Growing a bit tired of making the popular wave bracelets that I’ve done for months, I’ve been fiddling with other ways to form wire armatures for bracelets. I’ve attempted to apply the core of creative constructs, fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration; but got a bit stuck on the first f. My goal was to find as many different ways as possible to create a cuff armature to hold gemstones using a single length of wire. I wanted the bracelet to have at least three rungs to make it interesting. Armed with lots of wire, I began in an attempt to be fluent. Alas, I wasn’t very! The difficulty popped up in figuring out what to do with the ends of the wire. Although I created several ways to shape the wire, few of them were usable. The first picture shows a bracelet adapted from one shown in Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders by Irina Miech. I’ve made this bracelet before and it is popular. Previously, I constructed these with deeper curves and more stones and they were nicer.

The second usable idea came quite by accident from a casual customer comment. When I showed her one of my large round collage pendants, she plopped it right down on her wrist, commenting that she’d like it as a bracelet. Of course, I went straight home and made one. (or two . . . or three . . . ) Two of the bracelets and one armature are shown here. I think the armature looks like a fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While working on these bracelets, I’ve had to challenge my thinking about practicing to learn. I’ve always thought that bigger was better while learning. For example, we use large letters and large musical notes in the initial teaching of reading. When I learned to do seed bead work, I started with larger seed beads until I learned a technique and then gradually worked down to the tiny one. Therefore, I figured that with wire, I could start with the big stuff and then refine it. That was the thought until my hands started to ache. With wire work, of course, bigger means heavier gauge wire that is usually more difficult to bend. Painfully speaking, I think I’m going to experiment with a lighter gauge and then graduate to the heavier wire. That said, I can only surmise that there are no absolutes in learning. How to go about it varies not only with the person, but also with the medium. I’m realizing that more pre-thought before jumping in might yield a more “comfortable” practice.

I’m still winding wire as I attempt to find the perfect cuff armature. Let’s hope another customer provides a good idea today.