All about jewellery making

Having become rather fascinated by the use of tiny macrame knots to make jewellery I decided to incorporate some colour in order to make pattern the main feature of the work.  Many of you will recognise this technique as that of the ‘friendship bracelet’, a South American inspired method sometimes also known as the ‘Brazilian bracelet’ (although its true origin is much broader than that and would probably be more accurately described as Guatamalan or Peruvian).

I used to make these brightly coloured bracelets many years ago and enjoyed wearing them en masse up my arms loving the bright jewelled colours and stained glass like patterns.  During my younger years the finishing techniques that I used (simply plaiting each end) were fairly basic and with my subsequent knowledge of jewellery making and macrame I felt ready to take the humble friendship bracelet to a new level.  My knotting is much neater and I incorporate a tightly wrapped loop at one end to secure the bracelet.

There are various different threads that you can use for making friendship bracelets but I favour the stranded cotton usually used for embroidery and cross stitch.  I have recently added skeins of this cotton to my craft shop in a wide range of colours where my completed friendship bands are also for sale.  Very little equipment is needed to make these little gems.  I find a thick cakeboard and macrame pins (also known as ‘T’ pins) very useful for pinning my work while knotting.

This kind of jewellery is great for everyday, casual wear and has a wide appeal.  I love the way that Sylvie Gauche and Jacques Kammerer describe the legend of the friendship bracelet in their book:

‘Legend attributes to the “Brazilian bracelet” a lucky quality.  The person to whom it is given makes a wish at the moment it is tied to her wrist.  It should never be taken off for any reason.  Worn out by time, the threads will tear, until one day the bracelet will fall off by itself.  It is at that precise moment that the wish that was expressed should be realised.

Whether you believe or not in the legend is up to you.  But what is certain is that making yourself a true little “jewel”, whether to be given to a friend or to be worn by you, already creates a lot of pleasure.

Now just imagine for a moment, it won’t require any effor, the streets of some large city at rush hour, that kind of haze where grey and black blend, all the anonymous faces that pass each other all those gazes unaware of each other.  You can now close your eyes; approach, approach… closer still, and… on with the show.

With little brush strokes, we add some sky blue here, a touch of prairie green there…, finally a dash of mauve.  Bright and lively colors [sic] appear on the arms of the passers-by, one hundred thousand rainbows which gradually lighten up that weary gloom.

The picture starts to move, to live.  Already the first smile appears, the first mask falls, it’s a victory.

Perhaps this is it, the magic power of the “lucky charm” bracelet.’

Quoted from ‘Brazilian Bracelets’ by Sylvie Gauche and Jacques Kammerer, DMC 1988 (ISBN 2-283-58078-1)

There are a number of good resources for making friendship bracelets on the internet.  Here are my favourites*:

Heather’s friendship bracelet forum
Stefan’s friendship bracelet site
Polish friendship bracelet site with over 500 patterns (text is available in English)

*Don’t forget to check out their links pages, you will find more friendship bracelet sites there.