3rd September 2017

I made a baby bracelet the other week and some planning will allow the baby to grow with it not out of it.

This longtime customer came to me with a photo of a design.  The main feature she liked was the star shape. The round belcher chain she was undecided on.

After some discussion about strength and safety for a baby wearing a fine chain we increased the size of the chain slightly to that shown above. Two of the strongest and most readily repairable chains are the curb and belcher links.  My customer decide that she preferred an oval belcher style.

With the chain style decided on I next scaled the different link into a photo of the baby that was to wear the bracelet.

The engraving

Up until now the customer had thought the decoration around the edge was texturing on the metal but it is indeed gemstones. After I pointed this out it was decided to omit the gemstones and leave more room to engrave the baby`s name onto the star.

As items scale they look very differently. To get a realistic idea of the engraving at a small size I did up a test run and submitted it to the customer for her approval.

The chain - planning for growth

At the time of making the required length of the bracelet was 10cm.  As we all know babies grow very quickly. To allow for this we used a 19cm bracelet, shortened it to the required length and put the extra links aside to add back in as required in the future.

One of my pet peeves about machine made chain is that they very often have the jump ring that connects the catch to the chain open.  This is like having a broken link in the chain right from the start and has in the past lead to many losing their chains.

Whenever I supply machine made chain I always check this and solder them shut if open. If you ever buy a chain check this and ask the seller to solder the link closed for you.

All done and finished

Made in 9ct yellow gold, 10cm in length and with the engraving on both sides of the star.