Story of a bracelet

When I travel, I like to take a beading project with me. Usually, I'll make a certain kind of bracelet because I can pack all of my materials in this sweet little tin:
Also, it's much easier to find creative ways to cut thread (for example, dental floss dispensers!) than to find creative ways to cut wire, and I would hate to have my precious tools confiscated by security! Seed bead projects are also easier to plan for (since I know ahead of time what the pattern will be) and take a lot of time to make. Lastly, these bracelets are an excellent exercise in color (even though I choose my colors ahead of time, I never know exactly how the colors will look together until they are stitched into the bracelet) and allow me to use the gorgeous selection of size 14 seed beads that we carry at Beads and Beyond. So, peyote embellished bracelets are my travel project of choice.

Usually when I'm working on a bracelet, some curious person will ask me what I'm making. Of course I will try to show them, but since there are so many steps to this project and the bracelet evolves a lot from start to finish, I always feel bad that the person asking about the bracelet might never see the finished product. So while I was working on my most recent bracelet (done at home, not while traveling) I took pictures of all of the steps!

1. Basic peyote strip
2. Square stitch on top of peyote strip


3. Picot embellishments on both layers


4. Final layer

5. Voila!