Luxe Jewelry blog

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the tiffany jewelry firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

NAME OF PRODUCT: Children’s “Groovy Grabber” Bracelets

UNITS: About 4 million

MANUFACTURER: A&A Global Industries, of Cockeysville, Md.

HAZARD: The paint on the metallic band beneath the decorative cover contains high silver rings levels of lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.

INCIDENTS/INJURIES: None reported.

DESCRIPTION: The recalled bracelets are made of flexible metal bands wrapped in decorative plastic covers. The bracelets come in various colors and designs, including smiley faces, Chinese symbols, dogs, cats, aliens, checker boards, and flames.

SOLD IN: Vending machines located in malls, discount, department and grocery stores nationwide from November 2005 through March 2007 for 25 cents.

MANUFACTURED IN: China

REMEDY: Consumers should immediately take the recalled bracelets away from children and silver bracelets discard them.

CONSUMER CONTACT: For additional information, contact A&A Global Industries at (800) 638-6000 ext. 314 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.aaglobalind.com.

Grace Magruder’s son had run away again.

“I think he followed the deer path,” she said, pointing to a narrow tiffany line of dirt through a patch of heavy brush near the family’s home here.

Four-year-old Zachary is mentally handicapped and prone to wandering. That time he was found a quarter-mile away.

“If I leave for two seconds, it’s almost like he watches, and then he’s gone,” Magruder said.

But she could find peace of mind in a radiowave-emitting bracelet the Wabasha County family will soon receive from neighboring Olmsted County. Olmsted is one of about five Minnesota counties using the technology that could track people if they get lost.

The movement, driven largely by families of people with disabilities, gained new urgency silver bangles with the recent disappearance of Keith Kennedy from a summer camp and his rescue after a week in the Wisconsin woods.

The bracelets in Olmsted County are part of the Project Lifesaver program, which the county operates with the RT Autism Awareness Foundation. The foundation hopes to spread the program, which includes vulnerable adults, to eight more counties by the end of the year, says Brad Trahan, a co-founder.

Trahan says he’s in talks with a legislator to push for a law next year that would make the program available statewide.

About 40 children in Olmsted County now wear the bracelets. The foundation raised $15,000 for the program and provides the Sheriff’s Office with the bracelets, receivers and receiver training, and screens the applicants. Trahan said a diagnosis by a doctor or school is necessary to receive a bracelet.

The initial cost of a bracelet is $405, though in Olmsted grants are typically available to those who need them.

Each bracelet contains a unique tracking signal that can be pinpointed from a mile away on the ground and up to 10 miles in the air.

Project Lifesaver says it has an average recovery time of less than 30 minutes. They claim a perfect record of recovering missing participants fitted with the bracelets — about 1,700 so far nationwide.

Kennedy case had an impact

Her son’s disappearance led Magruder to seek out Project Lifesaver. The Kennedy case hit her hard silver rings because of Kennedy’s similarities to Zachary, even though Zachary has not been specifically diagnosed as autistic. “I know with Zachary, he doesn’t respond to his name … and how do you search for that?”

Mario Cortolezzis, who has an autistic son, had met with officials in Carver County to promote Project Lifesaver the day before Kennedy wandered off. He said his first reaction to the news was, “OK, this is a sign. This is exactly why Project Lifesaver is needed.”

Cortolezzis is working to get his 5-year-old Dante a bracelet and is raising money to bring the program to Carver County. He estimates it will cost $20,000.

The program is attractive to law enforcement because it’s potentially cost-effective, said Mike Bromberg, who ran the program for the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. Considering the costs of personnel and equipment, just one or two traditional searches for missing children would justify the cost of implementing Project Lifesaver, he said.

Still, the upfront costs are prohibitive for some counties. Receivers cost about $2,500, and new programs require training people to use the technology.

Drawn to water

Other programs also help those who wander. Software called Search Tracker, which analyzes terrain and vegetation, helped direct rescuers in last week’s search for Kennedy. Specially trained service dogs can keep track of autistic children, but they can cost up to $20,000.

Project Lifesaver has found support from parents of autistic children, many of whom fear their children’s silver bracelets attraction to water.

When Kennedy was found last week, he was lying next to a creek. Last year, a 5-year-old Blaine girl with autism drowned in a pond after wandering from her home.

Cortolezzis says his son Dante recently broke out of a house that he jokes is locked down “like a fortress” to keep his son from wandering.

“He pushed the window up, broke the screen and he got out. Immediately he went to the pond,” he said. A Carver County deputy found him standing knee-deep in the pond.

While there’s no scientific explanation for the water connection, for some people with autism, a lack of fear “combined with the attraction to water proves fatal,” said Dennis Debbaudt, who specializes in training law enforcement about autism.

Bracelet reaction

Reactions to the bracelets vary. Some wearers try to get them off.

Bromberg said one girl slid the bracelet off her wrist by slathering it with shampoo. He has had to move silver cufflinks bracelets from the wrist to the ankle to keep some kids from trying to gnaw them off.

Jade Werth of Rochester gave her 10-year-old son Austin a watch a few days before they received the bracelet. Her son is now used to the device.

“Some kids put stickers on ‘em, some kids color ‘em, some kids chew ‘em,” Bromberg said.

For many powwow dancers, the beginning of the dance season is an exciting time tiffany jewelry. The long winter hours give way to

brighter days and the chance to bring out all of the new beaded outfits that have been created over the long winter months. Each new powwow season brings with it new trends, new ideas, and regalia items that have never been seen before. Over the years some trends come, some stay, and the outfits in each category are always evolving.

One of the new trends on the powwow scene are beaded bracelet-rings sets that appear on Jingle and Ladies Fancy dancer’s wrist. With the hot new trend of “bling”, rhinestones seem to have been added to every fashion accessory imaginable. Even our cell phones become encrusted in brilliant jewels and baubles.

The construction of these sought after articles can be simple, once you learn the basic materials. Most of the Tiffany Keys bracelet-ring sets I have seen match the rest of the wearer’s beaded outfit. The colors and beadwork pattern are the same as what is represented in the larger outfit.

The shapes and colors of such bracelet-ring sets are not limited to one size, or a basic pattern. The sky is the limit as to how simple or how intricate the shapes of the beadwork can be. One can easily design the beadwork shapes free hand, and then use these ideas for the pattern for the base of the beadwork. It can safely be said, most of the beaded bracelet-ring sets will have some kind of added rhinestone edging and/or embellishment incorporated right in the main bead design. The goal of the beadwork designer is to have their jewelry to be brighter, shinier, more innovative, and more flamboyant than others.

Construction

Begin with the design. It helps to view many examples of what the final bracelet will look like. There are silver bangles powwow web sites which offer many pictures to choose ideas from, or attending powwows and seeing the designs and patterns up-close. Actually knowing and sharing ideas with other dancers and beaders is another way to design a new bracelet-ring set.

Create a paper pattern of the design. Once this basic design is put down on paper, begin the construction phase of the set. With this paper pattern you can transfer the design to the base material. “Baby lap” material (photo 1) is something that I have always favored. It is a “felt-like” textile with a rubbery interior layer that prevents the edges from fraying once patterns have been cut out of the cloth. On very rare occasions, I have found the elusive “baby lap” in fabric stores and the large department stores in the craft and sewing departments. More often than not, I have found “baby lap” at garage sales, or share supplies with other bead workers. “Baby lap” is easy to bead on. The beading needles pass very easily through the fabric and the basic construction of the fabric allows for a more stable and sturdy work surface.

I have found that backing the “baby lap” with some light weight cardboard (cereal box cardboard weight is an ideal weight for this purpose) is needed. I would strongly suggest “backing” your work with at least some kind of lightweight stiffener to allow the bead work patterns and rhinestones to have a sturdy base.

Sandwich the pattern piece (paper form with your bracelet-ring design) right side-out onto the “cut to shape” baby lap, with the lightweight cardboard stiffener on the other side of the sandwich. There should now be a three layer base on which to bead – pattern, baby lap, cardboard. You don’t want all the hard work to be diminished silver rings by ending up with a “flimsy” final product. I have also seen some pieces constructed with light weight plastic (as in basic plastic milk jugs) as the stiffening agent.

The pattern set should look something like Photo 3.

Begin beading on the base material using flat work appliqu茅 style on the body of the piece. By now, the beadwork colors and bead sizes to be used should have been chosen. By following the outlines and filling in the colors according to the beadwork pattern the beaded bracelet piece as well as the ring bead work will be complete. Edge bead the bracelet for a finished look.

The bracelet piece should be about two inches to three inches wide and about six to seven inches long. You can simply have the beaded bracelet piece “wrap” around the wrist and fasten it closed with small leather straps. Watch band type closures can be used to complete the bracelet. I have seen plain “hook and eyes” closures, as well as larger size “snap” closures used to complete the bracelet.

Once the beaded pieces have been completely beaded, I would suggest backing them (cutting out an exact same size pattern piece) with lightweight leather or non fraying material. It hides any thread work and knots, and adds to the overall professional finish to the product.

The ring bead work can also be worn on the fingers in a variety of ways. I have seen some bracelet ring sets with silver bracelets the ring actually set on inexpensive rings that can be purchased in any craft store. You can mount the completed ring beaded piece (which will itself only be about one to two inches square) onto the beaded ring. I would back the completed ring piece with lightweight leather, out of which I would cut a tiny opening in the back, to fit over the ring part of your intended metal jewelry item. I would carefully sew-close the opening, so that the beaded decoration would be snugly affixed to the ring. This is a similar type of construction method as seasoned headers would use to affix finished beaded barrettes to the actual barrette clip hardware. You can also tie down the ring piece to the finger with thin leather ties as well. This can be cumbersome if the ring need frequent tying.

Be sure to include in the beadwork pattern room enough to fit tiny rows of the pre-strung rhinestone chains (photo 2). Normally, the rhinestone embellishment would be added along the entire outer edge of the bead worked pieces. A large size rhinestone can be used as a focal point of the ring piece. Simply bead around the center rhinestone bauble to achieve the look of the professionally designed ring. The pre-strung rhinestone chains come in plastic as well as metal based chains. All that is needed is to carefully cut off the required lengths of rhinestone chain, and then carefully and sturdily sew the chains down on the base beadwork. I like to sew down every rhinestone by sewing on either side of the stones, along the complete length of the chain. The decision to lay down the rhinestones first and then bead the design, or bead first then lay the rhinestones, is up the individual bead worker. I would prefer completing my beadwork patterns first, then adding the rhinestones to prevent any mistakes in sizing the pieces. silver cufflinks Some designs inevitably require the addition of the rhinestones first, then beading.

To attach the completed bracelet beadwork to the beaded ring beadwork, use the pre-strung rhinestone chains, or regular, very small size regular chains (photo 4 & 4A), that can be found in craft stores, beading stores and on the web.

The two pieces can be connected by whip stitching (many times for added strength) the ends of the rhinestone chain to the bracelet and the ring. The “jump rings” can be attached to the edges of the beaded pieces (whip stitching them in place), and then attaching rhinestone or chain links between the ring and bracelet. The connecting chain can be made by beading a thin strip to attach the two pieces together, or string beads on a very strong thread combination (for example, four thicknesses of heavy weight Nymo beading thread).

To wear the new bracelet-ring set, I would strongly encourage the wearer to first put the ring on, then tie the bracelet down on the wrist. To work in the opposite order would be down right difficult, if not impossible.

Show off this nice beaded bracelet-ring set at the next powwow!