BTW: Glam Meets Boho

A little over a year ago I began my adventure as what's known as the train jeweler. There are older posts (this one or this one) that takes you through the origin of my commuting crowd calling me this. But what started it all was my Turkish friend asking me to create a pretty bracelet from the Sundance catalog. I almost never follow a recipe exactly, and my beading is the same. But I did like the idea of creating a bracelet that was a little elegant, a little boho. That is how this pattern came into my repertoire. 









The original bracelet is the one with the darker suede, which I found difficult to work with as it kept breaking in my hands as I knotted, or sewed the loops. Sigh. I did manage to finish this first version of the bracelet, but with much swearing. Kids, cover your ears.

Months later I was at a gorgeous Japanese ribbon store (Mokuba) where I spotted a synthetic suede that works like a dream. I normally hate anything synthetic, but I have to tell you that this stuff feels like the real thing. And the best part is that it holds up to the roughest beaders - that would be me. You can see the Mokuba version in the lighter suede ... wouldn't you agree that it looks gorgeous! A bonus was that it was about $2 a yard. what? I mean no brainer for me.

I forgot about this bracelet until a week or so ago when my Turkish friend came to me and said that she really wanted the bracelet to be a tad smaller. I took one look at the bracelet and remembered how much I loved this bracelet. But also how difficult working with real suede (a thin strip of it) can be. I decided not to pull it apart, and I would keep her's as is for myself. And for her I'd make a new one - enter new suede! So she has the new one with the lighter colored suede, and I kept the original one in the darker color. That's whats on my beading table this week.