And so this week I decided I'd have a go at making a similar bracelet to the girl in the bar - a bracelet made from buttons. Only I didn't have the right sort of buttons. Not enough four-holed, equally sized, tonally pleasing coloured buttons. Well I did have enough buttons for one bracelet, but it was immediately snaffled by Child No. 3 - "Buttons are IN right now" she informed me!
So what to do for a bracelet for me?
I have lots of chipboard, I have loads of scraps of patterned paper, I have a 1" circle punch and I have a Silent Setter which punches tiny holes, so I set to work once again.
Of course paper-based jewellery won't last forever, despite a couple of layers of PVA glue, but then these are so cheap and fun to make that I'll make more when they wear out while I'm looking for decent real buttons!
My prototype bracelet used wool to string the buttons together, which works fine; I'm sure thin ribbon would also work well enough. Of course there are proper jewellery making supplies of waxed cotton thread or leather thongs that are meant to be used for these things, but, again, I didn't have those. Instead I have used some scoubis - remember them? Scoubi heyday was back in 2006 and it seemed like the whole world was busy weaving and knotting and plaiting ... the children (teenage boys included!) and I made necklaces, animals, bracelets, key fobs, coasters, ... "Buy more please Mum", "I've run out of pink!", "Rachel's asked me to make her a green sparkly bracelet" ... and then suddenly, almost overnight, they lost interest, leaving hundreds (possibly thousands) of the things rotting in a bag at the back of the cupboard. Except that they aren't rotting - they're plastic and will sit there forever, waiting, abandoned ... :o(
Anyway - three scoubis have now been put out of their misery and pressed into service ... just 1397 to go!
just took a detour from the blog part to say hi and thanx for coming with us for the ride. i love ur bracelwts they're divine. shimelle's blog class is now slef-paced so u can buy it from her and then access all the classes on her forum. quite a few girls on the hop have done it that way,
ReplyDeleteJo xxxx
Oh, yes, we have plenty of those lying around not rotting away!
ReplyDeleteI saw your lovely comment and just had to come over tonight - how could I not include you in a night of celebrating blog friendships? Your early support and friendship on UKS meant such a lot to me - I do want you to know how much I have always appreciated it! And now I'm delighted that you are discovering the fun of blogging! Thanks for everything Jemma x
Jemma thanks for the inspiration of these lovely bracelets I have added my necklace to my blog too but I have given you the credit.
ReplyDeleteWow these bracelets are lovely and what a clever idea to use chipborad and patterned paper, they look great! You could make them to match your outfit!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing along with us at The Studio!
Jemma, I don't remember scoubis, but love those bracelets! So very stylish ... When is your Etsy shop opening?
ReplyDeleteJemma you crease me up, I'll go and add the missing 's' right away.
ReplyDeleteThis is soooo cute! Congrats & tks for playing with us at The Studio ;)
ReplyDelete