Ecliptic Bracelet

April 2009
Sterling silver

A client asked me to design a bracelet for his wife on the occasion of the birth of their son, and pretty much gave me the freedom to do what I wanted to. He didn't want a cuff or a bangle, so I decided to make something of an amalgam between a chain and a sectioned bracelet. I was playing with different designs and doodles, and eventually decided to fashion the decorative links of the chain after a closed version the symbol for the ecliptic, or the "way of the sun" in astrology. According to the Online Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms, the ecliptic "in a natal chart... is also associated with blood relations and sexual contacts that lead to childbirth." Seemed appropriate given the nature of the gift! Each ecliptic-inspired link is hand-hammered to give the surface of the bracelet a little extra shimmer. The result was something unlike anything I'd ever done--surprisingly light and fluid in spite of the relative thickness of the gauge of wire used to create it. And it looks even better draped around a wrist than it does here.

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