Ahoy Mateys - check out the pirate charm bracelet!

This was the first charm bracelet I made back in the year 2009. I had been collecting little beads and charms for several years, but finally dared to put them all together during the boring parts of a car ride to Disneyland in California. I made 2, I have one and my daughter has the other. Notice the black pearls, as I think the Pirates of the Caribbean movies were popular at the time. I was just learning to make bead-drop charms with wire and pliers.

Here's how I made the bead charms

Here's how I put the charms on the bracelet.
(I used the "wreck the fingernails" method to put the charms on this bracelet, but have since purchased the split ring tool which makes it much easier. I used split rings on this bracelet to make the charms more secure as some were heavy. Now I usually just use jump rings and save the split rings for charms that are heavy or need to be very secure.

Here's how to use the split ring tool

Here are the types of supplies you need to make a charm bracelet.

So here are some of my other pirate crafts. During the 1990's my children became pirates for a few years, I think around the time the move "Hook" came out. I made pirate costumes, and they loved the old Martin Martin version of the play Peter Pan we had on VHS. Our family dressed up as pirates for a 4th of July children's parade and won an award for "Best Family Entry" and a trophy. My then 4-year-old son was captain hook riding a tricycle pulling a giant inflatable crocodile on a skateboard following him. I was his sidekick smee on rollerblades. My husband was peter pan on rollerblades and my daughter was tiger lilly on rollerblades. We felt silly, but the children who came to watch the parade LOVED US!!! They thought we were real!

During that time I painted a pirate nutcracker from a pattern by decorative artist Juanita Denton. I love my pirate nutcracker. Brings back good memories!

My pirate nutcracker needs to be dusted very badly!!! He's up on a high shelf so he's hard to reach. I made his hat out of felt and attached some loopy captain hook hair to the hat. He started out as a plain wood unfinished nutcracker from a craft store in Salt Lake City called Zim's. I still have a few unfinished nutcracker projects that I will have to finish one day!

Here are some close-up's of the pirate bracelet

I love the lampwork skeleton beads. I got them at oriental trading but I don't think they have them any more.

 

The monkey makes me laugh!

I Love the carved skull, and the blue lampwork skeleton, and the sand dollar!

I've made many other bracelets since my first pirate bracelets. You should give it a try. Start out with a few beads you like and a few charms and give it a shot. It's very addicting to collect themed treasure. This gives you a chance to wear your treasure, AND it doesn't take up too much space. It's fun!