Full Circle

I have a major hoarding problem. Anyone who steps foot in my house can see that. This problem carries over into my work as well. I make porcelain pieces by the dozens and I hoard them away as though they were food in a time of famine. Sometimes I hoard because the pieces are just so beautiful that I think I will never be able to replicate them. So I have a pile of stunningly gorgeous pieces that no one will ever be able to enjoy - except for me. When I am 89 I can lovingly look upon my stash (if I can still see it) and perhaps at that time it will occur to me just how ridiculous and useless all this hoarding is/was (especially if I can't see it. And if I can't see it is it still beautiful? - I mean, if a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?).

But I digress.
Yesterday I dug out some of those pieces and made this bracelet. Granted, these pieces aren't in the "so incredible I could never recreate them" category, but I had been hoarding them nonetheless. I made them specifically to be a bracelet but I was never satisfied with using standard jump rings to connect them so off they went into my stash.

I have been playing around with different kinds of rivets and connections for a long time now. Some of the experiments have gone nowhere and have only resulted in many broken pieces and much foul language. But the ball rivet has been nice to me thus far. Melting the end of a piece of sterling silver wire is fun and thankfully that fun can translate into something that actually functions. Yay! So I took the ball rivet further and made longer pieces that I then wrapped around the pieces to secure them. It worked like a charm! The result is a very light and airy bracelet with a modern feel. I am so please with the end result that the pang of separation anxiety I felt when I pulled these pieces from my hoard has nearly dissipated. Baby steps. :)

This bracelet can be found in my Etsy shop.