I just made this copper bracelet with natural white opal stones by request of a client. I loved the idea because I hadn’t worked with opals up to now and I thought they would look very good next to copper.
The client asked me for a similar design to this cuff of mine but with white opal stones. I hadn’t worked with opal up to now. Read a bit about it. Due to my chemistry training, I already knew that these stones had a very interesting property – opalescence, named after the them. It presents as a beautiful and magical milky white translucency. I found that opals are porous stones with water in their structure and they are sensitive to heat and chemicals, so I had to manage them carefully. I also found that white opal symbolizes tranquility, clarity, emotional balance and intuition.
Armed and ready with this new knowledge, I got lovely 4 mm faceted stones and started weaving them with the copper:
I continued the process only to realize I had taken shorter wire strands than I needed for the particular size of the bracelet. Well then. Started over and remade the bracelet with veeery long strands. Now I had to think of how I would finish the piece. I aimed for simplicity in order for the cuff to look good on a male hand. Here is how the ends look:
Oxidized it just a tiny bit to achieve the color that copper naturally attains in environment. Now it was time to protect my creation. Didn’t want to use varnish because this jewelry piece has a bit of flexibility and I was afraid that the varnish could start to peel off with wearing. Also, fumes of the varnish could potentially harm these sensitive stones and I didn’t want to allow even the tiniest possibility of this happening. Instead of that, I protected it with three layers of Rennaisance wax so the beautiful patina of the copper could slowly and naturally develop with time.
I totally enjoyed crafting the bracelet and, what’s better, I really like how it turned out. 🙂
Thanks for looking. Until next time!
If you’re interested in buying my handmade pieces of jewelry, check out the available ones at my Etsy store. If you are in Bulgaria, want to make a custom request, or just ask me something, you can also write to me here:
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