Carnival Bracelet

The beads in this bracelet were inspired by this painting, "Carnival at Marmorhaus" by Josef Fenneker. I enjoyed making the beads a lot - they were fun, organic, messy... lots of layers, no mistakes. They just flowed, literally and well, you know.



The bracelet is another story. Not my best wire-wrapping (it's been a long time since I did this kind of thing), the dangles I'd intended didn't work out the way I envisioned them and so did not last, and then I couldn't find my LOS (Liver of Sulfur) to darken the silver. It sat around for a week, looking like an awful waste of sterling silver... and making me feel like a jewelry designer failure... but then I remembered what else has sulfur in it and tried something really odd. I hardboiled an egg, mushed it up in a baggie, and deposited the whole bracelet. I stuck it in the fridge in an attempt not to stink up my kitchen. A few hours later I pulled it out, happy the shiny silver was almost black now, even though encrusted with egg yolk, and scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Ta Da - Done. As done as it's going to get anyway. As funky as it is, the pictures don't do it justice, the red is richer, the patina is darker... but there you go, photographing red is never easy.