The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bracelets

I participated in a fun bracelet round-robin swap with 4 other talented designers, jewelry-makers and bead-makers! I was so honored to be invited into this special group! We each started the beginning elements of a bracelet, any way we wanted and then sent them off on the road. The bracelets have been traveling all over the country, collecting beads, baubles and jewels from each one of us along the way. Eventually, the bracelet that we started will find it's way back to us finished and filled with treasures and keepsakes galore!!! What could be more fun than that!

The Sisterhood:
Heather Powers of Humble Beads
Lorelei Eurto of Designs by Lorelei
Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati
Christine Damm of Stories They Tell
Me

The traveling done thus far:
To see where the bracelets started and where they have been on their journey so far, please check out the links below!

Pit Stop #1 Heather
Pit Stop #2 Lorelei
Pit Stop #3 Erin H.P.

I'm Stop #4 on the bracelet road trip!
Here's what I've added:

Heather's Bracelet

The first bracelet I worked on was Heather's bracelet. It has a magical spring-like, open and airy feel to it with it's light color scheme and winged creatures. The first item I added was my own stoneware leaf charm in a green glaze near the clasp. I also attached a pewter acorn charm to the leaf. A treat for one of Heather's favorite woodland friends! :) Once I attached the green leaf, I wanted to bring in more of that green color down the rest of the bracelet. I wire-wrapped some green aventurine rounds to Lorelei's faceted garnet links. I loved the magical "winged creatures" theme the bracelet already had going, so I continued that by adding a pewter fairy charm next to Heather's own large branch lentil bead and a vintage-look pewter dragonfly button close to Erin's custom-created bird link.

Christine's Bracelet
Christine's bracelet is earthy and full of life with vibrant greens and reds! It has a woodland forest feel to it with leaves of green, seeds and bright red berries! I immediately added my own stoneware leaf charm in a forest green glaze to the top of Erin's copper "Transformation" word charm. I thought that the leaf was a perfect symbol for the transformation theme of rebirth, renewal and change. Also, my leaf was a wonderful complement to the Earthenwood Studios leaf charm that Heather had added. I'm the last stop for Christine's bracelet, so I went all out, filling in the large brass chain with more red and green beaded dangles. I wire-wrapped on some red coral rounds, some natural red Bahi Seeds and some olive Jade barrel beads on gold-filled head-pins.

Erin Prais-Hintz's Bracelet
With pearls, full beaded clusters and sophisticated colors, Erin's bracelet is rich and opulent! I added my own stoneware leaf charm in a rich brown with a touch of green to Heather's olive branch lentil. I accented the leaf with a green pearl. To play off the other beaded clusters in the bracelet, I wrapped clusters of pearls in green and bronze along Lorelei's purple bead links on the right side of the bracelet. I also added a small brass bird charm to go along with the small gold bee on Erin's hand-made clasp. The birds and the bees! And what would Erin's bracelet be without a key on it! Last, but certainly not least, to make it truly Erin, I added a small copper key charm next to Erin's own custom-made"Enjoy the Day" link.

Lorelei's Bracelet
L's bracelet is fun, funky and playful with a twist of lemon/lime whimsy! I knew I wanted to play off of the design and colors in the bottle cap focal. To bring out the lemon leaf design on the bottle cap bead, I attaching a larger green glass leaf charm to it. Then, I interspersed some smaller green glass leaves with gold veining along half the bracelet length. And of course, I had to add one of my own stoneware leaf charms! I attached one in a green glaze to the end of the bracelet. I also wanted to bring in some more of the turquoise color, so I added a sleeping beauty turquoise round to the large brass ring and a smaller turquoise round to the bottom of the green goldstone oval bead.

My Bracelet
Lastly, here's my bracelet so far! I just love all the beautiful treasures everyone has added! I love the two strands and the texture of the cord and chain! I'm going to try mixing chain and cord in some of my own designs! I also adore the colors and mix of beads and charms! On my bracelet, I decided to tie off the cording and added two small sterling silver balls to the end of the cord.

Well, the bracelets have already left and hit the road for one last time before they head home! They are headed for their 5th and final stop. Christine Damm of Stories They Tell will be adding the finishing touches to each of the bracelets. I can't wait to see them all finished!

Thank you to everyone for joining me on this fun bracelet adventure!
Leave your comments and let me know what you think!