Finished The Pearl Bracelet

I finally finished the pearl bracelet. After making a few toggles and ripping them apart because I didn't like them, I finally made one that I think works well with the bracelet. Take a look.



Here are some close-ups of just the toggle.

(that curved piece of white in the pic above is the edge of a bead with light shining on it, it is NOT a piece of thread. I double-checked the bracelet after I saw the pic.)
It feels good to have the project finished and all the scraps and beads off my beading table so that I can focus on something else. Like my Russian Spiral...thanks for the suggestions, Mandy. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with it.

I really don't know how bead designers come up with all their ideas. I've tried just envisioning things in my head and I've tried putting all the beads I want to use on my tray, but no great ideas ever pop into my head. I really want to start beading my own designs and stop using patterns, but there are days (well, most days) when I think that will never happen. I feel like I'm always going to be a second rate beader, always just following someone else's patterns.

When I bead, I try to fully understand the stitch in my head, not just to follow the pattern, but to understand why a bead here or a bead there makes a difference. And I can change up a pattern with different beads until it looks nothing like the original. But I'm not satisfied. I want to sit down with some beads and thread, and just make something of my own creation. I mean, I made the toggle clasp, that was my own, but that was simple. I want to design a bracelet, and I just don't get how to do it. Maybe creative people have a special gene that I'm missing, or something. I guess I'll just keep working at it. Possibly one of these days it'll click. I hope.

Cat