Macrame with Wire

I have been experimenting with macrame (the popularity of the Shambala bracelet helped my obsession).......and while playing with some copper wire the other day, I decided to try to macrame with the wire.  My first bracelet was a very rough prototype - I used the beads I had with me at the time (some size 6 seed beads) and while I loved the result of the knotting I hated the beads I used.  So, of course that meant I had to try it again, this time with some larger beads and some 14 gauge wire for the center wire and 22 gauge wire for the knots.  I LOVED how it looked (and unfortunately my sister claimed it the second she saw it - I will try to wrangle it from her and get a picture) and had to make another one.

I used some 12mm sodalite faceted rounds, the 14 gauge copper wire for the center wire and the 22 gauge copper wire for the knots. 

The sodalite beads catch the light and sparkle like crazy - so for a bracelet with only 5 beads, it makes one heck of a bling statement!

Knotting copper wire, even wire as thin as the 22 gauge wire, is very hard on the hands, but it's all worth it - the result is a lacy, highly texturized bracelet.

Keeping your tension even is key as well as remembering where you are on your sequence of knots.  This is the square knot which, if you've ever done macrame, you know is a two step process.  I found myself a number of times forgetting which knot I had just completed.  Paying attention is a must!

After I completed the knots and added the beads, I crafted a spiral clasp out of the 14 gauge wire - and this time I did not hammer it flat.  I smoothed out and flattened the ends but left it in it's natural state.