The 3-hour, $12 bracelet!

My first issue of Beadwork magazine arrived, chock full of great projects, and after reading through them, I decided to try Nancy Cain’s bracelet of tubular netting, featured on the cover as The 3-Hour, $12 bracelet. I took the challenge to see if I could meet both those parameters.

I picked up some beautiful olivine and bronze iris seed beads on sale several months ago and – finally - the perfect project to use them. I was right on track staying within the $12 limit, planning to use gold-colored craft wire for the bracelet’s armature. But after stringing the base and beads and testing the fit, I decided Nancy was right, the bracelet needs a 16-gauge dead-soft wire for proper structure. Busted! A foot of gold-filled wire put me over budget. But, oh, how this bracelet feels, hugging my wrist!!!

Did I do better on the time? I’ve done netting in the round before, but with differing main and accent colors. This project uses a single color for the netted base, and, without main and contrast beads, it took a while until I really “saw” the stitch. I finally got it, but had to rip out several rows to correct mistakes. Once I began the embellishment rounds, my normally docile Maine Coon cat, Blaze, began swatting at the bracelet, even grabbing it to make a dash with it across the room. It wasn’t until I took the finished strand outside to photograph it that I understood his attraction!

I didn’t make the 3-hour challenge either, but I’m still blissfully happy with my 4-Hour, $16 Chenille d’Or (Golden Caterpillar) quick summer bracelet!