November Pinterest Project

I haven't been very crafty OR stitchy lately. I'm thinking it's because my head is starting to spin a little bit because of the upcoming holidays. My December calendar is filling up with all kinds of stuff from appointments to actual fun events. Good reason? Probably not.

I did take some time to work on a project that I've been wanting to attempt for some time. It's called a captured bead chain maille bracelet and you can find the video instructions by Beadaholique right HERE.

I bought all of the supplies to make this bracelet at Michael's. I needed some 10mm jump rings, 6mm jump rings, 8mm round beads, and a clasp.

And there it is. It took me about an hour and a half to make this and that includes cat interruptions and ringing phones. I'd describe this as a good beginner project because it's all a matter of opening and closing jump rings, as well as inserting the beads.

I did take note of some comments on this video (and another similar video) about the rings moving around and then the beads falling out. Ugh. Who wants that? But I decided to try it anyway because I liked the look of this so much.

When I wore it to work I didn't have any problems with it, but earlier this week I wanted to show it to my sister, Sheila. Instead of wearing it, I stuck it in my jacket pocket because I was having trouble clasping it. (Note to self: use magnetic clasps whenever possible!). Here's what happened.

Somehow a bead worked out of it while it was in my pocket. So there was some truth to that comment after all! I've come to the conclusion that this bracelet will be ok A.) If you wear it and it fits well and B.) If you store it in a place where you can keep it straight and it won't get jostled around.

Next I wanted to know if it could be fixed by removing and replacing a couple of loops. The answer for me was "no". As soon as I removed the necessary loops, the next bead would fall out, and so on. I ended up re-doing the bracelet from the mishap to the end. And that wasn't too bad as the one that fell out originally was only the third one from the end. But after I thought about this for a while, I think there might be a easier repair method. Hmmmm, I'll try it if this happens again.

If it fell out in the middle of the bracelet, I would have had much more work to do.

Yay, it's repaired!

Would I make this bracelet again? I would, but only after buying different gauge jump rings. In the comments section of the video mentioned above, there is a link to some information on the recommended materials for a similar (more elaborate) project that uses some of the same rings. Honestly, I don't know what gauge jump rings I used; it didn't say on the package. So I would definitely look into that.

To sum it up, it's a really pretty and unique bracelet, and I'll keep wearing it. I'll always be on alert for escaping beads though.

I'll be back soon to show you the stitching I've (kind of) been working on lately!