Tila, Tila, Twin!

Now that I have a brand new work space with brand new beads, I wanted to experiment with some fresh designs. Of course, I cannot abandon my beloved Tila beads but I wanted to play with the *NEW* Czech Twin Beads. In my Tila obsessed mind, I thought that they would be a perfect fit for one another.

Coming up with a design was not quite as easy as I thought. While I love the shape and colors of the Twin Beads, they are not as uniform as Miyuki beads, which I primarily use. I knew I wanted to use Tilas in combination with Twin Beads but I wasn't quite sure how to make them fit together without awkward spaces. Miyuki seed beads seemed to be my best option. At first, I attempted size 8/0, but they were too large. Next, I tried size 11/0 and they worked perfectly!

Once I squared away the sizes, I had to come up with a color scheme (my favorite part!). For this bracelet, I used a combination that I have never tried before - mustard Tilas, AB bronze Twin Beads, and vermilion galvanized Miyuki seed beads. I must digress - the seed beads are such a wonderful color! I can envision using them in so many future designs.

At first I was unsure about the color combination because it was out of my comfort zone, however, a friend assured me it looked Aztec. That made me happy.


I'm a huge fan of the ladder stitch for two reasons:

1) it's easy
2) it is nice and symmetrical (I value symmetry)

So, this bracelet was created using the ladder stitch. I treated the Tilas as an individual unit and stacked a unit of Twin Beads/seed beads above it. I repeated stacking the units until I reached my desired length. And, of course, I finished the piece off with a hand-stiched Tila toggle. Easy as pie!

Back In Business

I reopened my Etsy store today! There are only a few things on there right now (there will be MUCH more in the future) but I am especially proud of this little guy:

Of course, this one is my favorite because of my obsession with Tila beads. I added a fringe of 2mm Swarovski elements in Mocca and accentuated them with 24 karat gold seed beads. This is a bracelet that I definitely have to put on Etsy because I am not elegant enough to wear it!

It was amazingly simple to make - I just stitched the offset Tila beads to form a diagonal pattern and then added the fringe as I went along. Super fun!





For the toggle, I just stitched together two units of two Tila beads sewn together back-to-back.The units are separated by eight of the 15/0 gold seed beads. Tila toggles are not only effective, but they look great too!

Check out some of my other items!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BoxcarAnnieBeads

Summer Vacation

This summer, I have found myself outside more often than I have been seated at my workbench...I'm almost excited for winter so I can hibernate with my beads! I did, however, find a little bit of time to make this neat little cuff!

I love black and white checkerboard patterns. I made this one with Miyuki Tilas (my favorite!), stitching the beads together using a simple ladder stitch. It took about 1.5 tubes of each color of Tilas to finish this bracelet.


On the bracelet, I left out a little window for a toggle to fit though. I made toggle using 1.8mm Miyuki cube beads paired with the Tilas. It was attached using a few of the matte black cube beads. And there you have a very easy closure! The finished product fits like a glove and is very comfortable to wear.

I probably should rename this blog to tilabeads.blogspot.com! I think I am their biggest cheerleader!

The Tila Obsession Continues...

Every time I sit down at my desk to work, I keep gravitating toward my ever-expanding collection of Miyuki Tila beads. If my other beads had feelings, they would be jealous.

My most recent project served two purposes - 1) learn the single needle right angle weave stitch and 2) continue experimenting with Tilas (of course). This pattern isn't a Boxcar Annie original - I found it here:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_G7MtClOvc7c/TIuKLKVA8uI/AAAAAAAACXE/UIwr2vClaxE/s1600/Cube+Delight+Bracelet+by+Smadar%27s+Treasure+with+Tila+Beads.jpg

The instructions are really easy to follow and the end result is fantastic! I used 11/0 seed beads to surround the Tila squares, which were a perfect size. The cuff ended up being about an inch in width. Typically, I favor skinnier bracelets, but the three rows of RAW units work very well.




I also incorporated a hand-stitched Tila toggle: I would recommend this project to anyone who is trying to learn RAW - the Tila beads are perfect for this stitch and I was able to navigate the project without too many errors. Also, it was quick! I was able to finish in two evenings.

Hopefully, I will be able to break away from my Tila collection for long enough to work on a project that doesn't involve seed beads...my poor eyes are tired from squinting at tiny beads!

Love at First Sight

One of the advantages of living two blocks away from the local bead store is being able to peruse all of the new inventory as it is received. I'll never forget the day I first laid eyes on the new Miyuki Tila beads...I loved everything about them! They come in a variety of finishes including matte, AB, and opaque and the neutral colors will work with nearly anything you can come up with. Pictured left are the Tila beads in Antique Ivory Pearl Ceylon.

I'm an equally enthusiastic fan of the 1.8 and 4 mm Miyuki cube beads. For a spell, I was including them in virtually all of my stitched designs. The first Tila design I came up incorporated all three of my favorites: a "ribbon" of silver 4 mm cubes are surrounded by 1.8 mm blue matte cubes. A row of Tilas on either side finish the piece.


This has easily become my favorite and most worn bracelet in my collection. To attach all of the layers, I used a ladder stitch - one of the easiest (in my opinion). I began with one Tila bead - shown here in Matte Oyster Luster - stitched the two cubes on top of it (one cube for each hole of the Tila bead), pulled the thread through one 4 mm Miyuki cube, and repeated the process for the other half of the unit. It's not at all difficult once you get the hang of it and you end up with a great finished product.

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This is my most recent design. I just completed it this evening and, I must say, I love wearing it! After some experimenting, I have found that the 3 mm Toho bugle bead works very well with the shape and size of the Tila. A unit of two bugle beads with a 15/0 Miyuki seed bead at each end is roughly the same size as a Tila. Again, I used the ladder stitch to combine the units.

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It's safe to say that I have purchased nearly every color of Tila, so more designs will follow. I'm off to a good start and can't wait to find more ways to incorporate this wonderfully versatile bead in my designs!