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Anatomy of a Bracelet

by Little Round Chick on 01/31/23

About this design:

While I was working on this squiggle cuff I thought it might be a good idea to photograph some of the steps. This one wasn't as easy as the first one. I made the frame with 14ga wire and it was more difficult to work with than I remember.
Almost all of the beads are Czech glass with a few metal beads and some I don't remember where they came from. I especially like the fuchsia and white color beads and the small FP iris. I've done enough wiggly cuffs for now. Time to move on.

Components:

14ga and 24ga red brass wire, various sizes of Czech glass beads, 1 or 2 crystal beads, GP spacer beads

Additional Images:



Read the comments (or add your own)

  1. dolllady aka Pam

    On Jan 31, 2023 at 10:48 pm #

    dolllady aka Pam says:

    This is so beautiful! I loved your note about your art classes. My first semester I taught 4th grade art and music. I saw 700+ students a week. I keep thinking that it would be fun to write a book about the weird things that happened in my 2 longest jobs.

  2. Moogie

    On Feb 01, 2023 at 1:04 am #

    Moogie says:

    These look very fun to make. Thanks for adding the extra pics of it in progress. 14g wire is a bugger to wrangle. I tried 12g nickel silver & could barely budge it! I’ll have to see if annealing it is possible.
    Nice selection of beads. I love the colors. I also love red brass❤️

  3. Little Round Chick

    On Feb 01, 2023 at 4:26 am #

    Little Round Chick says:

    Thanks for the comments and compliments ladies. I think I’ll give this style a rest for a while at least in brass.

    Pam the last 2 years I taught in public school I had about 1,000 students a week split between 2 schools. I was ORGANIZED which is not my thing any more. I was much younger then. Moogie, I’ve never worked with nickel silver but I suspect 12ga would be a real challenge. Maybe 16ga? or 18ga, or 20ga?? 12ga copper isn’t too difficult but 12ga dead soft isn’t that soft when it is brass.

  4. Beady Little Eyes

    On Feb 01, 2023 at 8:17 am #

    Beady Little Eyes says:

    Wonderful. All of the happy colorful beads inside and outside the squiggles. Love it.
    Lots of teachers on this site. Perhaps you could all learn me something.

  5. Crystal Canary

    On Feb 01, 2023 at 10:31 am #

    Crystal Canary says:

    Beautiful cuff! I love the colors you chose to go with the red brass. The pictures are nice showing the process. I didn’t know you could wire wrap the frame with it in the flat position. When I made one, I formed the shape before I wrapped, and let me tell you, it was hard to get the wire in & out because the sides were in the way. Does it bend easily after it’s all wrapped with the beads? Do you need to wrap loose to accommodate for the final bending? This tip will surely make this easier for future projects. Thanks!

  6. Little Round Chick

    On Feb 01, 2023 at 1:22 pm #

    Little Round Chick says:

    BLE, all of us retired teachers can learn you just about anythin you want.

    CC, I have an oval bracelet mandrel (that weighs a ton) and a section of metal round pipe that is about 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. I use both of these to help with the shaping.

    Today’s lesson…. I don’t wrap the beading wire loose just snug. It will stretch when you form it around the mandrel. I form the flat bracelet into a circle and fasten it closed then put the bracelet on the oval mandrel and push it down over the wider part. This helps to shape it and stretch the beading wire at the same time. You can adjust it to fit the mandrel and may need to be stretched more than once. The bracelet will be fairly stiff but you can still shape it on the mandrel. When I do a bracelet that is all wire I follow the same steps. To make it round I use the pipe. If I want textured wire I do the texturing while it is still flat and finish it on the mandrel or pipe.

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    On Mar 27, 2023 at 3:23 am

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