Kingston Turquoise leather knotted bracelet and my broken stretchy bracelet re-worked as leather knotted!!

Kingston Turquoise leather knotted bracelet and my broken stretchy bracelet re-worked as leather knotted!!  Yes, I am having a lot of leather knotting going on around here.

I had posted a few weeks back (in November I believe) about some Kingston turquoise I bought and the special class that I took to recreate a necklace I saw in Beads of Splendor.  The necklace also used some big hole pearls.   Sunday, I was wearing the necklace and decided I needed to make a matching bracelet.   There were only larger nuggets of the turquoise remaining at the store so, though I bought fewer than the necklace, they were heavier and cost more . .    even with the discount, lol.   I am liking the bracelet I made a lot . . . I have been wearing it constantly.

After I finished the turquoise bracelet, I decided to create the other bracelet with those blue-green beads from the stretchy bracelet.  I paired the beads with small silver rondels and ended up with two wraps.   I found another stretchy bracelet  with matching bigger beads while I was in Hong Kong  December 2016.   I might wear them together.   or maybe just with the turquoise bracelet.

Red-White-Black!!!! The colors of Egypt.

I decided to make some bracelets to give to friends in Egypt on an upcoming visit.   I've only made one so far.   I asked one of my friends about favorite colors and none of them were these colors.

More leather knotting.

I took a class in leather knotting for bracelets.   We had time to make two in class then I went home and made another bracelet with the really large beads that I have in my stash. . . which then had me making another necklace.    I keep adding to my inventory, lol.

Four wraps bracelet

I've been busy looking at leather wrap bracelets on pinterest and I saw ones with multiple wraps wit different designs for each wrap.   I thought I would try one.  Maybe I'll try another one.

The first wrap brought together all of the colors and  beads I planned to use . . .  or so I thought.  I made some changes after this first go around.

 

 

Another wrapped bracelet . . . turquoise!!

The turquoise beads are some I had left after I did the knotted silk necklace with beads from two short necklaces I had acquired in Cairo.  (photos posted in a prior post)

Here you can see me wearing it with the previous  bracelet made with turquoise and purple beads.

All Wrapped Up Bracelets

I take classes to learn new techniques and/or polish up some old technique plus have some fun social time with other like-minded people.   Also, it is an excuse to buy more stuff at a discount . . . they shop offers discounts to people taking the classes.

I made one bracelet in the class then went home to make another bracelet.   I have a lot of beads and leather/thread for more bracelets of course.

But another class is coming up!!!

A couple of kumihimo bracelets.

Kumihimo!!!! The one on the left is the first beaded bracelet I made about 2 years ago. The one on the right I just made. I did it with a different ending . . . Some bigger beads and a safety chain to keep the bracelet from falling off if the magnets get pulled apart.

Four stranded wire with dangles on the end

I might need to take a course in how to photograph my jewelry.   These photos just don't do justice to the rich colors of the different strands.  There is a nice light orange, two different reddish browns and a dark orange.  Maybe since these are chips, they don't reflect the color so well.   But it does look nice while I am wearing it.

Red beads in a set: Bracelet, Necklace and Earrings

A friend of mine really liked the bracelet that I posted earlier and asked me to make her a full set.   I used wire to make the bracelet and necklace.   No stretchy elastic  :-) .    It turned out nicely but I think I need to start using something as a background that will let the colors show up better . . . at least for the smaller beads.   The little beads reflect light a bit differently than the big ones.

Wearing the red . . .

I hope you can get an idea of how these turned out as showing on my arm.   The orange one is also made by me :-)

Red beads again . . . another idea.

I do believe I have come up with one design for a bracelet using those red beads. Mixing it up with some silvery stuff for the grey on the edges and the small seed beads blend in quite well.

Note the stretchy bracelet above. Those magatama beads didn't look right with the other red beads even though they are a color match. I found the silver skull when I was hunting around for something else so I had to try it.

New bracelet project idea

I have some large flat red beads I acquired at a bead show a few years ago. An idea I was trying didn't work out so I set them aside. Now after a trip to beads of splendor and a bead show, I have some more things to move around while trying to figure out what to try..

And I have an intermediate design I am trying.   I might just finish it as a stretchy bracelet to see how it looks.   I have plenty of beads to try other ideas.

Re-doing a couple of stretchy bracelets

I bought these 2 stretchy bracelets at a small shop in Giza (just a bit down from that guest house I don't plan to go back to again,lol). As all stretchy bracelets eventually do, some of the stretch was too much and one popped. I replaced the elastic yesterday but now I am thinking I will put them on some memory wire instead.

 What the 2 stretchy bracelets look like converted to a memory wire with dangles😊

Carnelian and Red Tiger Eye Memory Wire Bangle

I put all the bits together this morning by adding some silver beads as spacers between the different strands then using some silver beads with red tiger eye beads as dangles on the end.

I am not sure about the results so will ponder whether to make changes.   Meanwhile, I am posting here to show the current work for consideration.  :-)

I made a few things that I decided to take to a belly dance garage sale. . . . maybe someone will buy them?

 

Also I have something in the works.   Not just some of the stretchy bracelets, but a memory wire bangle.  Maybe??   Hopefully, I'll figure out how to get everything put together in a way that I like.

Green Bead Mix Bracelets

I had a bunch of green beads sitting around here forever.   So I decided to use them up.   I made one memory wire bracelet and 3 stretchy bracelets   Not too bad, right???

New wire wraps from this past weekend

I've been trying to get back in the swing of things by using up some beads and, hopefully to sell a few to cover the cost of the beads I buy.  Ar this point I am probably in the hole to the tune of a couple of thousand bucks.  I love beautiful beads!!   I get them all organized then pull them out to look at them.

I used to joke that I was stock piling for retirement.   Well, guess what!!????   Now is the time!!!

Big blue evil eye bead bracelet

I've had these beads for awhile and have been collecting other blue beads to make something with these (and those other Turkish eyes I used on a hamsa bracelet).   I still have a lot to learn, sigh.   I started out with a result that I liked but it ended up way too long once it was finished   Then I re-did it by removing some of the beads from each end.   I am going to let it sit for awhile before I make a final decision.   Another friend suggested I make it a necklace.  :-) . . . I have more of the big beads so I can do that . . . but I don't have another clasp that matches.

More Memory Wire Bracelets

I had a lot of chunky beads when I made these   I still have a lot of chunky beads but I think I'll try to make some with smaller beads.   I have lots of seed beads in different sizes.