Bracelet Madness

I am seriously hitting the panic button. It's Linda's last full day here and there is just so much left that I want to do....and yes, we are still going to make videos this afternoon! Yikes!!!

I think I am getting the hang of bracelet making. Wow!!! It's not a 3 minute process, that's for sure! This is my second one...and I'm quite happy with it!

While I know I need to perfect my technique....I just can't complain.  A few errors....but hey!  it absolutely fits my wrist which was my goal - custom sizing, custom shaping!

Fortunately, I have an oval bracelet mandrel for use with my metal clay work.  It turned out to be just perfect for making oval Friendly Plastic bracelets  The secret?  Slather it up with vasoline or badger balm.

Oops! Did I just give away a trade secret?  Who needs silpat when you have vasoline?  OK...really, you need them both!

And you really don't need to invest in a mandrel.  Just find an oval shaped bottle about the size of your wrist.  I'm thinking a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby where they have tons of decorative bottles is in order soon.

Here is my first attempt at making a bracelet.  While far from perfect....it was made from nothing but scraps that we had left over.  So I think the possibilities are endless and pretty cool.  Now, how did Linda do that paisley piece?  You are going to have to check her blog and just be patient until she posts that one!!!  If I'm just using the scraps....you can only imagine how gorgeous her piece is!

And my first shape wasn't all that great...but it was the start of getting it to go oval, not round.

I have learned this week that the more I do, the better I get.  I think that with each piece, I have learned a little something new, a different way of doing what I was doing, a little something interesting. So my best advice is to just keep at it.  And I'm still going to say that my absolute favorite thing is that if you don't like what you've made, you can toss it back into the hot water, melt it, recolor or refoil it, and make something completely different!

In the meantime, my head is just swimming with bracelet ideas.  I'm thinking thin narrow bangles, rolled rope bangles with beads and charms dangling from them.....I can hardly wait to play some more but Linda tells me we just have to do some videos today.  After all, we did promise someone that we would do that!  One of these days I'm going to learn to keep my mouth shut!  LOL!!!