Thursday, April 12, 2012

DIY Chain Harness Bracelet

Ok, ok, I promise, this is the last bracelet tutorial for a long time. I hardly ever wear bracelets anyway. But now I do since I'm making a bunch. My chain supply is beginning to dwindle so there's only so long this chain-DIYing can continue. Last weekend's project was this wicked looking chain harness bracelet. It's super bondage-y, isn't it? So it goes.


When I initially bought my piles of chain, jump rings, and lobster clasps from Toho Shoji in NYC, I got them in black since I figured it's neutral enough. Luckily, black worked out perfectly for this project. I used all 2 feet of chain and secretly wish I had another foot of the stuff to add another level of bracelet.


I had no idea how to start out this project. I didn't know what I was doing. As I always think, DIY is half guess-and-check. SO that's what I did. I spent about 10 minutes winding chain around my hand figuring out what looked good, what worked, what wasn't physically possible. And the good thing about using jump rings and chain that's easy to cut with wire cutters is that if you don't like the way something turns out, chop it bend it back. I would cut pieces of chain too long and attach them... then chop more off 5 minutes later. Just play around until you get something you like.

(you can see my fading henna-bow)

I eventually decided on a pattern that resembles the right picture. The first picture most clearly illustrates what I did. While it's easy to just cut and bend, it really helps to count out links and make sure both sides are even. For example, I tried for some kind of symmetry. I used 6 links in between both the each hypotenuse side of the corresponding triangles (DID YOU SEE THAT!? I just used two geometry terms. But I incorrectly used "corresponding triangles". They're not corresponding. The smaller triangle's hypotenuse doesn't correspond to the larger triangle because it's disproportionately longer. See, I can be smart sometimes.)


And here's the finished project! The part that connects to my finger is too long so I actually shortened it after I took these pictures. 

Experiment! Have fun. 

1 comment:

  1. I'm so excited to do this! Thanks for sharing how you made yours, I love it! <3

    ReplyDelete