Contrariwise ramblings

Yesterday I started the story about a recent commission I got to make 8 Prayer Bracelets for a friend of mine, my first Etsy customer.

Luckily, I have a pretty large collection of glass beads that I've collected over the years, so finding pretty glass beads would not be an issue. The most important thing was finding prayer box charms.

I checked my local beadstores; only one of them carried prayer box charms - but the store only had 2 and I needed 8! So it was off to the online shops.

I think I must have checked half a dozen online suppliers. In most of them the nice sterling prayer boxes were pretty pricey - about $20 and up! (With the recent increase in silver prices, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.) My friend and I were considering going to silver-plate because of this. But then I finally found some reasonably priced ones at Thunderbird Supply. My friend chose the ones she liked - actually not the typical charms I've seen on Prayer Bracelets at online shops - and I ordered them.

At this point I had 8 days left to make the bracelets.

From my experience, I usually get my supplies from Thunderbird in 5 days. Yes, I was cheap and didn't get the expedited delivery. And, yes, you guessed it, they didn't arrive within 5 days.

I had all 8 bracelets ready and waiting to add the charms.

Then I waited.

And waited.

I got worried and began thinking up contingiency plans if I didn't get the prayer box charms on time: The wedding aniversary party was going to be in another state. Could I FedEx finished bracelets there when I got the boxes?

I didn't tell my friend because she's a worrier. I kept hoping the package from Thunderbird Supplies would arrive before had to leave.

Finally, on the evening before I was supposed to deliver the bracelets to my friend, I found the long-awaited cardboard box containing the supplies waiting on my doorstep! So I spent most of the evening adding the prayer boxes to the bracelets.

The next day I brought the bracelets to work to deliver them to my friend. It would be the first time she saw them. Would she like them? Would she be disappointed?



The bracelets were individually boxed up in gift boxes. She opened them oh so slowly and admired each individually before going to the next box.

She said it was just like Christmas morning. She must have spent half an hour trying them on and deciding which of them she wanted for herself. (It ended up that she couldn't decide. She was leaning toward the blue one. But she still had a few days to make a final decision.)

I was so happy that she was pleased with them. And I can't wait to hear about the 50th wedding anniversary party - and who ended up with which bracelet.

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