My Creative Space - A Family Tree Bracelet

There has been a lot going on in my creative space this week now that I am feeling better healthwise and my trusty sewing machine, Bernadette/Bernie, is back with me from the sewing machine service centre.  But I thought I would share my family tree bracelet and a quick "how to" for putting one together for yourself.  I should add that this bracelet was inspired by this post over at Twirling Betty, and by my desire to have a personalised bracelet which included my family's initials, especially my dad's, because I'm still coming to terms with losing him far too soon.

My bracelet is made up of six ceramic bisque connectors which I painted and embellished myself.  I have a small wrist and only included my parents, my children and hubs and myself, so the six ovals were enough to make a bracelet for me (along with some long oval jump rings).  Those with larger wrists or more family members will either need to include more ovals or add beads between each oval.

I found painting these small oval very fiddly and  would definitely recommend stringing up each piece on some sort of wire to help with painting, if you want to paint both sides like I did (I ended up dangling my ovals on pins attached to a solid cardboard box).  I used acrylic paints from my local craft store, though I'm sure any acrylic paint you own would do the job.  After allowing the paint to dry, I used a silver roller gel pen to write each person's full initials per oval.  If you're from a family of multiple initials, like I am (my dad has five initials and most of the rest of us have four), you'll have to squish your writing up a bit to fit in all the initials.  Alternatively, you could just write or stamp each person's first initial per oval.

 

Each oval was finished off with a clear gloss coating to protect the writing and paint.  I should have used a low odour spray varnish for my final coat, but it was a windy day when I made this bracelet and I opted to use clear nailpolish as my "varnish".  I know, it was a foolish thing to do, and I had to open a lot of windows to get rid of the fumes.  I should apologise for the smudged look of the initials of my bracelet.  In real life, the initials are silver and crisp, but I blurred them in the photos to protect the identities of my family members (because we superheroes do that, LOL).

Thanks for sticking with me on this long and indulgent post.  Would you make a "family tree" bracelet for yourself or another family member?  And if you would, who's names or initials would you include?