Ghost Leaves

If leaves had ghosts, I guess they'd look like this. Pictured on a skeleton grape leaf, this bracelet has an oxidized silver figure 8 chain and clasp and pale green carved serpentine leaves. Liver of sulfur is used to give the silver a dark gunmetal gray color. Vintage glass leaves in milky translucent green would be even better to use, but who knows what might happen to anything glow-in-the-dark or to vintage plastic in liver of sulfur solution. In that case, attach the charms after darkening the bracelet chain and clasp.

by Elizabeth Scott

Suggested Reading

Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie

"But, on the other hand, there were the leaves. Mrs. Darling examined them very carefully; they were skeleton leaves, but she was sure they did not come from any tree that grew in England."

Attach your charms securely so that you can get in and out without leaving a trail.

Difficulty

Boy Scout Burnout
Click here for definitions of difficulty levels.

Finished Measurements

7.5" long; can easily be made longer or shorter if you like.

Download

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Material Safety Data Sheet for Liver of Sulfer (pdf format)

Materials

• 3 feet of 24 gauge sterling silver round dead soft wire
• About 7.5 inches of sterling bracelet chain
• Large sterling clasp
• Flush cutters
• Round nose pliers
• Chain nose pliers
• 9 or more leaves with lengthwise holes
• 1 small sterling silver jump ring
• Dried liver of sulfur (I buy mine from Thunder Bird Supply. Search for "liver".)
• Clean glass jar
• Plastic spoon
• Polishing cloth (optional)

Directions

Step 1:

Buy, borrow, or recycle all tools and materials.

Step 2:

Cut the chain at 7.5 inches or desired length with cutters. (Or, use a sterling silver bracelet chain with a clasp already attached and skip steps 2 and 3.)

Step 3:

Attach the clasp to one end with the jump ring. Hold it with the two pairs of pliers and move the ends back and forth while pressing in until it's lined up and tightly closed.

Step 4:

Make a tiny loop at the end of the wire with round nose pliers.

Step 5:

String leaf.

Step 6:

Make loop with round nose pliers and attach to chain.

Step 7:

Secure loop with three neat wraps. (Hold the loop with the pliers while you wrap- the chain nose pliers are flat inside and will dent less.)

Step 8:

Wrap three times back up to the top, again holding with pliers. You can use the round nose or the chain nose pliers.

Step 9:

Cut near one side of the loop.

Step 10:

Pinch lightly closed with chain nose pliers so that the end is turned in against one side of the loop where it can't catch on anything.

Step 11:

Alternating sides, wire one leaf to every other large chain link. Also add one to the terminal end. The clasp will attach to any of the large links. If you want, you can space the leaves so that the clasp will fit in between the second and third to last leaves. Then the last two leaves will drape down.

Step 12:

Put a small piece of liver of sulfur in a jam jar with a plastic spoon. (Read the warnings on package label of course, but liver of sulfur is fairly safe to handle.)

Step 13:

Add an inch or less of hot tap water and stir to dissolve. It will smell like eggs left to rot for months, so open a window. Put the bracelet in.

Step 14:

Keeping the liver of sulfur solution warm by running warm tap water over the closed jam jar will ensure that your bracelet becomes a dark gray and does not turn any funky colors. If you see colors, make the water a little hotter. Swirl the liquid around and check color frequently. You may see a warm brown at first, but it should only take a minute to develop to a dark gray.

Step 15:

Rinse and dry on paper towel.

Step 16:

Store the liver of sulfur in the jam jar in a dark cool place away from any other chemicals and it will keep for a few weeks. When it's clear with white flakes floating on top, it's not good anymore, and you can dispose of it down the drain.

Care:

If you want to polish your bracelet, just lightly use the softest silver polishing cloth (like this mitten cloth.) It won't take off much of the gray color unless you really work at it, but will add some shine.

Variation:

Here's a variation - the leaves are wired onto the chain through each large loop in the figure 8 chain and the bracelet is polished to remove more of the black oxidized finish.

About

contact Elizabeth • http://www.esdesignsjewelry.com • legal info