My latest fascination is beading. A couple of weeks ago I was at a craft store by chance, and looked at some of the beading books. When I was younger, my aunts were into beading, but I was not skilled enough to do any of the fancy weaving projects they worked on. I decided I wanted to give it another try, so I bought a book and some supplies, and here I am!

After unsuccessfully trying a harder pattern, I decided on this one, the layered crossweave bracelet from Stitching Beaded Jewelry by Lesley Weiss. I bought the beads from Fire Mountain Gems, and when they arrived, I was a little disappointed in the colors I had selected, but once I actually started putting the bracelet together, I was happily surprised. The base is made of Czech fire polished beads in honey with a blue iris finish, while the criss-cross overlay is made up of mainly brass delicas with leaf green accents in the center.

Although I am very pleased with the results, I may end up taking apart this bracelet and remaking it, because it is too large for my wrist. I measured it by the instructions in the book, rather than by my own wrist. I also unfortunately made it a little longer by using jump rings to attach the clasp, rather than sewing the clasp directly to the bracelet, as I did not have a clasp for it at the time I started making it. Ah well! At least I have learned a lot in the process of creating it.

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