Embossed Metal Colorized Bracelet

Embossed, formed, riveted, dimpled metal bracelet made by me in class.

Last weekend, I attended a metal bracelet class taught by Dry Gulch Jewelry at the Tulsa Bead Market.  I have been collecting various metalsmithing tools and supplies over the past couple of years with the intent of teaching myself metalsmithing; unfortunately, time, other jewelry projects and life, in general, took precedence.  When I saw the Dry Gulch class advertised, I knew I had to attend.

The class was taught by a wonderful woman name Catherine.  I have met Catherine and the folks at Dry Gulch Jewelry previously at other craft and bead shows.  The owners consist of three generations of jewelry makers within their family. They are super-nice people, and very helpful.  I can honestly say I have purchased many jewelry making tools and supplies from them during the various shows I have attended.

During class, we had the option of making one of three advertised metal bracelet jewelry designs (as shown below) or we could make something different to suit our own individual tastes.  The first bracelet consisted of metals colored with metal patina paint and sanded to reveal the embossed pattern; the second featured uncolored pieces of copper, nickle and brass; the third consisted of metal pieces painted with acrylic paints.

Three versions of the metal bracelet using the same technique.

I always enjoy coloring my jewelry pieces, as I have shared here, here and here in the past.  For this project, I opted to colorize my pieces with alcohol inks.  As you can see by the before and after pics of my bracelet pieces below, coloring makes a huge difference in how the pieces look.

Before - Copper and silver metal bracelet pieces before colorizing.

After - The same metal pieces after coloring them with Vintaj Patina metal paints.

After sanding the pieces, the embossed patterns were revealed, which added extra interest to them.  The sanding really made the pieces "pop."

The focal bracelet pieces after sanding.

Another thing I did to add extra interest to my bracelet was that I added a tiny bit of color to the insides and edges of my "flowers", which consisted of metal discs that were domed, dimpled with dimpling pliers and hole-punched.

Touches of color were added to the "flowers" for added interest.

Needless to say, I was thrilled with my completed bracelet.  It turned out beautifully!

My completed metal bracelet. 

Here is a comparison of my bracelet and another student's bracelet.  Both were made using the Patina metal paints, but they are so very different color-wise.

Bracelets made using Patina metal paints.

Another student opted to leave her bracelet as is, with the natural metal colors being the highlight of the design.

Bracelet using the natural metal colors as a basis for the design.

All in all, I really enjoyed the class and I am looking forward to using some of my newfound skills to come up with some new jewelry items made with metal.  I will share my designs here and also on my Instagram page, so please stay tuned.

My completed bracelet.