Friday, February 22, 2013

Designing a silent bracelet

Friday, February 22, 2013

Yesterday there was a surprise in my in-box. When you lovely people get in touch to thank me and share photos, it means the world to me. Thanks Deirdre!


Deirdre made me laugh non-stop every time we met! She had absolutely no time for people telling her what she should or shouldn't do or wear for her wedding. She had some quirky must-haves (and have-nots). She wanted a 'silent' dress and was appalled by the thoughts of ones which make swishing sounds when she walked (more on this later!) and she wanted to wear a big statement bracelet, despite what everyone else thought.

I like how this girl thinks! Deirdre had a dream bracelet in her mind and had trawled the internet for it. She had spied January Jones wearing a wide pearl cuff and had even managed to source the designer's name. But her hunt for this elusive bracelet was in vain.

So, Deirdre got in touch to see if I could design something similar for her. I was on for the challenge. I started experimenting with techniques to create a solid pearl cuff. This style of piece is very different to my signature style but I loved the simplicity of the pure pearls.

The design of this piece took a long time to crack but I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Deirdre was involved at all stages, from initial sketches right through to her finished piece. At first I was going to add moving pearl drops to the crochet structure but Deirdre was fearful that the moving pearls would make a sound :-) More laughter...

The finished cuff was almost 6cm wide at it widest point. Every space was woven with hundreds of different sized pearls. The photo on the left shows the crochet framework that held it all together. The pearls gave an amazing bubbly, organic texture.
"I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for my beautiful cuff, I absolutely loved it on the day and got a million compliments about it!


What a gorgeous picture - Deirdre's dress was designed by Kathy De Stafford. You can't see the bottom of the dress here but it was a beautiful soft tulle.

Thanks for trusting me to make your bracelet Deirdre and for being so much fun to work with!


For more inspiration you can check out my latest commissions or give me a call to chat about your own ideas.


Image credit:
Photo of Deirdre: Icon Photography

7 comments:

Ivy Long, Edera Jewelry said...

Wow, it's beautiful, Aisling!

Unknown said...

Thanks Ivy! It was a really interesting design challenge for me. It was unusual to hide the crochet element but it worked really well as a framework to weave the pearls on to.

Anonymous said...

lovely :)

Unknown said...

It's gorgeous and I know exactly what she means about wanting everything to be silent - swishing skirts remind me of my friends statement dress for a teenage disco in the early 90's!

Unknown said...

Sarah, that 90's dress sounds very 'memorable' for all the wrong reasons! It's a pity you can't include a pic in your comment.

Anonymous said...

It looks so beautiful Aisling I can't imagine where you even begin making that, gorgeous.

Unknown said...

Thanks Hilary - I'm wondering if you have ever tried incorporating beads into some of your designs? I must send you an email about that in case you don't see this comment!