Colorado Blue Skies Bangle

The Colorado Blue Skies bangle is 11 years old, thus, older than this blog or any of my social media, so I decided it deserves a post.  It's one of those bangles that is a classic of mine, which I try to keep in-stock, but apparently sold the last one I made sometime last year.  As I prep for the Traverse City Higher Art Exhibition, I've been going through some of my old patterns.  This has a slight variation to any of my other ones, the lighter brownish color bead is "cut" (has edges which grab the light differently) rather than smooth.

I actually remember beginning to draft this pattern while sitting at the Starbucks on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado.  I lived there in 2004/2005 and got to see the Flatirons jutting out of the mountain side daily.  I even recall taking my lunch break outside of Chico's (where I worked) and while coloring in the final pattern, one of the panhandlers, who was probably around my age at the time was leaning over, asking what I was doing and drooled on the edge of the paper, blurring the title of the bangle I had written in that corner. I mostly use copies I've made of older patterns, but I still have the original paper....

And speaking of sitting outside of Chico's on Pearl Street, I posted a photo of this bangle being worked on and Mary, my store manager from my Colorado Chico's days, sent over the above photo on the Facebook post of her collection of my earlier work! It's reminding me of some things I should re-visit, especially the pattern on the left, I haven't made one of those in ages.  I sold the last large one 2 years ago at the Oyster Bar in Providence RI during Convergence.  Thank you for sharing Mary!

This last image is actually to show students what I'm talking about when using clear beads or choosing the correct thread.  It's not a good photo, but with the light behind the beads, there is a thread that I've stitched through the green that appears very prominent (circled).  When worn, it's not easy to see at all, but it's something that beaders need to take into account when choosing thread color and pay attention to how much your thread may show through various beads.