Thursday, August 27, 2015

Gypsy Earrings - Rose Gold Topaz Luster

  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 6mm druks "Opaque Rose and Topaz Luster"
  • SuperDuo beads "Chalk Lazure Red"
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Opaque Rose Gold Topaz Luster"

I showed you a sample earring in this color the other day, HERE, and I made this final pair for myself.

While making those earrings, I got the idea to try adding some little drop beads along the bottom edge instead of the 8/0 seed beads. I found that doing so doesn't allow enough room to add any netting along the bottom. What do you think of this variation? Do you think it looks unfinished? I think I like it but I'm not quite sure. I have a few other colors of drop beads but I'm not sure if I've got SuperDuos and fire polished beads that will go well with them. I'll see what I can come up with. I've had the drop beads for a while and this is the first time I've actually used them. I also have some of the smaller 2.8mm size in "Light Bronze". I think those are going to be trickier to find a use for. Most of the patterns that I've seen that call for drop beads call for the 3.4mm size. Here is my sample earring with drop beads:



  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
  • 6mm druks "Opaque Gold and Smoky Topaz Luster"
  • SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"
  • 4mm fire polished beads "Pink White Moon Dust"
  • 3.4mm Miyuki drop beads "Metallic Dark Bronze" (457D)

As far as I know, there is no pattern available for these earrings. I saw the earrings for sale in an Etsy shop, HERE. However, I think you could probably adapt Ellad2's "Sunflower Earrings" pattern to look like these with a few tweaks. You can buy Ella's pattern HERE. You would use six fire polished beads instead of eight and replace the SuperDuo beads with 8/0 seed beads between the fire polished beads. Also, Ella uses 11/0 seed beads for the netting on the bottom and the Gypsy earrings have 15/0 beads.

I made a couple of samples of Ella's version yesterday and I'll take photos of them later today. I was a little surprised to see how they turned out. It's not very apparent in her photos that the bottom edge curls under so they're very cupped. That's how they turn out using the number of seed beads around the bottom edge that I see in Ella's photos. I may try making them again with more beads for a flatter earring but I honestly like the Gypsy earrings much better. I'll try to post the photos tomorrow.


3 comments:

  1. The variation you came up with looks great too, not unfinished at all. Gives the whole earring a somehow more compact, round look. Love it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback, Helen. I think that maybe I was hoping the little drop beads would stick out a little more or something.

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  2. I'm glad that you like my idea ;)

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