How To Work Around A Discontinued Material

Have you ever finished a new design that you can't wait to offer as a class or kit form, only to find out a major component has been discontinued?  This scenario can be a source of frustration, or motivation to get creative in a new or varied, "colorways."  This has happened to all of us who design and over the past year it has happened to me twice on the same project.  My first design of this bracelet included a favorite color combination of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS and Delica Beads.  As I often do, I purchase materials that catch my eye and then sit on them until my mind can put them together in a design.  By the time this design was in teachable form, one of the element colors was no longer available.  My first revision maintained as much of the original color combination as possible, but again, by the time I had a wearable bangle, another item was discontinued.  This time I was forced to create outside my colorways comfort zone and the result turned out to be my favorite combination of the three.  The moral of the story is, let inconvenience be another motivation for creativity.

                                                          Kaibab Bangle, version 1

                                                         Kaibab Bangle, version 2

                                                          Kaibab Bangle, version 3