Pennies......again!

In the workshop today to finish up the enameled pennies bracelet and to make another bracelet - I am stuck on pennies right now for some reason - maybe because they are so plentiful here at the house (and most all of them are pre 1979 - a BOON for me because that means they can be used in jewelry making applications!) - as the pictures will prove.

Using the turquoise blue/green pennies I enameled, some 14 gauge copper wire and a wonderful copper toggle clasp, I created a charm bracelet of sorts.

Once I photographed it, though, I thought it looked too, well, copper.  I decided it needed some patina (I use Perma Blu gun bluing), so I dunked it and rubbed it to show some highlights and like it so much more now.



For this bracelet, I used (again) some pennies that I drilled and domed; some 16 gauge copper wire and again a beautiful copper toggle clasp.

A spring connector

closeup of one of the pennies



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!