The Multi-Stranded Bangle.

[Dennis]

When I first started, my head was full of way out images, so it is only now that I am attempting some of the basics. Here is a multi-stranded bangle made from ten rings of 1.2mm silver wire, each looped through the ones before.

Ideally they would have been welded, but for soldering I made a special tool with clips, on the lines suggested by James Miller, from two strips of stainless steel. The clips have extensions which were riveted in the shape of a cross using a piece of wire from a coat hanger. This has the advantage of avoiding waste and the resulting, rather stiff hinge allows for adjustment.

The wire rings were first soldered separately and rounded on a mandrel. Then they were cut, assembled , re-soldered one at a time and hammered again. By using hard drawn wire, easy solder, and the new tool as a heat sink, only a short length of wire was softened by heating.

I purposely used surplus solder, thinking that the little nodes would be a design feature to distinguish it from just a reel of wire, which of course it is. That’s my story anyhow. Dennis.