Making a shimmy bracelet

I thought I'd show you how I make one of my shimmy bracelets. Obviously this is just a chain with beads attached to it so it's really nothing fancy or revolutionary but I've made many of these over the years and I wanted to show you how I've streamlined the process to make quite a long and repetitive task a little bit faster.

I've watched many Adam Savage videos and he's very methodical in his approach to making and assembling. Although I'm not creating movie prop replicas or costumes like Adam does, I have picked up many helpful tips and pieces of advice from watching him. For jewellery assembly I am a big fan of what Adam refers to as 'order of operations' which is working out the best and most efficient order of doing things to complete a task in the fastest and most logical way. If you want to learn more about this I highly recommend Adam's book 'Every Tool's A Hammer: Life Is What You Make It' which I reckon is a must for any maker.

For a shimmy bracelet I get all the components I need and set them out on my work surface.

First up, beads.

These are an assortment of simple lampwork spacers I made in four shades of pink.

Next, findings.

These are all antique copper-plated brass, except for the clasp which is lead-free pewter. I've gathered quite the collection of antique copper-plated findings and components over the years and now seems like a good time to use them because much like Lurpak butter, the price of sterling silver is getting ridiculous. Sure, brass costume jewellery may not weather as well as sterling silver wearables, but it still looks nice and enables me to charge lower prices. Besides, if Vivienne Westwood can sell brass jewellery (we bought Robyn a Vivienne Westwood bracelet for her 18th) then so can I.

My first job is making the bracelet base from a length of chain, some jump rings, a clasp and a bead dangle.

Next, I thread all of the beads on to headpins, topping each one with a copper round bead.

I then create the first bend of the wrapped loop.

I do this for all of the beads.

I then work through all the headpins again, this time making the loop.

By doing this one-task-at-a-time thing I'm not constantly threading beads, putting one pair of pliers down and picking another one up. The repetitive nature of each job also enables me to be consistent so that my bends, loops and the resulting wraps will all be even.

Next, I attach each headpin to the chain and wrap the loop. I trim off the excess wire and after all the beads are attached to the chain I work along the bracelet, tucking the wire ends in and straightening everything up.

I timed this whole bracelet assembly; from gathering all the parts to finishing the bracelet took me an hour and a quarter. Not bad going for all those wraps.

I don't know if any of what I've shown and written here will be of use to you. If you're already a fellow order-of-operations devotee then I'm giving you a knowing nod. If you're not, give it a go. It's amazing how much time you can save by calculating the most efficient way of doing something in order to become a one person factory-style production line.

If you like the look of this very pink 'Candyfloss' shimmy bracelet, it's in my shop.

I'm going to be doing a bead giveaway here on my blog in the very near future, so please do bookmark me or check back soon.

Turning beads into things

Eighteen years I’ve been making beads. That’s ages. I was twenty-six when I started lampworking! At the beginning of this I was already making jewellery and the idea was to make my own beads to use in my own designs, and I did and I do, but the whole way along I’ve been thoroughly sidetracked by making and selling mostly just beads.

'Blue Confetti' bracelet

'Elephant' earrings

Oftentimes I'll have been making beads and thinking about how I would put them into jewellery and what other beads and components I'd put with them, always telling myself that I can make more of those beads and make that jewellery another time, but I never did. Turns out I don't even like doing bead remakes for myself!

'Lustre Dapple' earrings

'Pink Spotties' earrings

So I’m trying to steer it back to my original plan. I’ve been increasingly disillusioned with lampwork – not the actual act of it – but the constant trying to make something new and the feeling of pressure (from myself) to always be making what I think people will buy.Those are two really great ways to stress yourself out!

The other week I decided to make beads that I would like to turn into jewellery. The photo above of a little dish of beads from a few weeks back was the result and I turned pretty much all of them into wearable things, and I really enjoyed it, so that’s what I’m going to focus on doing for the time being. That’s not to say I won’t have any loose beads for sale – I’m sure I will – but there is going to be more jewellery than loose beads. For now. Until I have another beadmaking paradigm shift. Or retire. Who knows? I’m not a planner, I just do stuff.

'Wood Sprite' necklace

'Spotties' earrings

I've got a few pieces of jewellery in my shop now, including all of the pieces pictured throughout this post. I need to make some more bracelets and necklaces as I currently have only one of each for sale, so do stay tuned.