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Winter Moon
By Pam Thien
White Thai Karen hill tribe silver surrounds a stunning piece of light green jade.

Buy This Item - Finished
Buy All Comonents as a Kit
Before starting your project, look at the picture carefully to get an idea of what you’re up against. This piece will probably turn your fingers all red and make you want to kill your pliers (the frustration level is about an 8/10) but this is certainly the most satisfying piece I have ever completed!

Step 1: Preparing The Moon
I like to start with the focal point – in this case, the Jade Disc. First, you’ll need to string the chain through the naval. It’s very likely that the chain is too large for the hole, so you’ll need to start with three links from the tiny chain links (1)(2)(3). You’ll need to squeeze link (2) with a set of pliers so that it is thinner (length-wise) than the other links. Then take link (3) out, put link (2) through the naval and reattach link (3) to link (2). You should now have a naval with one chain link through the middle and two chain links dangling on both sides.

Step 2: Lassoing the Moon
Take out 13 or 14 links from the tiny chain attach one end of the 13-14 links (depending on the size of your disc) to link (1) that you’ve just made on the Jade Disc, put a Halo Ring through this and attach the other end of the 13-14 links to link (3). Repeat this again, on the other side of the jade disc. (Don’t forget the Halo Ring!)

Step 3: The basic Bracelet
Separate the Tiny Chain into 12 links (these will become loops). Your chain will consist of Halo Rings linked together by loops of 12 Tiny Chains links. Starting from the Halo Ring already attached to the Jade Disc, you'll work your way outwards to the toggles. One side of the Jade Disc should have 3 Halo Rings linked together with 2 sections of 12 Tiny Chains Links. Loop one more section of the 12 Tiny Chain Links through the last Halo Ring and attach both end-links to the hoop of the toggle bar. The other side should have 4 Halo Rings linked together with 3 sections of 12 Tiny Chains Links. Again, loop one more section of the 12 Tiny Chain links through the last Halo Ring and attach both end-links to the hoop of the toggle ring.

Lay the basic chain in front of you. You should have the following from left to right:
Toggle Ring, Tiny Chains (C1), Halo Ring (H1), Tiny Chains (C2), Halo Ring (H2), Tiny Chains (C3), Halo Ring (H3), Tiny Chains (C4), Halo Ring (H4) attached to Jade Disc, Jade Disc, Next Halo Ring (H5) Attached to Jade Disc, Tiny Chains (C5), Halo Ring (H6), Tiny Chains (C6), Halo Ring (H7), Tiny Chains (C7), and Toggle Bar.

Step 4: Dressing Up
Now that you have the basic chain, it's time to decorate!

Let’s start with the toggle ring and work our way to the Jade Disc. Charms are only put on the Tiny Chains, so don't worry about the rings. Fron the Toggle Ring, skip the first loop of Tiny Chains (C1). At Tiny Chains (C2), put tiny flower, Swirl Coil (you may need a jump ring for the Swirl, use an extra link from the Tiny Chain), Antler Charm, and another Swirl Coil. At Tiny Chains (C3) put 2 Autumn Leaves, leave one or two links between them. At the back of Tiny Chains (C3) put 2 Icicle Charms leave one link or two between them as well. At tiny chains (C4) put a Flower Charm and a Tiny Flower Charm. At the back of Tiny Chains (C4) put 1 Swirl Coil (again, you may need an extra link).

On the Jade Disc, put one flower antler on the left side, one autumn leaf to the right, and one star rose to the far right. At Tiny Chains (C5) put 1 Swirl Charm, 1 Tiny Flower, and one autumn leaf. At the back of Tiny Chains (C5) put 1 icicle charm. At Tiny Chains (C6), put 1 swirl charm and 1 flower charm.

That’s it, you’re done. Look over your piece and change it anyway you like.

Optional Step: Making it about you
There’re some Tiny Chain Links left over, so I linked all the 12 Tiny Chain Links on the braclet together with one more link between them. This makes the Halo Rings look like they were suspended and not linked to the actual bracelet. I also added an extra Halo Ring near the toggle and wove a few Tiny Chain Links in there to make everything look like it was all interconnected.

I like chains because you can be totally creative without risking the entire piece. If you make variations of this bracelet, email me some pictures!

Specifications
7-inch Finished Bracelet.
This bracelet was inspired by this thread at Wet Canvas.

Tools
Pliers
(anything you're comfortable with)

Supplies
2 Flower Charms
4 Autumn Leaves
5 Swirl Anklet Charm
1 Star Rose
3 Tiny Flower
2 Flower Antler
3 Icicle Charm
8 Halo Rings
1 strand Tiny Chains
1 White Hammered Toggle
     (not available separately)
1 Jade Disc 30mm(1.25")
  Naval-Drilled
  
(not available separately)