METAMORPHOSIS 32: Sterling silver bangles with yellow gold connector

Here’s the coles notes on how I met Michele: she was referred to my dad by some friends of hers. She came in to discuss jewellery with him…and I basically poached her. Sorry dad! And now Michele and I chat about business ideas and she’s a constant source of inspiration (she’s so great - check out her website here).

Michele has great style! Every time I see her, I feel inspired to wear something other than workout gear. And she loves really unique jewellery which is fun because we get to be extra creative!

I originally wanted to make Michele a silver bangle with a splash of gold running through it. The only reason I didn’t end up making it was because I’ve never done it before and I didn’t want to ruin her materials. I would have to play around soldering her silver and gold together and if I screwed it up, her materials would need to be refined to be salvaged. At the time I didn’t have time to play around with my own materials as a test so instead I opted for something I knew would still meet some of the things she said she liked.

To make her metamorphosis, I made five thin bangles and two small and wide gold ones. The process goes as follows: melt silver, pull wire, anneal silver and quench, pull wire, get wire stick in draw plate, have dad pull stuck wire through draw plate because he’s stronger, anneal and quench silver, make bangles, solder them together, polish them, then…melt gold, roll out, anneal and quench, roll out to desired size, make rings, polish them, join them to silver bangles, solder them closed, polish everything.

The best part is that the day of the Metamorphosis reveal, Michele showed up in the cutest outfit that actually looked like she planned her outfit around the bracelet she hadn’t even seen! So great!

METAMORPHOSIS 13

Three bangles cut from one

Lindsay mentioned that her mum and sister's birthday's were coming up in February so it would be cool if I could possibly make something for the three of them. I thought, why not?! I'm a sucker for sentimental gifts!

Lindsay describes her mum's style as classic, her sister as trendy, and herself as casual. Bangles are good for all styles. A bangle is classic, the hammered look is trendy, and the waves are casual.

I cut the bangles from the same piece of silver as you'll see in the photos below. Figuring out how they fit together is kind of like a rubik's cube. And once you figure it out, you'll notice they don't fit together perfectly. This is because as I cut and filed down sharp edges, some waves no longer fit the mother wave. At first I was annoyed by this but then a sentimental light bulb went off: Lindsay and her sister are cut from the same cloth as their mum but they aren't the same. So it actually makes sense that the bangles don't fit perfectly together.

METAMORPHOSIS: JUNE REVEAL

Bangles set with Amazonite and Black Onyx.

I was a little late handing this Metamorphosis project off, but better late than never!

Tara had mentioned liking this style of bangle in the past. At first I was hesitant to make them because she already has a lot of bangles. But since I knew she would most likely love them, I went ahead anyways. Can’t ever have too many bangles!

To make them, I made the plain bangles first. Then I made all the settings.

Once the settings were all cleaned up and ready to go, I notched the bangles, making little seats for the settings. After soldering the settings to the bangles, I set the stones and then polished the whole bangle.