Sometimes I buy new clothes and immediately want to make matching jewelry, even though I still have so many UFOs and jewelry lying around. In this blog post, I’ll share how I came up with the ideas and some of the challenges I encountered.
I bought a dress in my favorite blue-green color with a touch of fuchsia pink. The dress also has squares drawn on it, which automatically made me think of making something with the square Miyuki tilas.
Because I didn’t want to go too “chic,” I decided to make a chan luu bracelet, which I find a bit more “casual” than “chic.” When I saw leather in almost the same shade of pink as the dress, the decision was quickly made. 🙂
Then I came up with the idea of ​​taking one tila color and combining it with different delica colors. When choosing the delica colors, I considered which blue-green shades would complement the tilas, but also which colors were reflected in the dress. I added brown and white-gray for a bit more color variation and because I like to combine brown with these blue-green tilas.
There are two rows of delica threads strung between the tilas. I planned to use random delica threads each time, but I often can’t resist creating a bit of a “set pattern.” 😉 So I decided to always have the same color on both sides of the tila, as if it were wrapped up, with a second row of delica threads in a different color. I tried to vary the colors by using a light color after a dark color, and not using just the blue-green colors in succession often.
Using a different color thread than the leather is often nice for a chan luu bracelet, but I quickly decided to use pink thread after all, as I felt it would be too busy otherwise. I cut 1.5 meters of leather and then threaded the metal button to the center, tying a knot. Make sure the two pieces of leather, left and right, are approximately the same length.
Picture 1: I replaced this wire with pink wire.
Je kan een chan luu rustig opbouwen door met 1 kraal te beginnen en bij iedere rij weer meer kralen te rijgen tot het breed genoeg is. Door 4 delica’s te rijgen heb je dezelfde breedte als de tila. Chan luu lijkt ingewikkelder dan het is. Je kunt kijken naar deze filmpje voor uitleg:
I made the chan luu bracelet on a macrame board because it’s easier to secure. By inserting a pin diagonally against the chan luu bracelet, it stays in place more easily.
Once you’ve run out of thread, you can take a double length of thread of whatever you like and thread it through the last beads you strung, making sure there’s an equal amount of thread on both sides, so the center of the thread is in the beads. From here, you can simply continue threading. You can conceal the previous thread by making a loop around the leather, knotting the thread itself (not the leather), threading the thread through a few beads, and then cutting it short so the ends are naturally hidden in the beads.
I used a soft needle like a big-eye or twisted-eye needle on both threads, but a stiff needle can also be used if you’re using regular beading thread instead of thicker cord. If you’re used to working with a single needle, it takes some getting used to working with two threads at the same time, but after a while, you’ll get the hang of it.
It’s best to determine your preferred length and, once you’ve almost reached it, start threading fewer delicate threads so the ends taper easily. I tied a knot and then another knot about 2 cm afterward. Then check if the metal button fits easily between these two knots, but not too easily, so it can easily come undone.
It’s recommended to apply some glue or nail polish to the last knot. This prevents the knot from eventually coming undone. Then, trim the remaining leather, but not too close to the knot. I had about 10 cm of thread left over, so I could have used shorter leather, but if I had made it shorter, it might have been harder to tie the final knots.
I think the delicate beads look lovely on a bracelet like this, but it did take longer than expected. If you make this bracelet with only tilas or other large beads, it will go much faster. At first, I was unsure if I was pulling it tight enough, but it actually works itself out and doesn’t loosen easily.
The following colours are used in this bracelet:
- TL-2064 (metallic mat iris blue green)
- DB-2313 (opaque glazed frosted rainbow celadon)
- DB-2315 (opaque glazed frosted rainbow peacock)
- DB-311 (metallic matte dark olive)
- DB-1055 (metallic matte iris gray dusk gold)
- DB-1768 (forest green lined opal ab)
- DB-1063 (metallic matte iris blue slate gold)
- DB-107 (transparent gold luster gray)
- DB-264 (opaque luster mallard)
- DB-2131 (duracoat opaque dyed eucalyptus)
- DB-2384 (fancy lined stormy)
- DB-1538 (opaque ceylon light smoke)
- DB-322 (metallic matte dark bronze)
A chan luu bracelet fits nicely around your wrist: not too tight, but also doesn’t slide around too much.