Spiral Peyote Beaded Bracelet

Wow, it's been busy around here. Three members of my family, including myself, have birthdays in March. I made handmade presents this year, and got a bit too ambitious with my sister's birthday present. I decided to make my sister a beaded bracelet, and after a bit of research decided to try spiral peyote. This was the first time I've done the peyote stitch, as well as the first time I did peyote in the round.While the pattern was simple, it took a lot more time than I anticipated. I got a very late start, beginning only a week and a half before her birthday. No matter how much I beaded, it was only half done by the time her birthday rolled around.

Luckily, she's a crafter herself and was very understanding. I continued to work on the bracelet, finally finishing after another massive beading session (14 hours). It's definitely the most complex beaded project I've done so far and although it was easy it was incredibly time consuming. Every single silver bead represents a round on the bracelet. I was tempted to count them for future beading reference, but I think it would be too depressing to know how many rounds are in that bracelet! It's a wide, chunky/modern bracelet, which is my sister's style.  In case anyone is interested, the pattern is 1 4mm bead, 1 size 6, 1 size 8, 2 silver size 11, 2 purple size 11, 2 silver size 11, 6 black size 15.

I also had a couple of false starts. I tried two different combinations of beads until I found the right ratio of black to silver to purple. I had a spiral peyote pattern that I was basing this on, but due to different bead sizes and amounts I made some major modifications to the pattern. Then when I had the right combination, I realized I didn't have enough purple beads. As I purchased the purple beads many years ago in a different city, I didn't think I would be able to find them again. So in the end I purchased a different color purple, and had to start the bracelet yet again.