Fit for a King

Spend the day designing a bracelet wrap for your partner, grandson, nephew, son…or for yourself. It can also be worn as a necklace, and looks great on any and everyone, young and old, female and male. All levels of experience are welcome in this class, from beginner up.

In the course of the day, I’ll share with you my Nina Knot wire wrapping link technique, stone drilling and grooving with a dremel, hammering straight and centered words into metal, oxidizing (darkening) of sterling, hammering a curved shape for the word link, and working with leather cord. At day’s end everyone will have completed his or her own bracelet wrap with a design that incorporates one or two succinct words of your choosing, beads and a stone that you’ve brought from home, making it a memento perfectly fit for a king (or queen).

Kit Fee: $10

Supply List:

• small package of 2mm round leather cord (available from Michael’s or etsy sellers, as well as Walmart and other craft stores); I used around 4 or 5 feet for this project.
• several beads with holes large enough to accommodate 20 gauge wire
• one smooth, flat stone; the beaches at Fort Worden have lots of these
• scissors
• small hammering block, if you have one (mandatory for hammering designs and letters into metal); available from volcanoarts.biz for around 16.00
• small hammer
• masking tape
• ink pad, any type or color
• cutting mat with inch measurements on it
• bent needle-nosed pliers, round needle-nosed pliers, and wire snips (smaller version for craft work); a very reasonably priced set is available from volcanoarts.biz; do not bring huge tools from your garage, they will be too awkward to use!
• emory board for filing corners and edges
• dremel tool, if you have one; I’ll be bringing mine from home to share but we’ll need more than one for the class; I fully advise getting yourself a universal chuck for your Dremel, so that you don’t have to change collets all the time for your different drill bits. These are available for about $9 at Lowe’s or Home Depot; those of you willing to bring your dremel from home and share, I thank you very much!
• at least ten feet of 20 gauge sterling wire; copper will be cheaper to experiment with, so you will be happy if you bring some copper for practicing wire wrapping. I prefer round, dead soft sterling silver, and purchase it from www.riogrande.com. Another good source, without a minimum requirement, is www.firemountaingems.com.
• if you have a 1/8” metal alphabet stamp set, please bring to share with others. I’ll bring my own as well, and will bring my 2 rawhide mallets for everyone to use.
  
  Kit Fee Includes:
• 2” x ½” rectangle of 20 gauge sterling
• an antiqued 38mm bronze swivel lobster clasp
• two heavy sterling links
• a small square of polishing paper
• as well as provision of diamond drill bits
• use of my dremel
• hand drill
• metal alphabet stamps
• bracelet mandrels
• liver of sulfur for oxidizing the silver
  
  Remind yourself to tuck the cash into an envelope to include with tools when you are packing your materials before leaving home.
  
  *If making as a gift, try to discreetly measure width of wrist before leaving home….finished length of thrice-wrapped bracelet is 22”, give or take a bit of length.