Manly, yes, but I like it too!

I remember that tag line from a years old commercial, where the Irish girl makes the comment about soap.  The comment could apply to lots of things, but I've chosen to include it here along with these significantly larger editions of one of my favourite things to make. 

Recently, a neighbour did a favour for us and I am going to be gifting him with one of these.  Another will be for hubby (of course...he provided the wrist for the original model) and one is going to be a Christmas gift for someone whom I hope isn't reading this blog.

Some years ago I obained this very heavy hide, I think it might be deer, but not sure, in a size that was really too small to make anything. The piece was irregularly shaped, and had a few little notches in it here and there.  I was able to spot a few places where the hide was long enough to make a wrist band, so that's where I started.  I used the quilting ruler, the Olfa board and the trusty cutting blade (wheel) that I had inherited a few years ago and cut some thin type strips of the hide. 

It seems to fit well with the natural organic feel of the stones, which are larger than the ones I usually make.  I had to make the holes quite large as the first set I tried wouldn't allow the hide to pass NO HOW, even after pulling it with my pliers.  So I baked the stones on a larger type knitting needle to ensure that the stones would fit the heavy duty hide.  I had to make the 'stopper stone' hole even bigger and found the right bore on a piece of metal tubing from a pasta machine that I had once tried to clean.  (Long story...I will leave the cleaning of pasta machines to those that know how to put them back together once they've been taken apart!)

I regret that some people out there will not take to these...but then again, if I think back to yesterday's post, I can live with that! I must add that I have seen similar bracelets to these and hope that I haven't "infringed" on anyone's property.  I realize that a lot of people make stone bracelets (I have been making them for about ten years myself) and that being said, I just wanted to show my take on a more manly style.

Now, to think of an appropriate name for them!!!