I am always trying to come up with new ideas on how my customers can use my ceramic pieces. Out of pendants, beads, earring charms and bracelet toppers, I think the bracelet toppers hold the most mystery on designing with them. I have been noticing how popular silk ribbon is and how it can add texture and color to a design, so I bought some! I found a great store on Etsy called Color Kissed Silk and I purchased solid colors and multi colored ribbons. I also had post cards printed up with easy directions for the wearer as well as my business name and information. I sell jewelry at shows and galleries, so the bracelet and post card will slip into a cellophane wrapper to stay clean and neat.
This is what I started with:
The silk ribbon, my bracelet topper, 2 10mm sea sentiment beads from Michaels, and antique bronze metal toggle clasp, 10mm jump rings, 3mm spacer beads and head pins from Hobby Lobby.
Start by opening the jump rings and putting them through the bracelet topper holes. Place a spacer bead, sea sentiment bead and spacer bead on each head pin and make a wire wrapped loop. Put both of these on the front section of the large jump ring before closing it on the side that will not have the toggle clasp. Before closing the other jump ring, put the round section of the toggle clasp through it, then close. Tie one end of the silk ribbon around the jump ring with the bead dangles and tie the other end on the toggle bar. Because the silk would not go through the small hole, I trimmed the stitching off the end and cut a 1″ slice up the ribbon so I could get one half through and I tied it twice with knots. Then I secured each knot with Hypo Cement.
This is the end result:
It is comfortable to wear and will fit all your customers by tying knots in the ribbon if you need to shorten the ribbon to make the toggle clasp close correctly. I plan on making a nice amount of these for my upcoming shows. I hope you will give it a try, too!
Michelle from Firefly Design Studio
