https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/sea-glass-charm-bracelet • Posted by Ulysses Press
Steps to Creating a Sea Glass Charm Bracelet Select the quantity of sea glass pieces you’d like in your bracelet. Unless you want your charm bracelet to feature just a one-piece pendant charm of sea glass, a bracelet can hold from about five pieces up to dozens, depending on how ornate and full you’d like it.
Select the colors you’d like represented. Some creations might stay with a color theme. For example, a nautical blues bracelet might hold eight pieces with two of each color of blue sea glass: aqua blue, cornflower blue, cobalt blue, and a soft muted blue–-or even the ultra-rare true turquoise. There are many color combos you can implement. Some bracelets can hold over a dozen different sea glass colors (provided you have them in you collection). Some bracelets might have just one color.
Decide if you’d like other kinds of charms in your bracelet in addition to the sea glass. You may want to use personal charms or mementos you’ve collected over the years. Use your own collected charms to let the bracelet tell the story for you. If you want your bracelet to stay within a beach or ocean theme, sea life charms or even boating-themed dangles are a nice addition. Purchase charms from your local craft store. A high-end silver or gold supplier might also offer seashell charms, or even an octopus, seagulls, sailboats, anchors, and more. The options and combinations are endless. Use your creativity — mix the trinkets so the bracelet has meaning or tells a story. You’ll love the conversation piece that your bracelet becomes!
Some of our beads and charms that we add to bracelets. Lay out the pattern of how you’d like your pieces to line up on your bracelet. For example, for a sports-themed charm bracelet, I might line them up like this: White sea glass Soccer ball charm Green sea glass Tennis racquet charm Blue sea glass Ski boot charm Purple sea glass Golf club charm Brown sea glass Football helmet charm
Decide what kind of material to use for the body of the bracelet that goes around the wrist. For simplicity’s sake, we will recommend a silver link chain. This is the easiest material to use and creates the least amount of complexity when creating a bracelet that you will hook split rings through.
Choose a sturdy chain with links that are large enough to link a charm or split ring to.
Determine how long you’d like the bracelet to be (see Length Calculator below). Most bracelets are to be worn loosely on the wrist—not so loose they fall off or run down over the wearer’s thumb knuckle, but not so tight that the piece is uncomfortable. Keep in mind when you measure to always give yourself a little extra length to work with. You can always cut a bracelet shorter if necessary, but you cannot add length to a chain or bracelet band that’s been cut too short. Remember: measure twice, cut once.
Choose split rings that will fit through both your sea glass and the links in the chain you have chosen.
Keeping in mind how long your chain is and how many charms you will have, determine how far apart the charms will be from one another. Keep in mind that you will need to leave room for the clasp and you won’t want a charm landing right where the clasp will need to be constructed. Oftentimes this can become a challenging math problem. We recommend counting how many chain lengths are between each charm and evenly placing the dangles.
Slip the bracelet clasp onto one of the jump rings or split rings.
Then link it to one end of your bracelet chain. Do not forget to account for the length of the clasp in the overall length of the bracelet. Some clasps are so big (such as toggles and large lobster clasps), they can add 1 inch or more to your bracelet length.
Hook your first piece of sea glass or other charm to a split ring or jump ring.
Secure the jump ring to the first“spot”on your bracelet. Proceed measuredly, connecting the remaining charms to their respective spaces.
Do one final measurement to make sure you’ve got your bracelet length right. Keep in mind the added measurement if your clasp has a toggle ring or other ring (for a toggle or a lobster clasp to grab).
Now connect your end clasp piece, and enjoy your keepsake charm bracelet!