Rubber strand bangles

Some bangles I made using various thicknesses of rubber, with sterling silver and o'rings.

Matrix

This is a pendant I made for a fashion show. The brief was, simply, silver, black and bold. I called it Matrix because of it futuristic, geometric design. It is made of silver, rubber, black resin, onyx and aquamarine.

Pyramid

Silver and rubber, with synthetic corrundum.
I called it Pyramid because it reminds me of Egypt.

Black

This was a long pair of silver and perspex earrings. I had made 2 pairs so when a woman asked to buy just one (one of those refreshing people that wear 2 different earrings, obviously no issues with balance there!), I sold her one. I decided to make the other one into a simple drop pendant. On rubber, to match the black perspex.

Other Pendants
(Silver, rubber, onyx)

Bolo Ties

I used to tie my shoelaces around my neck like this as a teenager, knotted at the front. Rubber works well, sliding the silver and o'rings down to let the head through. Simple yet effective.

I made some variations to the basic bolo tie.

Body jewellery

I was playing around with chain and rubber. Streetware.

Textured bangle with Garnet

Rubber, Silver, Garnet

Design

This was an experiment with a new rubber material. It is has a grid texture on one side and hard sponge on the other - very comfortable on the skin. The width of rubber looked a bit boring, so I cut across it with silver and a gemstone.

Practicality

The stone is a bullet shape so sticks out and together with the rubber texture, creates more dimension and interest to the piece.
The panel of silver can be shifted to sit where the wearer prefer. Even this form of rubber has that kind of flex that makes it more rectangulr in shape than round, so forces the clasp to lay at the side of the wrist.

Variation

There are many ways to embellish the rubber that could look very interesting. Varying widths could look good. Must play.

Pax Africa: Tumi’s Cuff

Unexpected Inspiration:

I watched a kids' cartoon the other day called "URBO - Adventures of Pax Africa.
It is a futuristic story is about a bunch of teenage EMO characters..

One character in this cartoon is called Tumi. He wears a wide cuff on each wrist.

'Tumi'

I have always been drawn to red and black.

When I saw Tumi's cuffs I wanted to make something similar!

Sketching.. thinking..

I had lying at home a strip of rubber, called 'Coaxial cable'. It is used in computers, is about 6cm wide and hollow, with a transparent strip in the middle.

This middle part has threads of copper wire running down its length..

The outside of the black strip is smooth, the inside that lies against the clear strip is ribbed, to accommodate the copper rows.. I love this texture! I cut open the cable strip and used this inside rough part as the top of my cuff.

I made a few other bangles using the same material.

Rubber red - Bangle

I love red and black. Made thuis bracelet using silver, o'reings and read beads.
I worked out a new clasp system by accident. It works beautifully.

I made a prototype with a closed back (above).

I thought a cutaway from the bottom plate would look nice as well as weigh less, so I made a second clasp with a circle cut from the back. This little change made the clasp just a little less used friendly, but I used it for the rubber red bangle above. The T-bar wants to pop out the back, whereas with a closed backplate, it cant go anywhere. Sometimes saving on metal is just not a good idea !

O' Ring..

I made some rings using rubber O'rings, silver plates and gemstone.


They fit comfortably on the finger, and are interchangeable. The o'rings can be removed and replaced with smaller, bigger, fatter or thinner ones, which changes the size and appearance for different wearers. The top can also be changed to suit the mood of the wearer.

Mad about Circles

The hardware store is one of those places where I find myself lost amongst bits and pieces of potential jewellery.. Rubber O' Rings are wonderful for their black contrast with silver.

This one was meant to be earrings but as it didnt quite work out as I had intended, it became a pendant instead.