A little-girl bracelet grows up

Once upon a time, when I was very little, I used to wear this name bracelet for dressy occasions. I was in fact so little that an extra link had to be added a few centimetres from the end so that the bracelet would fasten and not fall off my twig-like wrist as I played the piano at eisteddfods or played pass the parcel at a birthday party.

Many years have passed since I was able to wear this piece of jewellery as-is (it actually would probably still fit but I can’t get it fastened without help – if only cats had opposable thumbs!) but it’s a bit hard to let it go, seeing as it’s engraved with my name. It’s not like an op shop would thank me for donating this – I’ve never met another “Leeyong” so it would just end up gathering dust on the shelves or being melted down. To be wearable again, it had to be made into a big-girl bracelet.

Being a big girl* now, I’m partial to big jewellery. So after removing the name plate from the original delicate-looking chain, I added a jump ring to each side of the name plate and then for the bracelet part I attached some big chunky links from a chain that was intended as a belt** ( which I bought ages ago from an opshop).

I used other bits of smaller chain to join the big links and the clasp. There are no “how-to” shots of this project because both hands were required for working pliers and holding bits and pieces in place!

I really like how the bracelet has turned out, although I’m still deliberating if I would prefer it as a choker-style necklace instead, seeing as there is enough chain for that option too. I’d also considered attaching the name plate to a colourful oversize woven friendship bracelet instead of going with the all-gold idea. If you have a similar sentimentally-valuable bracelet or piece of childhood jewellery, maybe you could do something like that to make it wearable again? Let me know if you do, I’d love to see how it turns out.

And what about the leftover links from my childhood bracelet? Once I’ve worked out what to do with those, I’ll have another “new” piece of jewellery!

*I’m still not really that big. But my cousins used to call me “the big girl” so they could distinguish me from my (younger) sister. Not much has changed as people still have trouble telling us apart, although she’s now taller than me so technically she should be “the big girl”.

**I had already used part of the chain for a necklace – you can see it here and here and probably in several other posts as it’s one of my favourite pieces.