Fabric Bracelets - Day 2

Hi Everyone

It's Day 2 of my project development week. Today, I'm working on a Fabric Cuff style bracelet.

                     

I'm inspired by these cuff bracelets and will go for a similar design using fabric and ribbon. I'd like to try and develop polymer Charm Labels. I'm going for a metal- like clay and will experiment with rubber stamps to get my words onto the charms. I'm not sure about the fastening at the moment ? Perhaps, I'll go for a button or possibly a standard clasp ? - will see how things go.

Now for a quick review of the Kumihimo Day 1 experiment.

                  I've worked with a variety of sized beads on my initial necklace - I didn't care for the colour combinations so this sample came out. However, I'll make another using these size beads - I like the idea of this one. I also used something called Fray Block for the first time. This is a gel substance which turns the ends of the threading cord into a needle like 'tool'. Picking up beads can be tricky and this gel worked brilliantly. I can highly recommend the gel. All that's required is to stick the ends of the cord into the Fray Block tube, pull out and wait for a few mins. - miraculously, the cord turns stiff and maintains this state - ready for picking up beads (directly onto the cord) from a bead mat.

My second Kumihimo sample is a simple bracelet braid with two types of small seed beads -

                      

I particularly like this design - it's blue (of course) and will be a simple, easy to wear bracelet.

I'm still working on the Kumihimo project and will hopefully develop both projects (day 1 and 2) 'side by side' today.

The aim of my week was to develop a new body of work for workshops, not necessarily that all projects will be finished. Realistically, I'd like to get outline designs by the end of the week which will be the basis for a range of workshop projects or not !  It could be that my ideas are not practical for groups of new makers .

Thanks for calling in today.