, 1.5mm cubes, and 15/0 seed beads. Although the project is worked on Fireline, with 2 needles, it isn't really beadweaving - it's really a stringing project.

I own a bead shop, but I can't tell you how many times I want to try various patterns in various beading magazines, and yet I don't even have all the bead ingredients the pattern calls for! So I can't even imagine how often that happens to beaders who don't own bead shops! But I can get very creative with substitutions, which also helps my customers figure out variations for projects.

And this pattern was no exception. I don't have any 1.5mm cubes. Fortunately, these weren't critical to the pattern. And speaking of not critical - while the project calls for 4mm Swarovski bicones, I rarely use Swarovskis to make spec bracelets for the shop - they're pretty, and I love 'em, but they are too pricey to use in demo projects! We almost always substitute 4mm Czech firepolish beads for 4mm Swarovskis (round or bicone), 3 mm Czech firepolish for 3mm Swarovskis, and so on.

On Friday, my friend Sonya used this Tila Inspiration pattern to create one variation - she used a bronze iris Tila bead, terra cotta-colored Czech firepolish beads, bronze 15/0s, and copper findings (the project calls for French wire, but we substituted wire guardians).

One of my favorite summer shirts is a lavender floral, for which I have no matching bracelets! Horror! And I never remember that I need a lavender bracelet until I put the shirt on, which I did again yesterday morning. So after arriving at the shop and getting all situated, I decided "no time like the present" - I love the bracelet that Sonya created on Friday, so I pulled some purple and lavender beads, and made one for myself!

Sonya's is the top one, mine is the lavender one under it:

I didn't have a purple 15/0 that matched my Tilas and firepolish (and, more importantly, my T-shirt!) very well, so I used 11/0s. Another substitution - good thing there are no bead police, right?

Sonya and I used slightly different stringing patterns - she strung her 15/0s once between each set of firepolish beads, and I strung my 11/0s on either side of the Tilas.

And I used Sterling silver findings with my purple beads, instead of copper:

These bracelets stitch up really quickly, and I love the way mine lies on my wrist - the 3 strands lie flat, and they separate a little when I move, and act like I'm wearing stacking bracelets. Pretty cool!

So, don't be afraid to play around with substitutions in beading patterns! You'll be pleasantly surprised what you can come up with!

And don't tell anyone that I started (and finished) a new project before I finished my Zombie Iolite Necklace - that is verboten!

I finally finished a personal project!

I have taken better pictures in my day, but at least I am happy with my new necklace.

It all started when a bead vendor came to the shop about a month ago, and I snagged this gorgeous fluorite specimen from a strand of fluorite that consisted otherwise of much smaller, though still gorgeous, fluorite beads - this big one just stood out too much, so I just had to take it, don't you see?

I spent a few hours looking around the shop for other odds and ends to pair with it.

I have always wanted to use one of these sterling silver mesh beads (I call them tumbleweeds) that I nabbed at a GL&W show in Franklin, NC 2 years ago. I have had these beads for 2 years, and never used them, and they are luscious! I actually took them all out of my personal stash and out them up for sale in the shop last week, and no one has purchased any yet, so now I have used the first one.

I found a few stray teal freshwater pearls that really make the fluorite "pop."

I found a huge white freshwater pearl that I loved, and some smaller white button freshwater pearls, and some Swarovski pearls in various blue and green hues.

I've had this gorgeous sterling silver connector with 3 rings on the bottom in the shop for ages - and again, I think I'm the first to use one. Once I started dangling things, the opening in the middle of the connector just seemed to cry out to be filled, and I found this great hammered sterling disc that fit in there perfectly.

So I set about making my dangles, and attaching them to chain, and it took 2 full days to get everything hanging at the right lengths and positions to satisfy my eye. Late yesterday (after the shop had already closed, actually) I attached the bail, and found a rolo chain with a great look and weight to carry off my new "pendant", and I am just right pleased with myself about now.

And while all this was going on, I decided to look up the metaphysical properties of fluorite - and that made me feel even better about this whole combo. I have never put a lot of stock in this kind of stuff, but I liked what I read, and I figure it can't hurt...

According to what I read, fluorite is considered one of nature's most powerful mental healers (and goodness knows, I could use some of that about now). Fluorite allegedly has the ability to influence the activities that occur on the mental plane of consciousness and to amplify, focus, expand, and create new pathways for the mind. Fluorite is also believed to connect a person’s being on the mental and spiritual plane. This allows it to increase abilities of concentration, discernment of truth and clear decision-making. Other properties include bringing order to mental chaos, increasing objectivity, enhancing creativity, curing mental disorders, easing meditation and freeing one from bad habits.

The many colors of fluorite are believed to have different mental healing specialties. Green can energize and still the heart and mind. Blue is for inner peace. Purple is for focus and helping to get one out of a mental rut. Yellow is for comprehension and group communication and dynamics. White is for creating pathways between the individual and universal spirit.

I take all this with a grain of salt, but like I said, it can't hurt!