Saturday, February 1, 2014

Tutorial: Double Wrap Spruce Bough Bracelet


                                       Double Wrap Spruce Bough Bracelet by Mary Harding


My tutorial for today is a Winter themed double wrap bracelet made with one of my ceramic spruce bough bracelet bars,  lots of gorgeous chain and a smattering of blue green beads.  Before we get started I want to thank all of you for your very kind and supportive comments on my Introduction post.  I so appreciate such a warm welcome.

           This double wrap fir bough bracelet is made like a long chain--measures 16 1/2 inches end to end  It fits a 6 1/2 inch wrist comfortably.

Materials

1 ceramic spruce bough bracelet bar (www.maryhardingjewelry.etsy.com)
3 blue green  8 mm enameled copper beads:  2 round and one oblong (www.artisanbeadsplus.etsy.com)
3-6  inches of blue green patinated 10mm oval copper chain  (www.missficklemedia.etsy.com)
6 3-4 mm green jade stones
1 Large copper S clasp 1 1/2 inches long  in black or antique copper  (see tutorial by Cindy Wimmer  Here for directions on how to wire wrap this clasp)
6-7 inches of lightbulb links made from 16 gauge copper wire (see Cindy Wimmer's book The Mssing Link for directions on how to make this link  on page 41) 
1 loopty loop link (see Cindy Wimmer's book The Missing Link for directions on how to make on page 45 )
8 inches  20 gauge antiqued copper wire from Vintaj available in craft stores
3 feet of 22 gauge antiqued copper wire from Vintaj available in craft stores
2 11mm brass jump rings (www.ornamentea.com)
1 16 mm antiqued copper jump ring 16 gauge (www.ornamentea.com)

Tools
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Bailing pliers Smallest size
Flush Cutters
Tools for making the Cindy Wimmer links are included in those project directions 



Overview of how we are going to make this double wrap bracelet starting from your left of the spruce bough bracelet bar

Step 1  Flush cut an 8 inch piece of the 20 gauge wire and wire wrap loops on both ends of one of the round enamel beads.

                                                         wire wrapped enamel bead

Step 2 Attach the wire wrapped enamel bead to the spruce bough bracelet bar with one of the 11mm antique brass jump rings

                                               enamel bead attached to spruce bough bracelet bar

Step 3  Open a link in one end of the blue green copper chain and attach it to the other wire wrapped loop of the round enamel bead

round enamel bead attached to the blue green copper chain

Step 4   Open one end of  the loopty loop link
open end of loopty loop link


Step 5   Attach the loopty loop link to the blue green copper chain
loopty  loop link attached to the blue green copper chain



Step 6   Open the other end of the loopty loop link and attach it to the first long loop of the light bulb link chain
attaching loopty loop to light bulb chain



Step 7  On the 2nd  link of the light bulb chain open up the long side

                                                   opened long side of the light bulb link

and slide  one of the blue green enamel beads onto the wire and then close up the link
                                               enamel bead strung onto the light bulb link

Step 8  Open the 4th link in the light bulb chain and slide on the oblong green enamel bead as you did in Step 7

                                                 oblong enamel bead attached to light bulb link


Step 7 On the last link in the light bulb chain, open the small side of the link and attach it to the bottom of the large wire wrapped S clasp

                                            light bulb link attached to the bottom of the S clasp

Step 8  Wire wrap the small jade green stones with the 22 gauge antiqued copper wire using the larger barrel of the small bailing pliers to make the loops. 

             small barrel bailing pliers one barrel is larger than the other  use that one to wrap the loops




Attach the stones to each other as you go until you have a chain of 6 beads. It should measure about 4 1/2 inches long.
                         wire wrapped small stones attached to each other as in a chain


Step 9  Fold this chain in half and insert an 11mm jump ring in one of the wire wrapped loops at the fold.  Then attach the 11 mm jump ring and chain to the spruce bough bracelet bar.
                                jump ring in loop of small wire wrapped bead at the fold





Step 10  Attach the 16 mm jump ring to the two wire wrapped loops at the open end of the wire wrapped chain of small green stones.



   The S clasp will hook into the 16 mm jump ring to close the bracelet.  The 11 mm brass ring attaches the small green stone chain to the  bracelet bar


Step 11 Wrap the chain you have just constructed around your wrist  two times and hook the clasp into the 16 mm jump ring that you had attached to the wire wrapped beads.  Make adjustments to the length of the bracelet by adding or subtracting links from the blue green copper chain  until it fits you the way you like it. 



Step 12. Enjoy wearing your new bracelet.


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it gave you some ideas for making one of your own.  Thank you for stopping by.

Art Beads
Spruce bough bracelet bar Mary Harding
Enamel beads  Artisan Beads Plus


                                              Spruce bough  and spruce bough bracelet bar




Posted by Mary Harding

10 comments:

Gale said...

I love your spruce bough, all the green, and how you included a bead within Cindy's lightbulb link!

sandi m said...

Wonderful tutorial Mary. Simple instructions and great step by step photos. What a perfect way to showcase your bough and Cindy's wire beads. Can't wait for your next project. Thank you!
(Right now all my spruce boughs are covered with inches of snow!)

bairozan said...

Such a harmonious and beautiful piece of jewelry plus an excellent tutorial - I have learned and keep learning from generous people like you!

Janine said...

What a lovely bracelet and thank you so much for this tutorial Mary. Love the bracelet bar!

Linda Younkman said...

Great tutorial and what a beautiful bracelet. I love the spruce leaf focal and the mixture of chain and links.

baymoondesign said...

Great tutorial. I am going to give this a try.

Stories They Tell said...

What a complete and clear tutorial, Mary! Your components are gorgeous, especially this spruce bough-- you have really captured its essence. I love how you used Cindy's links and the patinated chain from Shannon German. It's a very collaborative project and I can't wait to try it.

Cindy said...

Mary, what a wonderful surprise to see this incredible project - I actually saw it pinned on Pinterest first! :) I love wrapped bracelets - what a great way to use the wire links and your beautiful bracelet bar. I'm glad you included actual fir branches in your pictures because it is just amazing the likeness of your ceramic fir bough component is to the real one! I really like this collaborative design; thank you for sharing this tutorial.

Judy Barnes said...

What a wonderful tutorial and bracelet.
Terry Redlin Prints

Shai Williams said...

What a great tutorial! I love how you refer back the books where you picked up the techniques and then show how you added your own touch.