Garden Bracelet

I have been asked several times how to make this kind of bracelet, so I thought I would start out the new blog with a tutorial. What you will need:

100-140 headpins

Approximately 200 assorted Czech leaves and flowers

10 6mm round fireploished beads

Austrian crystals (more for more sparkle, less for less sparkle!); shapes up to you, but you will need two small round ones (4-6mm)

Decorative clasp

Softflex, Beadalon, or something similar

Crimps

If you want to add the choker part, you'll need 10" of silver chain and a second, matching clasp.

Step 1: Take all your headpins and start making dangles! To create each dangle, you want to put at least one flower facing down so that the open part of the flower faces down toward the flat part of the headpin or a leaf with the pointy part facing down. Then wrap a "hangman's loop" (like the loops in this tutorial). You're going to need about 120 dangles for a standard-sized bracelet. Vary them--layer flowers with flowers, crystals and leaves, crystals and flowers...the possibilities are endless. You will want to reserve at least 5 headpins unwrapped for the last step.

Step 2: On one end of your beading wire, string a crimp, a round crystal, and one end of your clasp.
Thread the wire back through the crystal and the crimp, then crimp shut. (Not sure how to use crimps? Check out this tutorial.)

Step 3: String on three dangles, then a 6mm firepolished round, then three more dangles and another round. Push the rounds next to each other closely, which will make the dangles pop out. Continue this pattern until you have enough to fit around your wrist (you won't be able to tell from length because the bracelet is so chunky--you just have to keep trying it on to see whether it fits).

Step 4: When the bracelet is long enough (you're going to have some room added by the clasp in this last step, so account for it), end with a round firepolished bead, then add a crimp, then the second Austrian crystal round, then the other end of your clasp. Put the wire back through the crystal, the crimp and the round, pull tight (but not so tight that there's no room for the bracelet to flex! be sure that it can easily be made round) and crimp.

Step 5: Take three of your reserved headpins, and carefully wire them on over the last crimp to disguise it. This is probably the hardest part of making this bracelet because you're working in tight space, so give yourself time.

If you want to add the adapter to make this bracelet into a necklace, take the chain and attach it to the clasp by taking the last two of your unwrapped headpins, creating dangles, and hooking the clasp and chain into the loop before you close the loop.

Have fun! By the time you finish this project, you'll be an EXPERT at creating wrapped loops!

Comments

[Pepper Mentz]

Laura, I have been trying to find this blog and when you posted on Cairenns' forum I was so glad that you posted this info. I will try to read through your blog in the next couple of days and catch up with it and you. Busy day today and must catch up on forums and e-mails before I head out. Thanks for letting us know where you are.