Friendship Bracelets

I need a make it and take it project that only uses a few tools and supplies and is really quick to make. I came up with these friendship bracelets.

1stTwo

They are made out of glass seed beads and various copper beads and pearls. I added a chain tassel.  Every project comes with it’s challenges. I usually buy the heaviest beading wire as it works the best with lampworked beads but it wouldn’t fit through pearl holes. Digging in my endless stash of stuff, I found an old roll of thinner beading wire. Yay!! Then I came to making the tassel. I’m using these old base metal copper plated necklaces and cutting them up. The chain is so fine that I’d have to use a very thin piece of copper wire to fit through the chain which wouldn’t be the best choice as it’s not hard enough to hold up to much abuse. Fortunately, the necklaces use a bigger ring the the clasp and there’s one on each end. It’s some kind of base metal and even though it’s thin it’s hard enough to be pulled on without bending the ring. Problem solved!! These are really fun as any combination of beads can be used.

Published in: on August 24, 2013 at 8:19 pm  Comments Off on Friendship Bracelets  
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New Bracelets

Well, kind of. Two are the same kind I usually make. The third one is a new one.

RedIvoryAndBlueBracelets

I love the red and ivory one. I’ll probably make one for myself someday. PurpleVikingKnitThis is the new one with a piece of viking knit for half the bracelet and beads on the other half.  The viking knit is make out of copper wire. It’s made on a dowel, then pulled threw a drawplate. I carry a bag with my viking knit stuff all the time so whenever I have a few minutes I can work on it. It takes a while to get a long piece made.

Published in: on August 21, 2013 at 9:41 pm  Comments Off on New Bracelets  
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New Stuff – Kinda

More bracelets. Yes, I made a lot of bracelets. I guess people like bracelets. I’ve been making a set of beads each time I torch and have several sets already made. These are the first four I made.

Green-BlueBracelets Blue-PinkBracelets

I still have several more to make up some more to come in all different colors. These are made out of copper wire and my lampworked beads.

Published in: on July 28, 2013 at 1:58 pm  Comments Off on New Stuff – Kinda  
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More Bracelets and Some Beads

I got three more bracelets done.

GreenRoofTileRedBracelet

This one is kind of a strange color combination. The yellow poopy color is red roof tile and it does get darker when it’s heated and cooled but I didn’t realize that until after I took the beads out of the kiln. I still made it into a bracelet because there might be someone that likes these colors.

Purple-Z99Bracelets

Two purple bracelets. Who doesn’t like purple?

These are some experimental beads I made last night. I should have cleaned my beads better before taking a picture but I just got the holes cleaned and they were still wet.

FlatTransparent-ClearDiscs

Kind of pretty laying on their side, though I’m not sure how or what to do with them yet.

Published in: on May 26, 2013 at 12:41 pm  Comments Off on More Bracelets and Some Beads  
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Two Bracelets

I made the beads and assembled these bracelets this past weekend.

Pink-GreenBracelet-2 TurquoiseSlateBracelet

I’ve got to come up with different color combinations. I’ve used the pink/green scheme before. The turquoise/slate one is a new scheme. I tend not to use turquoise glass since it can be finicky.

Published in: on May 20, 2013 at 7:01 pm  Comments Off on Two Bracelets  
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Two More Copper Wavy Bangles

I made a couple more in copper. I added some dome silver circles on one of them. I might do one that has the circles all the way around the bangle.

WavyBanglesDomes

I really like the rustic look. And it’s nice to wear more than one of them at a time.

Published in: on March 6, 2013 at 9:55 pm  Comments Off on Two More Copper Wavy Bangles  
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Another Wavy Bracelet

I decided to try one out of thinner copper. I was doing well, then I soldered the bangle with the wrong side facing out. I wanted to do something different but since I now had no texture in the inside, the best way to cover it up was with the silver wire “bones”. I put a bunch on this one.

WavyBangle2ndOne

I also used silver solder on this one and since it’s more malleable, I was able to get the copper folded over without it cracking.

 

This is both bangles stacked together. It needs another one and hopefully my next one will go in the middle with different embellishments. WavyBangles

Published in: on February 2, 2013 at 12:50 pm  Comments Off on Another Wavy Bracelet  
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Wavy Bangle

This is my first wavy bangle that I learned from a tutorial that Robyn Cornelius wrote up. I decided to use copper for my first one since sterling silver is so expensive. Don’t want to make any mistakes. I just happened to have some copper strips already cut so I used one of them. It was too thick so I wasn’t able to get the shape round but I kind of like the organic look.

WavyBangleSide1

This is the way it looks flat.

WavyBangleSide4 WavyBangleSide3

Couple of side view pictures. Forgive the orange bead prop in the last picture. That was the only thing I had sitting on my table that worked.

Published in: on January 30, 2013 at 6:56 pm  Comments Off on Wavy Bangle  
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More Bracelets

I finished these four all copper bracelets…..

AllCopperBracelets

And this purple bracelet….

PurpleBracele-Nikki

Published in: on December 30, 2012 at 12:51 pm  Comments Off on More Bracelets  
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Colored Pencil On Metal Collaboration

My sister is here for the holidays and she wanted to make a colored pencil on copper pendant. She colored the copper piece and we collaborated on the design. She wanted it to be a brooch so I worked on those components while my sister struggled to saw the sterling silver piece out. I took over the sawing process and sent her off to find some #65 size drill bits. She came back from the store with a $3.99 pack of different sized drill bits. Must have had 40 bits in that package, all combined together. After sorting them out and finding the one I needed I attempted to drill with it. I couldn’t get a hole drilled all the way through which should have been easy for a brand new drill bit. I had to use one that was a bit bigger. It’s best to use the right size holes when riveting so it was a little more difficult. Here’s the finished results.

ColoredPencilOnMetalPin

I would have liked more surface texture to the piece as I like the contrast but this is what my sister wanted. I think she did a great job on the colored piece. ColoredPencilOnMetalPin-Back

This is the back. I know I didn’t do a very good finishing job but I did get the pin back worked out. I don’t do that many pin backs and have never done one like this before.

Published in: on December 23, 2012 at 6:07 pm  Comments Off on Colored Pencil On Metal Collaboration  
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