“Ci Ci”: A Tropical Yarn-Wrapped Jewelry Collection

by Tamara Summers.
(Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)

The beginning inspiration for this collection were the re-purposed hot pink wooden beads and pendant. I love the colour, and knew I wanted to do something with them this summer.

I started by adding dabs of other fluorescent paint on them – orange and green, and then gold. But it wasn’t enough. With my stash of brightly-coloured wooden beads, I had also placed a skein of yarn in the same colours. I had found it in a second-hand shop as well.

I was drawn immediately to the colours, and loved that it was called “Ci Ci”! I decided I would try yarn-wrapping the large focal beads and the pendant. I liked the texture of that for this project.

I worked on the necklace first. Over the yarn, I did a bit of free-form wrapping with some fine wire, which added another layer of security and a bit of glimmer. I liked the addition of the brass heart, which I embellished with a bit of coral nail polish.

After that came buttons and some deep bead caps, which I embedded into the yarn. Lastly I added a few champagne-coloured crystals to the metal.

The earrings were made with the remainder of the pink yarn-wrapped beads, using the same embellishments.

I felt that I had just gotten started with the yarn-wrapping, and wanted to do more. A few months ago I had scored a bag of large acrylic cuff bracelets which I knew I would have fun covering. I decided to wrap one of them with my yarn.

I added a layer of wire-wrapping here as well. I settled on this large pink pre-loved heart as the focal for this bracelet (can you believe this was originally an earring?). I added buttons and a bead cap on the sides.

These pieces ended up having a lot of layers of design elements to them – wood, paint, yarn, wire, then embellishments, some of which were embellished themselves with crystals. There’s a lot of texture and a lot of colour, but all of the elements were lightweight.

Tamara Summers
Pink Pearls by Tamara