Finally...........

..........I can post this bracelet. I made it for my sister for her birthday (Happy Birthday Eileen), and through a series of unfortunate events, was delayed in sending it out to her.......but she finally got it so here it is:

This bracelet is actually what started me on the road to heating the pennies on the wood stove (confused?.....see here) before working with them. Initially I was going to use pennies with her birth year on them but then got to thinking that she probably didn't want to advertise her age on her wrist (not that it bothers her, but why have a constant reminder?)so I domed the pennies so they were wheat side up. A penny for each of her children (3 boys - I really don't know how she survives!), with sterling wrapped turquoise (her birthstone)and garnet beads and finished off with a sterling silver lobster clasp. I swished the pennies in a mixture of lemon juice and salt so they came out shiny and brand new looking (really, really hard to capture the pretty pinkish glow of new copper with a camera) - so they blended really well with the sterling silver.

On a side note, once the penny has been cleaned in the lemon/salt solution and put back in the sand filled bowl on the wood stove, they get a really nice shade of red - which is of course cranking up the muse. Expect to see some red copper pennies real soon!