Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Classic Cuff (Bangle)

The Classic Cuff

My day-job is being an ops manager at Talbots.  I've found my way back to retail which I really love, because I enjoy being around clothes and fabric.  We get asked a lot "What goes with this [skirt, pants, sweater...etc]?" and something that nearly always works is a white button-up shirt.  So this idea of beading a bangle in the style of the cuff of a shirt popped into my head.  


This idea has been simmering for months, maybe even a year.  One of my hang-ups for this piece was getting beads tiny enough to look like shirt-fabric.  Lo and behold, Fire Mountain Gems now carries size 15 delicas!  I was going to settle on size 15 rocailles but they weren't going to have the look I desired.  The delicas lay smooth and flat as with my other bangles, I just needed smaller.  


It was nice working with a new product.  These take much longer to finish something with how small and delicate they are.  The glass breaks easily and cannot take much stress so I have to be a bit more gentle when beading. This particular piece was also hard to keep going back to because beading one color gets boring.  I also wanted the buttons to be able to move through the button holes, which it is created with full button hole slits, but the beads are too delicate and stiff for the buttons to move through.  It still has the look that I wanted, so that's a win. 


I'm not sure what will come next of these tiny seed beads, but it will be an intricate pattern to be sure.

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