It's just Common Cents

.........or maybe I should say the new jewelry line from mrs beadsley's is anyway! I am having fun with pennies and all the things that can be done with them.  I think they are interesting when flattened, left whole, buffed or whatever.  And since there are boxes and boxes of them here at the house, that equals a lot of opportunities to explore creative ways to use them in jewelry.

So, I collected some tools and wire and beads - and a penny of course

some lovely aventurine beads from Turquoise Magpie

a lovely heart shaped clasp from my local bead store - Beads on the Kennebec

copper wire from my local hardware store - Audettes - Ace Hardware

wheat penny drilled and domed

the finished piece.  Now named "(un)common cents".

You've got Maille.......

Chain maille, of course! At mrs beadsley of maine we take custom requests and during the store wide sale (to benefit the Maine Poodle Rescue) we got a request from one of our best clients for a Romanov weave bracelet. Since I have never done a Romanov weave, I wanted to practice on copper before working with the sterling silver wire - wire gauges and ID and OD and aspect ratios - it's almost like being back in high school math class! Having done byzantine weave before (Romanov weave is sections of byzantine weave linked together) I already had the gauge and ID calculations and just needed to figure the size bead that would fit in each Romanov link. After some trial and error, I ended up using a 6mm aventurine round, which I wrapped with some 22 gauge copper wire. Each Romanov section is linked with a jump ring made with some 18 gauge square copper wire, and I crafted an "S" clasp for closure. I love how this bracelet turned out and am really looking forward to doing it in sterling silver.