First Makes

I have decided to start on one type of jewellery and then move onto others as my confidence and ability grows, rather than try and do everything at once and confuse myself! Memory wire bracelets seem to be the simplest so I thought these were ideal for a first make. At the minute I dont have enough spare cash to put in a big order for beads etc so I used my ebay plus points to purchase some round nose pliers, memory wire, a pink bead mix and some silver spacers. My Dad then donated some of his old pliers to me to use to cut the memory wire (I remembered the various warnings that trying to use other jewellery pliers rather than the specified memory wire cutters would just damage them as its tougher than you think!). I also went to a large carboot twice over bank holiday weekend and used to oppertunity to purchase quite a few necklaces with beads on that I could cut up to use, spending in total £5.50. The advantage in this was that I ended up with a large variety of beads and also had some really unusual beads in the mix as well.

As it is my Aunties birthday coming up at the end of the month I decided to make a bracelet to give to her as a gift. This became my first make and is shown in the picture below.




I was quite happy with my first make, although I did have a little difficulty with curling the ends as I didnt feel very happy with them and had a few gos. I posted the picture on the MSE jewellery thread and recieved some lovely supportive and encouraging replies (Thanks Ladies!) and that has given me the courage to give the bracelet as a gift :D


This evening I was itching to have another go. This weekend myself and my partner have been invited to go and stay at his Grandparents caravan with them so I thought it would be a nice gesture to make his Nanna a bracelet also. I had lots of the brown beads left over and initially I was going to make myself a bracelet but I thought this was a better cause :D. As you can see in the picture below I added a charm to this bracelet and I must admit I do think they look better with a little charm on the end. Unfortuantly I only had one suitable charm but I will definately be purchasing lots for future makes. I also made more use of the seed beads I had on this make, which I also think was a wise choice and something I will bear in mind in future makes.




If you have any suggestions or comments on my makes please feel free to comment. As Im very much learning I welcome any tips!


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