Category: Charms

I was commissioned to make a charm bracelet for my sister-in-law’s birthday, and after that was made we wanted to at least put a fun little charm on it for her, so since she used to raise show dogs I made an overlay charm of a dog paw to go with it. 😉

The charm is 18 ga. pierced overlay on a 22 ga. base, and the bracelet is made up with 14 ga. and 18 ga. links, a commercial figure-8 clasp, and measures 8.5” long.

Since I had another little piece of 18K gold from that same scrap used for the gold heart on the Valentine’s Envelope charm I made Kathy last year, and was a good match for making another gold heart of the same size, I figured I would give her a Valentine’s Card charm this year to go along with her letter!

The card was made from 20 ga. sterling sheet, with the front and back pages connected by a 3-piece hinge I fashioned out of thin-walled tubing and wire. The gold heart is on the front, and inside the card I stamped “D+K”

The charm is designed to hang partway open so that both inside and outside are visible (though a little more closed than what is shown in the bottom two pictures).

As her other charm bracelet has mainly for Christmas/Winter charms, I think she’ll be needing a new charm bracelet to go with these. 😉

A Valentine’s Envelope charm crafted from 26 ga. sterling sheet formed and folded like a real envelope, then topped-off with an 18K gold heart soldered onto the front, this charm became a Valentine’s Day gift to my wife this year.

The gold came from a little piece of watchband chain that was shortened for my mom back in the 70’s, and I had been toting that little piece of scrap around ever since, just waiting for an occasion to use it on something special!

Melted into a ball, hammered flat and then filed into shape, I think it made for the perfect accent on this charm!

A WIP (Work In Progress) collage of a double-sided Christmas Tree charm I created to go with the Charm Bracelet I made for Kathy.

I used superglue to glue two pieces of sheet together, then cut out and formed the tree as a single piece, adding a bevel to both sides of the edge, and drilling a few holes that will later be darkened with patina.

I then superglued the tree to another piece of sheet that I cut out and formed to be a “base” for the tree, but a little larger than the tree to give it a border. Adding a little heat from the torch separates the pieces, which were then soldered together with the base layer in the middle, creating a “double-sided” charm.

I used a chasing tool to stamp rays on the base layer emanating from the star, stamped “.925” on the bottom edge of it on the backside, and drilled two more smaller holes completely through the charm to give it a little more play with the light shining through them, and augments the darker oxidized holes that only go through the tree to the base plate.

Above is a closer shot of the double-sided Christmas Tree charm. Unfortunately you can’t see the light shining through the two smaller holes in this picture, but when you can, they really do add to the appearance of the charm very nicely I think… almost like little Christmas lights!

Back in 2014, when a friend at work told his wife about a couple jewelry pieces I had created, she asked if I might be able to provide her with some little charms stamped with Lotus and Om symbols for her to make bracelets with, as she was unhappy with the quality of the charms she was getting from an overseas supplier.

She sells stone-beaded bracelets with the charms attached at the various local craft fairs she attends, and was overjoyed at the quality in comparison to what she had been using before. This also opened the door for a few other projects I did for her (stacking rings and pendants).

The 10mm sterling discs are stamped with either of the two symbols on the front, “.925” stamped on the back at the bottom, a bale soldered on and jump ring included.