Designing Bracelets - a new challenge

September 05, 2016

Designing Bracelets...is challenging. From it's inception Heart and Stone personalized charms have always been designed for necklaces. I'm realizing designing charms to hang on a necklace is easy compared to bracelets. Just slide 'em on and slide 'em off the chain. Since they're hanging around your neck they don't get banged around much. And you generally only see one side of the charm. 

I'm finding designing for bracelets is harder. But one thing I've learned since opening the retail part of the studio is that some people are just "bracelet people." They love bracelets and love to wear a lot of them at once. There is no away around it, it's time to add some bracelets to the collection. 

From a design point of view I've struggled with bracelets for a while. It's not as easy as just adding a charm to a bracelet for a whole host of reasons. 

1. We want everything we make to really stand the test of time. That's important to us. So on sterling silver link style charm bracelets the charms really should be soldered on. While you can order a bracelet with any number of charms on your original order you can't easily add more later without sending it back or taking it to a local jeweler.  
2. Charms worn around your wrist need to be super strong to handle daily wear and tear. Sterling Silver is a must. 
3. Bracelet Charms needs to be thought about from all sides since they will be flipping, flopping and moving all around. You don't want feel like you're looking at the back of the charm. We recommend engraving on both sides of any personalize-able charms. Our 3 dimension charms look great on bracelets. My favorite is the little bird charm. 

In spite the challenges we're finally ready with a few designs that we'll be adding our website over the next month or so. 

Now Available for order....Stretchy Gemstone Charm Bracelets!

• Choose your gemstones
• Choose you charm
• Choose your length

Available in aquamarine, peridot, amethyst, garnet, iolite (aka water sapphire), tourmaline, labradorite and torquoise. I love these and they look beautiful stacked together. We are very excited to share them with you and get your feedback.  

These were inspired by my new addiction, yoga, but that's a story for a whole other post. I love these bracelets for sooo many reasons.  I'll give you my top 3. 

1) There is something about draping yourself with an uninterrupted strand of natural gemstones that is just so deliciously decadent. Especially when they're faceted and sparkle like crazy. We use only real natural stones and you'll see the difference. 

2) The stretchiness is awesome. So easy to get on and off. No fumbling for 5 minutes with a clasp. (But if you know exactly the frustration I'm talking about I just came across this 30 second video with a great trick showing how to put on clasp bracelets by yourself.

3) Because we custom make these to length they really fit close to your wrist and don't get in the way when you're trying to do things. I wear mine all day, at work and even during yoga practice. I wear them on my left wrist and ankle and they really help me not have to think about which is my left and right during practice. 

For measuring we recommend using a tape measure to closely measure you wrist with no slack and add a 1/2 inch. 

We have lots of ready to wear charms that look great on these. We engraved LIVE TRUE on the back of our Om Charm, Lotus Flower Charm, and Yin Yang Charm in homage to the yoga practice and studio, Metrowest Yoga, that inspired them. You can certainly order personalized charms to be added.  We recommend sticking with our petite personalize-able charms or any of the symbol charms many of which can be personalized as well. 

If you love bracelets and would like to see a particular style please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you! 

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