I love making peyote bead patterns for bracelets. I can see myself doing tapestries in the future, but for now, I will be satisfied with the 2.5 inch by 7.5 inch canvas that I get making a bracelet.
Back when I made the Peach Daisy peyote stitch bracelet, I talked about how difficult it is to make a realistic design without the use of a bead program that converts it for you. Don’t get me wrong, I use a bead program to design the pattern, but I create the pattern myself. It’s very difficult to get it to come out looking right.
In the case of this Purple Mountains bracelet, I found a picture that would translate into a 2.5 by 8 inch vertical canvas nicely. My bead program does a lousy job of converting pictures into a patterns, but it does allow me to import the picture and then impose the peyote grid on top of it. Using a palette of beads that I already had, I could fill in the dots relative to the picture underneath. Luckily, with this sort of image, things don’t have to line up exactly. It’s actually a good beginner bracelet because you can’t really tell if you’ve made a mistake. I love how the pink and purple mesh together. The pattern for this bracelet can be purchased on the Patterns and Kits page.
My free bracelet patterns can be found in The Bead Vault. They are the ones with the green banner that say FREE ACCESS.
Unfortunately, my 18-month old bloodhound, Boone, has discovered a new game of pulling things off the table. Usually pieces of paper, but on this day it was this bracelet. I had just finished it and left it out to show my husband. He chewed the clasp which was easy to fix. I guess I should be glad he didn’t destroy or eat the whole thing. I can't tell you how my heart sank when I walked in the room and saw that chewed up clasp on the floor! It’s just missing beads here and there, which is hard to tell given the nature of the design. Luckily I had already taken pictures of it.
When I was stuck in bed with COVID for a week, I had plenty of time to work on fringe earrings to match. Again, because of the design, the beads don’t have to be put on perfectly. One earring I did with 2 drop brick stitch so that the pyramid part would be more elongated compared to the regular brick stitch one. That’s really a matter of preference as to how you like your earrings. I pretty much “winged it” with the earrings, loosely following the pattern for the bracelet. It's one of those patterns where you have to stand back a little bit to get the right perspective.
I am working on more peyote bead patterns for bracelets. I did break down and finally purchase Bead Creator, which does an amazing job rendering patterns from photos. But more on that in a future post!
