Charm Exchange Bracelet

Do you love the diversity of charm bracelets?  Often, they say a lot about what you like.  Some people have topic, color or style specific ones.

This one was a lot fun, because it came from a charm exchange on Lampwork Etc.  Hosted by Mallory Hoffman and Deb Batten, it had a lot of beadmakers participating.  The maximum number we could submit was 15 charms with receiving the same number in return.  I loved it.  Any material was fair game.

I'll take a better photo next time, but I was so excited, that I wanted to show you.  Having a wire base, it was necessary to have spacer material between the charms, to help prevent them from bumping against each other next time.  I really like being able to use up some of my little lampwork donuts that were hanging around and I added in some of my fun rubber O rings from Yvonne at MyElements on Etsy.

So now I want to know what do you like in charm bracelets?  Do you have one (or more)?  What materials is it made from?  Does it have a theme?  And of course, I'll take any jewelry making suggestions you could toss out.  I have so much to learn!

Size Does Matter

Yesterday I received a convo, (that's Etsy talk for conversation or private email), from a customer who had seen this bracelet in Bead Dreams Magazine January 2009 issue and wanted to make her own version of it.

Could I make her a mermaid and a seahorse that are .5" tall? That's just under 13mm. I measured the mermaids on this bracelet and they are about .7" or 18mm and remembered how hard it was to make the wee complicated beads.

She explained that she wanted a more delicate bracelet and the smaller charms would better fit into her design.
Needless to say, the seashells, sea glass and other less detailed and rounder beads would be so much easier to reduce and she did choose a starfish and palm tree in the diminutive size too. So today, part of my studio schedule includes attempting a half inch mermaid.

Charm sized beads are a great way to use up stringer and other little bits that are hanging around your bench. I love making sculptural miniatures which make great charms, earrings or dangles. I keep a small section, (ha, ha) in my Etsy shop.

If anyone else wants to join me in trying this, I'd love to see your efforts. The colors of her hair and tail have been left up to me. I'm smiling thinking that yellow could be interesting. That way I could make her wearing an itsy bitsy teensy weensy yellow polka dot bikini, that she wore for the first time today. (Please note, the last line is only amusing if you are about my age and know this song. But if you do, it will probably be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. My apologies.)