Monday, April 16, 2007

NEW funky fabric bangles

This week i sort of unveiled a "new product" in my Etsy shop that i've been working on for some time now.

I'm completley addicted to bangles, especially during the summer time with short sleeve tops ;P The thing is, although i love all my store bought-bangles aesthetically, they're not actually THAT comfortable to wear :( My favourite favourite one is made out of some sort of turquoise blue stone mounted on a metal base, it gorgeous, but gives me an awful and irritating rash if warn for longer than say an hour :(

And then i have wooden and plastic ones too, but as i like to wear them on my forearm and they're rigid, its not the most comfortable fit (my arm is NOT perfectly circular... don't know about yours?!) and when i rest my arm on a table the rigidness digging in and the knocking does get particularly irritating.

As i say, i'm addicted, however, and so none of these inconveniences were enough of a problem to stop me sporting my beloved bangles (i don't wear high-heeled shoes much at all, but just think of my fashion-victimness as far as bangles are concerned a bit like the torture we girlies put ourselves through with heels).... until now!

Well, the challenge had been set, how to come up with a process that would create an attractive, comfortable, non-allergenic, non-rigid bangle that i can wear in the hot weather without all those little downfalls...

Many hours of prototypes, tests with different interfacing, plastics, stretching, wrapping, handstitching and generally swearing at the frustration of not getting it quite right finally gave way to these!


I'm in love!

....and completley addicted to making them (although it is no piece-of-cake, each one takes over an hour and a half of labour!).

It has also breathed new life into my humungous fabric stash - i see so many possibilities and new combinations that i know i'm gonna have fun trying them all out :)

I'd love to hear all of your's thoughts on these accessories, as feedback is always extremely useful to refine a process or idea ... and sometimes familiarity clouds judgement, if you get what I mean?

Do you think there is a market for these types of "fabric jewellrey"?