Charming Teapots

Gaylene emailed me from New Zealand about making a bracelet for her mother’s 60th birthday. Gaylene said “She really likes decorative teapots, but alas, no more room to add to her collection. So I thought of a teapot charm bracelet.”

What a sweet idea! The only problem was that Gaylene wasn’t sure what weave to use and which ring size. I can help with that part…

Round 1:

Nearly any weave can work for a charm bracelet, but I personally like to use weaves that can be modified to have little “charm goes here” spots – larger/heavier rings interspersed in the pattern. I think it looks nice to have the charms hanging from spots that were clearly designed to hold them. It makes the entire design look more deliberate. Birdcage is a great choice for this type of modification. I sent Gaylene these pictures:

Birdcage Charm is the variation that I usually use for charm bracelets. It lays nicely flat, and really looks like it wants to have little pretties hanging from those open spots. Birdcage Lace is a good option if the bracelet will hold a large number of charms, but it doesn’t lay as flat on the wrist.

Round 2:

Gaylene preferred the Birdcage Charm pattern, and liked the overall chain size, but wanted to see it with charm spots that were a little more subtle. I scaled down the big rings and also sent her some on-ruler pictures to make the comparison easier.

Round 3:

And we have a winner! I sent her 1/4 ozt of 14:16ss and 3/4 ozt of 9:18ss to make one bracelet. (She used doubled 7:19ss rings to attach the charms – a strong little “chunky-monkey” size.) Gaylene: thank you so much for sending pictures.  I love seeing what my rings grow up to be!

This was Gaylene’s first chainmail project, but she was already a skilled beader. She sent me some pictures of the final presentation of her gift, complete with the basket she made to match. Unsurprisingly, her mum very much loved her 60th birthday teapot treasure.

Round 4:

I fell in love with these charms, and decided to get some for myself. Here’s my version, with rose gold fill connectors. I got the charms from Firemountain Gems. I got the 10mm and 8mm Murano silver foil beads from my bead box.