Vintage Silverware Jewelry: How to fix what isn’t working?

by Lady Mockingbird.
(Upstate New York, USA)

The gap and the slight lift to the heavy end of the cuff.

Re-purposing vintage silverware into jewelry items has been a popular hand craft for a few decades now. And I have dabbled in that arena making rings out of sugar and baby spoon handles. I’ve found that full sized flatware handles are too long for rings, but too short for bracelets and I’m not overly fond of the way some artisans link a couple of pieces together to form necklaces. This is not to say that linking multiple pieces together is bad, just that doing so doesn’t fit my aesthetic.

The detail of this floral bas relief pattern is stunning.

So when a friend, out of the blue, sent me several pieces of solid sterling silver flatware in trade for me making a custom pendant out of the largest serving fork, I was thrilled. The flatware is heavy ornate and just beautiful. And the serving fork handle is just long enough to make a cuff style bracelet. Or so I thought.

The problem is in two aspects for this piece. The first issue is that while I can get this piece onto my wrist, the lovely leaf motif I salvaged from the narrow end digs uncomfortably into my wrist when putting the cuff on. This is an issue I’d be content to deal with on its own, though it makes the piece unsaleable, save for the next problem.

The is the red mark the bracelet made while I was putting it on. The mark faded soon after.

I had to leave the very end of the wide part curved up somewhat to make the opening just barely wide enough for wedging the cuff onto my wrist. But once the cuff is on it sits oddly and falls too far down my wrist. So, I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, and figure out how to do this differently so it will sit the way I want it to and go on without digging into the skin.

See how oddly it lays?

I do love the look of it in the pictures I took. So I’m not giving up on it. Just have to let some ideas percolate a bit but would be thrilled to hear any suggestions you may have.

Lady Mockingbird
Mockingbird Lane Wire at Etsy
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