It never ceases to amaze me the twists and turns (get it?) that my life takes! A couple of months ago our friend DB-H who's also a fan of my jewelry asked if I could provide her with a few cool looking sterling silver or glittery charms to adorn her dreadlocks. That was admittedly uncharted waters for me - something I'd never thought about creating.
Okay, I hesitated a bit, gave it cursory thought and promptly replied to her that it's no problem to put together a small assortment of tiny charm bling... and just off the top of my head I also promised that I'd figure out a way to secure the charms in her dreads perhaps using smallish (7mm) sterling silver spring rings.
Well off I went to ponder this project, but upon close inspection of my sterling silver spring rings (under my strong magnifiers) I wasn't thrilled with how they would pan out (although small, professionally made spring rings are better than nothing and they'll do in a pinch I suppose). But on further reflection, it seemed apparent to me that a spring ring wouldn't provide enough 'catch' meaning it would be prone to slide off.
Another issue that came to mind was how my 7mm spring rings (with their diamond cut edges) would be apt to get caught up in the hair. Now admittedly it was 30 years ago, but I was once trained as a professional hair stylist, so proper hair care is quite important to me. And my ethnic mix that includes African genes has given me an acute understanding of just how fragile black hair really can be, so above all else I definitely don't want to promote solutions that might damage the hair in any way.
So what to do? Well, by some miracle of fate and technology I found online references to many, many forms of handmade dreadlock hair accessories. Really cool stuff to be sure :)
Dreadlock jewellery making techniques date back to the beginning of time. Some loc jewelry making techniques can easily be replicated today if you possess basic wirework skills, small scraps of wire (small scraps of precious metal wire are even better in my opinion).
The copper wire used here is is 20 gauge round copper wire provided courtesy of my friend Lois of
A Beaded Affair located in Philly, PA. I recommend you buy an introductory amount of Lois' 18 gauge or 20g round copper wire for this project.
Email me if you need a tutorial on how to work this project. To finish off, just toss in a few leftover crystals, shells, glass beads, charms, souvenirs, or well, if you've got access to even tiny quantities of extraordinary genuine gemstone specimens... then voila!
There you have it... dread jewelry, loc jewellery, dredlock charms, dreadlock adornments... well whatever you wanna call it... we now have 'em! and we'll work them up in any diameter to perfectly fit the size of your locks. Just let me know what metal, what diameter/size, and which adornments will make you most happy :)
