Last night I set out to make a bracelet but wound up with a bracer. Yes, that's right - a bracer. In other words, a massive metal bracelet. OK, it isn't armor so it's not technically a bracer, but I made it and so it's a bracer, dangit. Brass, in fact, created from an enormous heavy 5" raw brass stamping from B'Sue Boutiques that has been given an incredible iridescent patina with liver of sulfur (LOS) and then lacquered. Took some brute force and some serious whacking against my bracelet mandrel to get it bent into shape, with lots of fine tweaks with nylon-jawed plyers. It was stiff! But that's good - it won't easily lose it's shape.
The rest of the bracer is made from stamped brass Art Deco connectors, again patina'd in LOS, and raw brass chain that wouldn't cooperate in the LOS (brown is fine, but not for this piece) so I colorized it with African Bronze Gilder's Paste. Can you believe these colors?!?
I think it looks Elven.
Proof that I am not a hand model. :-) |
Nice dings and scratches, eh? I'm pretty hard on my hands. |
This is a right hand bracer, and was shaped around my 7" wrist. You can see in the photos how closely it conforms to my wrist. I wouldn't attempt to wear it on a wrist any smaller than 6-1/2" (perhaps 6") - it'd need an entirely different clasp arrangement; I'll have to make another, smaller one. It is adjustable to go bigger, though - most adult males would be able to wear it, if they wanted to. My son is a 6-footer and built like a Viking and it fit him fine.
Isn't it awesome? I am seriously tempted to keep it. After all, it fits like it were made for me. ;-)
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Here's my latest steampunk ring; the glue hasn't set yet and it'll need some final cleanup, but I think it looks pretty sweet! That clear AB rhinestone is in a pronged brass setting, which you just don't see done very often.
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And finally... I freed that poor lizard.
There's a filigree hanger on the back - I just need to figure out what sort of necklace would look best with this fella. Isn't he wonderful?
Until next time,
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