Saturday, September 6, 2014

Production Mode

Remember the double sided flip bangles?
I made more.
 
Allow me to explain my thinking in this design.
I've seen charm bangles before but the charm was always one-sided which left a bit of the design aspect hidden depending on whether your arm was up (we'll say you're texting) or down (not texting). And also, I don't like the fact that the charm was kind of uncontrollable. I know the purpose was for maximum jangle factor, but sometimes I don't want my cut charms all up in my food.
So....
 
Here's what I did.
First of all, each bangle starts as a length of 10 gauge copper wire, I cut the size bangle I want, anneal it, hammer the ends flat and then put a tube rivet in the ends to create the bangle.
I leave the rivet facing upon the bangle instead of out.
 
This means that when I put the jump ring through the charm and the rivet, the jump ring will allow the charm to rotate so that it always flips from one color to the other as you move your arm up or down.
 
 
Because it is locked in the tube rivet, the charm will never slide around the bangle, which means, you can push it up your arm to where it sticks a bit (a la Cleopatra...though I'm not making them big enough to go up your bicep) and rotate it so that the charm is on the top. No jewelry in your food and vice versa.
 
The best part though by far is the constant change of color as you move your arm, oh and also because I use 26 gauge sheet for the copper and the charms are laminate, they weigh nothing, so even though it is a bit of a substantial charm (almost a full inch). It feels completely weightless.
 
 
I'm trying to keep them monochromatic, just varying the shades of the color so that it will match whatever you're wearing.
 
I've already done the birds and they are in the shop, I've got the two butterflies above, and also two more butterflies in the works, a hummingbird, and maybe a moth.
I think it's pretty much my best design idea so far and I'm just making a blue million of them.
 
I took the plunge and applied for a show this fall, never done a show before and I'm hoping that they'll accept my work.
For that reason, I'm kind of in production mode right now and not listing things in the shop.
However, I will say that if I don't get accepted, there will be a giant shop update at the end of October with bunches of goodies.
 


I do hope you're enjoying the first few days of September and if you're preparing for Fall Festivals, good luck my friends!
I'll try to get some of my new pendants photographed just to show off the color combos that I'm working on!
Have a wonderful weekend, amigos! 

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