Beaded Kumihimo - The Learning Continues

It's been one of those weeks that seemed to just fly by yet while going thru it seemed to move so slowly.  lol !  Does that even make sense ?  I don't know but that's how it felt.  :) 

I had time for only one beaded kumihimo project and that was a stretch.  Just so many other things happening.  At least some of those things were things I was able to accomplish something worthwhile.  ;)  So, on to the one bracelet I did make last week. 

I always wanted to do something in just yellow.  I love the color yellow.  It's a bright, happy color and has always made me smile.  Whenever I make bright color beads, yellow is the first color I reach for.  So it just made sense to do this bracelet.  I used yellow cording and clear beads.  I wanted the yellow color to come thru the beads.  A perfect match.  :) 

The second thing I wanted to do was add a slider bead as a closure.  This makes this bracelet adjustable to fit lots of different size wrists.  Pretty nifty idea !   This has been done before and I saw it on a forum I belong to and I've wanted to try it with a lampwork bead.  Evidently I didn't have the right size mandrel for that purpose so I bought some thinking they would work.  According to my calculations, they shouldn't work.  They measure too big but I will give them a try when I get back to making beads. 

 I decided to try something else for the time being - the little beads that fit onto those European bracelets.  That's the middle bead on the bracelet below with the tiny crystals in it.  The hole seemed big enough and sure enough they slide right on.  Problem is, they also don't hold tight enough.  That said, I began a search and found an insert that might help it to hold.   If that insert doesn't work then there is another one, different size and shape that might work.  So whatever ends up happening, I'll figure out how to make it hold.  Making a clasp type closure like this is pretty cool and less expensive than adding all the findings on the ends.  :) 

Two versions of the same bracelet.  First photo shows the bracelet with two of my lampwork beads on the ends.  The second photo shows it with what is called "stopper beads"  on the ends.  I didn't have any gold color stopper beads so had to use the silver color ones.  Both the lampwork and the stopper beads worked great ! 

So, what do you think ?   I love it.  :) 

That's all for now.  Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon for a visit.  Please leave a comment.  I love reading what you have to say.  :)