Three Stranded Bracelet

In my free time I love to craft – anything and everything.  I go in spurts on what I like to work on.  This week it has been sewing but the last few weeks I have been working on jewelry.  My parents live in Abu Dhabi and have great access to buy raw materials at markets in Dubai.  The access to materials like turquoise, red coral, pearls and any other stones you can possibly imagine is unreal.  So are the prices.  Over the past 4 or 5 years that they have lived there I have built up a great inventory of stones and jewelry materials.  Living in the southwest the turquoise is very popular so the style of jewelry I have been making works well in my environment.  I had been making some heavy pieces but wanted to try something on the lighter side.  I also wanted to experiment with multi-strand items. 

Below are a few pictures of my first attempt at a multi strand bracelet.  It is very light and comfortable to wear.  It also doesn’t take over my arm by being heavy or bulky.  This pink themed piece features fresh water pearls and silver accents from Dubai and various shades of glass beads.  I added the heart clasp to keep it delicate.  I strung it on silk to give it extra strength since I can be pretty rough with my jewelry.  Here is how it turned out.

I can’t wait to give a try at another multi-stranded piece! I purchased some purples to go with the LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) color to wear at our events.  I also started collecting some yellow and gray tinted turquoise pieces for future assembly.  I completed a multi—strand bracelet of rough cut white (buffalo) turquoise (2 strands) with one strand of traditional blue turquoise in round beads.  The variance in texture and color really made for a nice piece.  I wore it around the house for about thirty minutes before I had some assembly malfunctions.  I had experimented with a new stringing material and found that it did not take the heavy beads and movement of the wrist well.  One of the white turquoise strands broke.  At least it happened in the house and I was able to recover all of the beads!  I will reassemble that piece the next time I have some time.  I will also use double stranded silk to make sure it has all the strength needed. 

I love getting new ideas for what jewelry to make through catalogs I get in the mail.  I am amazed at how high some of the jewelry is for how simple it is to make!  There are also some great opportunities in this region to go to wholesalers and stores that carry raw materials for artisan production.  I recently picked up a new beading magazine that had some great tips and ideas that I look forward to trying soon!