What size and shape wire to make a bracelet

[Mark]

I was thinking about making a bracelet out of  6 to 9 cabs, all bezel mounted and attached to each other by wire or links.  What size and shape of wire should i use to make the wires or links between the cabs.  The cabs will be anywhere from 1/2" or 3/4" wide, to 1 1/4" or 2 1/2" tall.

Mark

[Enchantra]

I'm thinking 16-18 gauge.   I wouldn't go smaller for the sake of strength.

[Steve]

I assume it is a link  bracelet.  But, it depends on the design of the bracelet and what you are looking for in design concept.  Are you looking for links, hinges, dangly........dainty or hardy......Do you have a sketch of what you are looking to do?......... Pictures are better than words..........

[Mark]

Skettttttch.  Is that the thingy you do with pencils?  It hasn't left my head yet.  I was thinking of a multi cab bracelet that i guess is held together by links and is a bit dangly.  I would think it needed to be pretty strong.  Problem is that i am at a loss here.  No experience with bracelets.  Never wore one, never even bought one for anyone.  I was just kind going by what i saw on tv.  Can they be held together in a solid shape and not be dangly?  I wanted to space cabs around the whole 360 degrees and not necessarily in a straight line.  Just a new thing to do and learn.  Thanks for any help.

Mark the Clueless Braceleteer!

[Steve]

Here's a couple examples of bracelets I have done to give you some linking ideas.

1st is a bangle chain bracelet.  The characters are connected through jump rings connected to the chain.



2nd is a link bracelet.  The items have jump loops soldered to the back of each piece with a jump ring connecting them.



3rd is the same connections as the one above.



I hope this gives you some insight on on using jump rings.  I've done hinges, but, I have no photos of them.  I seem to remember one that was posted on the forum a while ago made by Mike - Skystone.

[Mark]

I am going to have a hard time explaining this, maybe i will see if i can find a drawing program to sketch something up.  My idea is a bit more unsymetrical and uneven.  Maybe each cab has 2 connector wires to the adjoining cab on each size and they can be a bit bent and not straight wires.  Maybe Rustic is a better term for what i am thinking.  The cabs are freeform but close in size to each other.

Mark

[dickb]

Mark:

Take a look at Rio Grande's catalog for bracelet bezel settings for some ideas.

Good luck

Dickb

[Michael]

Look at how Turqoise braclets are made, that may be what you are looking for