By Augusten Burroughs
Located in Northampton, MA
I created this bangle with heavy gauge Ohio steel that I hand-worked into shape. This open bangle is worn by sliding your wrist through the bangle's narrow opening. It's rigid enough to retain its shape, but flexible enough to fit many wrists. Use two hands to carefully narrow or widen if needed.
Adorning the bangle are eight highly translucent slightly bluish-green hand-carved jadeite jade rondel beads from Guatemala, each of which measures almost 10mm. They are accompanied by a pair of 8mm agarwood (or oud) wood beads. Agarwood is a rare wood prized for centuries as a perfume ingredient and an expensive one at that. The aroma is a result when a particular species of tree native to Asia becomes infected with a particular bacteria. The longer and more intense the infection, the greater the smell. These are not antique beads, so their aroma is extremely subtle. A 12.45mm Guatemalan jadeite bead serves as the focal point and a pair of small (4.29mm) 18K yellow gold rings serve as bookends on either side.
Like most of the pieces in this collection, there is no lab certification included for the jade. This saves money and helps me keep the price down but does require a leap of faith on your end. All of the jade I use in my collection are from previously-tested "batches" from specific suppliers and all previous samples have tested as "A" jade. I only use "leftover" jade beads that I had in my collection after creating a necklace and then sending that necklace to the gem lab for testing and certification. Even though I can identify jade treatments with about 99% accuracy, I only sell jade that has been lab tested and is natural and untreated. Even my nephrite has been tested, which is highly uncommon in the industry. Yet Tiffany & Co. coats their nephrite necklaces...
Category
2010s American Artisan Steel Bracelets
MaterialsJade, 18k Gold, Steel
