Mini Design Challenge - Jewellery by Lindsay Rowan

We reveal the designs from our challenge winner...

Our second Mini Design Challenge pack was provided by Spoilt Rotten Beads. To coincide with Valentine's Day, the pack contained a beautiful selection of pink and red tones beads including the new Trinity beads.
In addition to these three-holed beads, our winner (Lindsay Rowan) also received seed beads, glass pearls, crystals and a rather lovely bird clasp.

Lindsay told us "it's been so much fun to see what I can come up with and the selection was lovely. A great mix of shapes, sizes and shades!"

Lindsay has very kindly written up instructions for making the three designs she came up with. 

Beaded bracelet

Lindsay says "I love the complimentary colours in this one – I added the silver spacers to create consistency from the outer sections to the inner. The Trinity beads were great for creating some structure and the seed beads (I love a seed bead!) allowed for some movement which resulted in a really wearable, lightweight bracelet that sits flat on the wrist."

1. Cut three lengths of neutral or pink Nymo (I went for a baby pink), each around nine inches long.

2.Take one length and string as follows for section one:

• 7 seed beads
• 1 pearl
• 1 seed bead
• 1 spacer bead (added from my stock)
• 1 crystal
• 1 spacer bead (added from my stock)
• 1 seed bead
• 1 pearl
• 3 seed beads
• 1 Trinity bead

3. String as follows for the second section:

• 3 seed beads
• 1 pearl
• 1 seed bead
• 1 spacer bead (added from my stock)
• 1 crystal
• 1 spacer bead (added from my stock)
• 1 seed bead
• 1 pearl
• 3 seed beads
• 1 Trinity bead

4.  Repeat this process for sections three and four but replace the spacer beads with beadcaps for section 3 then revert back to spacer beads for section 4.

5. String the final section (five) as per step 1 but in reverse, and omitting the Trinity bead (the one completing the previous section will suffice).

6. Repeat the process for the two other lengths of Nymo noting that no further trinity beads need to be added. Simply thread through the remaining holes on the trinity beads already in place as you reach them. This will build the triangular structure.








7. Knot each end of the bracelet securely and cover with a silver calotte. Attach a jump ring to one end and a smaller jump ring plus the trigger clasp to the other.  Your bracelet is complete!

Kilt pin brooch

Lindsay says "I added some bits and pieces to the beads for this one, namely silver chain and a silver link ring (attached with small jump rings) to add some detail and different textures while still allowing (hopefully!) the pink beads to stand out as the colour focus. The headpins and flower charm add some movement as well so all in all I’m pretty pleased with this one".

Earrings

"I opted for a simple, single-strand drop earring for these. I wanted to let the colours speak for themselves with just a hint of silver from the spacer bead (added from my own stock) to set the crystals apart. The head pins have a ball-end finish to give a balancing glimpse of silver. These are also loosely attached to the ear wire to allow for movement again, letting the light catch the crystals."

Additional materials used:

Bracelet – silver spacer beads / basic findings

Kilt pin brooch – chain / link ring / basic findings

Earrings – silver spacer beads / basic findings

You can purchase all the beads included in the pack from Spoilt Rotten Beads.
Look out for our next Mini Design Challenge on our Facebook page.