The Bracelet Story

My "Thom Beads" charm bracelet

Last September for his birthday, I got Thom a really great book about lampwork beadmaking through my friend Ania (aka Turtle Beads). He went right out and bought himself a beginner's kit and started in with only 2 lessons with Ania under his belt. I made this bracelet with his smallest early beads. Even his very first ones are here. I used gunmetal eyepins and practiced my wrapped loops. Ok, they aren't all great but I've improved! I threaded them on Conso nylon cord along with the green iris 8° beads for tubular bead crochet. I tried to make them an equal distance apart so they would spiral around but they had minds of their own. Once I discovered that I let them do their own thing. After I crocheted the bracelet length, I threaded some SoftFlex bead wire through them and crimped (with my new crimping pliers) the toggles on the end. Unfortunately, the crochet pulled up and left some cord showing so I had to add some more bead crochet to one end to cover it. Since then I've learned how to snug up the crimp on the cord so as to avoid gaps like this. I hope. Anyway the results made for a heavy but wonderful bracelet that I love to wear to show off Thom's early beads.