A slight addiction

I have to admit that I have a problem.  I seem to be addicted to making bracelets.  I make far more bracelets than I sell, but I can't stop myself.  A bracelet is the ideal compromise when jewellery-making.  Earrings can normally be done pretty quickly, and often I don't feel like I've really accomplished anything.  Necklaces are either just a case of adding a pendant to a chain or cord (in which case, see the problem with earrings) or they're more complicated and take me longer than I can comfortably sit in one session.  Bracelets can usually be done in one session, and involve enough work to make it feel worthwhile.

The theme for this week has been buttons.  I've got a box of reclaimed (for 'reclaimed', read 'painstakingly cut off clothing' , 'begged and borrowed from friends and relatives' and/or 'bought from charity shops') buttons of all shapes and sizes, plus spares that were bought for dress-making and knitting patterns but never used.  I also have two boxes of brand new specifically bought buttons, again of all shapes and sizes.  A few times a month, I dump these buttons out on my bead mat and rake through them, trying to decide what to do.  I invariably sit there for half an hour, picking through them, before sighing and putting them back in the box.

This week, I decided, would be different.  No more pawing at them, action would be taken.  Not only would action be taken, but action would be taken with the buttons I had deemed most boring - the white shirt buttons!  I had loads of those.  It was only when I started to separate the white buttons out and pile them together that it became evident just how pretty they were.  Most of them were pearlescent.  Some of them were even natural shell. 

So the decision was made: instead of using some, I would use lots; and to satisfy my bracelet craving (I hadn't made one for days!) I would make a button charm bracelet.  So I did, and liked it so much that I decided to make more: first a white-silver-grey-black graduated one, and then a more colourful one with my favourite 8mm four-hole buttons.  I currently have a tentative order for a much darker version, which I really should be doing now.  So, goodbye for now ...

P.S. I figured out how to put photos in - yay me!!!