Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Just Checkin' In

Hi - sorry I've been quiet for yet another week. I am still a bit blog-challenged and have not been in a very creative place lately. I appreciate all the great new connections I've made recently through your blogs and Twitter, and really want to keep the conversation going, so I'll try a bit harder!

I've started messing (and that word is quite appropriately descriptive) around with the gluable bracelet forms - here's one work in progress so far. White metal bracelet form with gluable discs and hammered links to which I have, so far, added 5, 14mm long by 10mm wide hemimorphite beads. there are 7 links in the bracelet, but the final link on one end is the clasp link and the other end is the loop link through which the clasp locks so I couldn't add the beads to them.



and here's how I did it

Supplies

Snipped about 3" of wire and shaped a "t-pin" shape using the chain nose pliers (and flush cutter when I had excess to snip)


make a right angle bend about 3/4 inch long

bend back over itself about 1/4 inch from the center (long end of wire)

turn over, bend the other side the same way - there's a bit of overlap, trim with flush cutter

flatten the folds as much as possible

Now, for the assembly stuff
  1. Open the connector bit on one of the gluable disk links
  2. Remove the oval hammered link and thread wire through the vertical opening in the opened connector bit (I bet there's a technical term for that)
  3. Put the oval link back in, making sure the bead and the wire are on "top" of the link, otherwise you have to thread the wire back through the link, and the less bending the better because (as I'm sure everyone knows but I tested the concept strenuously, and often, to the failure point...) soft wire gets brittle and breaks the more you work it
  4. Close the connector bit (there I go with those highly technical terms again) over the wire pin and link - it's a tight fit and will make the bracelet a little less flexible, unfortunately.
  5. Thread the wire through the open connector bit on the next disk.


This part is extra tricky. I had to do all the folding and bending and trimming of the wire that I was able to do easily when it was just holding and folding the wire, inside of the open connector and then close the connector over it and the oval link. After finishing, it sometimes stuck out too much so it showed on the right side of the piece, and I either had to try and squish it in, or open the whole thing up again and trim it then bend and squish a much smaller piece of wire, inside the tight confines of the connector.


Then I closed up the connector bit on the other side.


Finished work - so far.



Still need to decide what to do with the gluable disk part. I'm thinking about investing in some resin and molds and trying my hand at little round resin domes with something embedded in them - not sure what to embed (but edging closer to a vintage-y concept), nor what kind of resin to get. I have the MagicGlos stuff, but I need a cure light for that. Also thinking about polyclay, but I need a better working surface than I have right now, which would entail lots of re-arranging the office/beading room and purchases of things I need not be purchasing right now, like new shelving and a nice long worktable/bench (that I've been wanting for some time now).

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6 Comments:

Blogger Just A Tish said...

BRILLIANT!

March 17, 2009 at 6:02 PM  
Blogger ohdawno said...

aww, shucks. I read it again, saw a goof in the steps and fixed it. I am fairly sure there's an easier way to do this, but I really couldn't think of any other ways.

March 17, 2009 at 6:10 PM  
Blogger Lisa Crone said...

NICE, I didn't even see this when I commented on your most recent post. These colors and techniques are GREAT!! Really nice job!! I like the look of this already and you actually could consider it finished. So cool!

March 18, 2009 at 8:10 PM  
Blogger ohdawno said...

Lisa - nice to see you again! as for leaving it as is, well, the unfolding and folding of the connector bits left the disks pretty scratched up...gonna have to put something on them, I'm afraid.

Next time I try something like that, I'm going to have to put some masking tape on the disk or something to protect it! Live and learn...

March 18, 2009 at 8:13 PM  
Blogger Dave Robertson said...

Wow, Dawno, another deconstructed bracelet blank idea! About the scratched disks -- would it do to hammer them for a neat texture?

--Dave

March 23, 2009 at 9:00 AM  
Blogger ohdawno said...

Hi Dave, and thanks for sharing my post on Twitter.

I hadn't considered hammering - my tries on other things haven't always worked out that well, but it's an idea.

I purchased some very nice glass dome bits from an Etsy shop and I think I'll be using them, but I won't know for sure until I get them!

March 23, 2009 at 9:27 AM  

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