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!