A Bracelet a Week: Picket Fence

I wish I could tell you where the idea for this week’s bracelet came from, but I can’t remember exactly how it gelled. I was thinking of designs for an upcoming theme, and somewhere along the way I decided it would be really fun to sew a whole bunch of small peyote tubes together.

I wanted an organic look for this piece, so I started with some amber colored seed beads. For a subtle dash of color, I paired them with smoky amethyst, which goes really nicely with the brown and doesn’t overpower the design.

The bracelet I saw in my mind’s eye had jagged, zig-zagging edges, so I made tubes in three different lengths. To save time on what would already be a lengthy creation, I capped the tubes with a 6/o bead, instead of my usual picot clusters. Once I had enough tubes, I stitched them altogether with two rows of 6/0 bead spacers.

The feel of this bracelet is so neat. It’s sort of skeletal, but soft and flexible. It’s lightweight and lightly colored, but has this dominance to it that defies explanation. Even though the process is sort of tedious, I think I could make another without complaint. Perhaps the design will make one more appearance in this challenge.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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