Challenges and Collaborations

Tracy Statler of Make Bracelets issued a challenge, one that caught the eye of many of us in this jewelry community.  We were challenged to make a collection of bracelets, stacked-wrapped-and-layered – sound like fun?  In Tracy’s words:

The trend of wrapped, stacked and layered bracelets has been around for awhile and it shows no signs of stopping!  Bracelets of all kinds mixed together in new and unique ways are bigger than ever. The coolest part is this bracelet layering Paloozza can be adapted for all styles!

For my stacked, wrapped & layered bracelet collection, I narrowed down the daunting realm of possibilities by picking a color scheme and components that I knew I wanted to work with.  I paired both bronze and brass metals with mother of pearl to create an eclectic yet cohesive grouping of bracelets.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to try a few new techniques – it was like each bracelet was a mini lab experiment.

After taking the mesh bangle class last weekend at Bead Fest, I was interested in seeing what SilverSilk was all about out on the showroom floor.  Now we didn’t use SilverSilk in class, but rather vintage mesh chain.  The Silver Silk chain is somewhat similar though and is made with very fine knitted wire.  They offered a kit that is much like the leather wrap bracelets that are popular now.  I loved this alternative – incorporating wire rather than the traditional leather version…I added a bronze wire hook clasp.

In this next set of bracelets, I did use a bit of faux suede and knotted it with new brass beads I bought last weekend from Hands of the Hills.  The clasp is plump, round antique button.  For the wire bangle, I attached a vintage mother of pearl buckle to a piece of half-round red brass wire that was first tumbled smooth.

I love how this next bracelet turned out…what could be better – the combination of sari silk ribbon and old rhinestone chain!  If you’d like to learn how to make a braided bracelet like this, check out the fabulous tutorial on Miss Lovie’s blog right here.

I just had to mix in some straight wirework.  I used brass wire for this bangle, along with new rose bud components from Hands of the Hills (can you tell I spent a bit of time in their booth at Bead Fest?).  You can find my tutorial to make a similar wire bangle in Denise Peck’s book, Wire Style 2.

I really had fun with this next bangle.  I’m drawn to jewelry that combines old bits and pieces with a touch of fiber.  In this bracelet, I used a brass strip as the base to stitch old mother of pearl and rhinestone buttons.  I even stitched on a few seed beads.  That’s what I loved about this challenge – the excuse to purposely mix things up!

Thank you, Tracy, for hosting this FUN challenge!

The list of Challenge participants – let’s see how everyone stacked and layered their bracelets!

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