Contrariwise ramblings

Saw + hammers + disc cutter + bracelet mandrel =

I think this is the first cuff bracelet I've ever made.   I had just gotten my disc cutter and I wanted to see what fun things I could do with it.  Plus I had a bracelet mandrel that I bought over a year ago and never used.  Why not try out both at once and see what I could come up with?

Time to play!

I made the cuff in copper which I texturized with a hammer.  I randomly made holes in it with the disc cutter, then soldered on silver discs. (Yes, the disc cutter's great at finding new ways to use all those silver scraps I have!)   Using a rawhide hammer, I formed the bracelet on the mandrel.  Then everything was oxidized and polished to bring out the texturizing and the silver accents.

A very simple equation.  Right?

More photos can be found here.

It's odd how suddenly an idea can come into your head.  In my mind, I've been envisioning a bracelet made of silver square links, each of the squares stamped with a different pattern.

This idea has been knocking around my head for a couple of weeks but it wasn't until last Thursday that I had some time to work on it.

This was going to be a heavy chunky bracelet.  And because I had NO IDEA OF WHAT I WAS DOING, I decided that I better try it copper first.  Otherwise, I might end up with a lot of very expensive scrap silver.

As I went along, I learned what worked and what didn't work so well. Everything fell into place SORT OF how I wanted it.  I had the links all finished and connected, but I had no ideas of what to do  for the closure.  I went to bed a little disappointed and didn't know what to do next.

I left the bracelet alone for the next couple of days.  I liked the way it had progressed but I was afraid that the wrong clasp woul completely ruin it.

Seriously.  I DREAMT clasps in my sleep:  snaps, hooks, toggles.

Saturday morning I was dozing in bed and it was about time to get up.  But  I was just lying there, enjoying the warmth of my bed, not wanting to get out, half dreaming and thinking about the bracelet.  All of a sudden, out of absolutely no where, it came to me.  I knew EXACTLY how I was going to finish the bracelet.

Once I knew how I wanted the clasp to look, it didn't take me long that day to finish the bracelet.

Each link is stamped with a different pattern:  flowers, hearts, stars, bubbles, etc.   And I created a toggle by cutting it into the last square link.  The bar has been hand- fabricated and stamped to match the pattern of the bracelet.

This is what I really like to do.  Create something completely out of my head and try to figure out how to do it without using any directions. I'm completely self-taught, and trying to figure out the techniques is so much fun.  It probably takes me ten times as long, but at least I'm enjoying myself.

Last Halloween, before most people even knew about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie, Emma went trick or treating as the Mad Hatter, a la Johnny Depp:

I was at an out-of-town gymnastics tournament with my daughter all weekend, but during the past 2 nights I had some time to finally  finish this custom order.

Front:

The Graveyard Plume Agate pendant that I posted about last Saturday is taking me longer to set than I expected. I'm still working on it and hope to give you an update very soon but I had to put it aside for a little bit because I got a couple of custom orders that have to be in the front of my queue.

And with the "leaf-motif" in mind  (OK, who gets that obtuse reference???!!!), I cut out a maple leaf on the back which I hand drew with a marker.

Still, after all these snowy months, I wonder why snuffing snow seems to keep it's attraction.