After my first beaded kumihimo bracelet project I was already planning my next set of bracelets in other colours. I had already ordered plenty of silver seed beads to begin with, so I made loads of orders for different colours of fire-polished faceted beads and matching glass pearls to go with them. I could have ordered more seed bead colours too but I did not want to get too ahead of myself. For now!

The work goes by a lot quicker when you know what you are doing and feel more confident in the process. I even treated myself to a large kumihimo disc so that I would not have to struggle again! (The large disc is 15cm in diameter compared to the small 11cm so it does make a difference when the cord is strung with beads!) I think I was able to cut the process down from about four hours to just two or three.

I chose blue for my first bracelet as it’s my favourite colour. My next two were pink and red – pink because I don’t own many pink statement pieces, and red for the versatility. I think the red bracelet could have benefited from a matching seed bead colour but I am still happy with the outcome!

I originally was not going to make a new posts for my bracelet colour variations, but a month ago I was attending a wedding and I was planning to wear the pink bracelet with my chosen grey dress. I matched it with a pair of pink earrings made from scratch in less than ten minutes. Jewellery findings like rondelles and filigree caps are incredibly useful to have a healthy stock of! I chose rose quartz beads to sit at the ends and created a nice pair of sparkly drop earrings.

I thought about making a necklace too but I decided against it due to time constraints and thinking that the outfit did not need it.

At the moment I don’t make many jewellery pieces (my most recent creations being some origami earrings and some gemstone chip earrings) but I do enjoy the creative challenges of using what I already having, and creating pieces with purpose.

Materials for the bracelet:
– 0.5mm S-Lon oyster-coloured cord
– 4mm red/pink glass pearls
– 4mm siam red/rosaline pink crystal beads
– silver size 8/0 seed beads
– silver end caps

Tools needed:
– kumihimo disc
– jewellery glue

Materials for the earrings:
– 8mm rose quartz beads
– 6mm glass pearls
– 4mm pink glass pearls
– silver rondelles
– silver filigree caps
– silver end pins
– silver earring hooks

Tools needed:
– jewellery pliers
– wire cutters