Every since I reclaimed a too-short wooden necklace in April I've been thinking about beads and beading and a few necklaces that I have but no longer wear. Exploring the options of stringing beads appeals to me as I love colors and colored stones and am intrigued by the idea of making beaded necklaces. If I were to pursue this further I would need to learn to knot silk well, as this technique fits my style more than most simple beaded necklaces, but I realize there are other techniques that would be fun to explore.
But as much as I admire other people's beaded necklaces and earrings, they all too often fall a little too far into the crafty and hand-made spectrum to fit my taste. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with either crafty or hand-made, I appreciate both, but there is a definite disconnect between what I see, and even admire in the bead store and what I would actually wear.
Enter the Chan Luu wrap bracelet. Garnet Hill had some of these with pearls a while back, and although I never got around to ordering one, they never completely left my mind either. When someone in my knitting group was making a similar bracelet a a couple of months back, my interest was definitely piqued. So I went off to the bead store.
My friend was using glass beads, and they were lovely. The bead store had a lovely selection of glass "pearls" and a few freshwater pearls, but somehow they did not appeal to me. Most of them were dyed and I did not really like they way they caught, or failed to catch, the light. So a search was on for pearls, and truthfully I did not know what I was doing. But I found some small, rice-shaped (oval) pearls that were inexpensive enough that I was willing to take a chance and I ordered them. They were not fabulous, but they were pretty and had a soft glow that I could accept. They are a little larger than the seed pearls, but I have decided I rather like the size and the shape.
Then I found a Swarovski crystal button to use as a toggle for the closure and I was off.
After the initial period of clumsiness, I found that making this bracelet was quite relaxing and enjoyable. I want to make more. I wake up with dreams of bracelets dancing in my head, although there are one can only wear so many wrap bracelets. I am thinking that these may prove to be great gifts for nieces and and great-nieces come the holidays. At the moment I am obsessing about lemon quartz, although I don't have any and I am thinking that my next version will be using some tiny orange beads that have been reclaimed from an old necklace. This should be very appropriate for a young girl rapidly approaching her teens.
But back to my bracelet. I loved making this, although there was quite a bit of redoing and adjusting as I learned the proper tension to keep the beads in place while maintaining proper flexibility in the bracelet. It would have been much easier to start with a consistent glass seed bead until I mastered the technique rather than starting with pearls which are not round, inconsistent in shape, and inconsistent in length. It is not perfect, but I am reasonably happy with it, and have been wearing it steadily since completion a couple of weeks ago.
Although I love wearing it, there are a few niggling tension problems. I should be able to resolve these with the next couple of versions, at which time I will probably take this one apart and remake it. Or perhaps I will just start from scratch. I have more of these pearls. If I do it again, there are several changes I would make to the overall construction of this bracelet.
First, I may well sort the pearls by color, as you can see on the photo of me wearing the pearls that there are substantial variations in the colors of the pearls. I don't necessarily want a uniform look, but I may want a little more control over the variations in color. This may mean that I need to use my "spare" pearls and dismantle the existing bracelet in order to get enough pearls in the desired color sequence.
I will also take time to sort the pearls more closely by length and shape, eliminating any particularly long, or particularly wide pearls, or in the case of the wide ones, attempting to work them into the general design of the piece. Since many of the pearls are narrower on one end and wider on the other, I will also take far more care with the orientation of each pearl as I place it on the bracelet, in the few areas I did this with my first bracelet, I am far happier with the way the bracelet lays than I am with the areas that are more random.
I think I will also copy Chan Luu's technique of adjustable loops on the end for closure. This bracelet was custom made for me, and I rather like the loop I made, but I do think there are possibilities with the staggered knot technique as well.
Last, but not least, I am still on the lookout for some fabulous round pearls; not necessarily white, although white would do. I have a tiny 14 inch strand of freshwater seed pearls with breathtaking luster. I don't know where I got them. If anyone knows of a good source for high quality seed pearls, please let me know.
