I used to make quite a bit of jewelry; strung, wire work, some bead creation. It was a good thing to do when my kids were little because the projects were generally short term (although I did have a few hour intensive pieces). When my children were babies I also stopped wearing jewelry because little hands are hard on adornments, and being tugged at the neck is irritating. As they grew, I found I could no longer wear necklaces for long, then not at all. It bothers me to have something touching the back of my neck. Then I found out from a jeweler that I really should take off my rings for everything: washing, working, in the shop, in the craft room. That is all the time for me, so I switched to a silicone wedding band and that’s it. My ears are pierced, but will grow closed overnight if I forget earrings, so I have gold jump rings that stay in well, but are hard to remove. Hard to advertise that you make jewelry when you functionally don’t wear any! I do still do repairs. There is something different about making an object knowing it will eventually break, and repairing a broken item that can now be used again. There are also lessons to be learned not only repairing your own work, but that of others.

I designed this paua shell bracelet as part of a set. I used jump rings to connect the paua shell discs, and the jump rings failed multiple times. (It is a good thing my mother-in-law is understanding!) Jump rings are very easy to open with a twist, and flat elements are very good at twisting. To fix it, hopefully with a bit more permanence, I removed all the jump rings and made closed wire links instead. I had some 18 gauge half round wire that did beautifully on the wraps to secure the links. Each link is set at 90 degrees to the interconnecting link so they have some horizontal movement, but shouldn’t twist. Because the twists of wire take up more room, I reduced the number of shell elements, but I think the aesthetics are improved. And it is wearable again.