Valar Morghulis Bracelet - v 2.0!

I am finally adding things to my Etsy shop again! Here's my Valar Morghulis bracelet (well, the second version of it). I really love how it came together. It's based on the storyline of Arya Stark from George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire series.

I just started reading them a few months ago and Arya is by far my favorite character. Part of the inspiration for this bracelet is based on what happens in books two and three (Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords) and it's a bit spoilery, so I guess I can't post about it? Maybe I'll add that on to the end of this entry under a SPOILER headline.

Anyway, I've been very inspired by the series, and I've made lots of jewelry and I can't wait to put it all online. I hope other people like it too. Even if they don't, I think leather bracelets with skulls and foreign coins are super cool anyway. More jewelry in the near future!
Oh, and here's a link to my shop so you can keep an eye on it if you want:
Futuregirl Leah Riley's Etsy Shop

SPOILER DESCRIPTION! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THROUGH BOOK THREE OK?!?
Okay, so the strands represent the people left in Arya's "prayer" wherein she lists all the people that she wish would die, and the four skulls represent the four of those that she has killed - two through an assassin, one in a swordfight, and the Hound she left to die (so I assume he's dead) - so that's what the number of strands and skulls represent! Also, the coin is from when she gets the coin and phrase "Valar Morghulis" in order to get passage to Braavos.

END SPOILERS!

Valar Morghulis Bracelet: Geekery in Jewelry

I'm a big fan of George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series, and especially of the character Arya Stark. I'm going to try and not include any spoilers for those of you who haven't read the books, so let's just say that this phrase is very cool, a sort of memento mori in world, and the coin is a reference to part of that as well.

Making it:
I got some nice soft black leather from Ornamentea, about 36", and attached the coin closure to the end using a bone colored bead and some thread. I looped the leather through the hole in the coin, sewed the bead to the leather, then put one end back through the hole and fastened the leather back together on the other side with black thread. For the other end, I just made a loop and sewed it with black thread, wrapping it around several times before tying it off.


The words were the most difficult part. I wanted the coin and the words and I tried lots of different methods to get the words into the project, and finally I decided to stamp the words using my metal alphabet (I also stamped a copper piece, which I'll show you later).


In the end, I'm very happy with the piece. I'm curious to see how well the leather will continue to hold up after being stamped so heavily. I put the phrase on repeatedly around the leather, so however you wrap it around your wrist, you can see them.


Here's what I've learned with this project:
- Use serious needles when working with leather, I destroyed two needles
- Wintergreen transfers do not work on metal (my initial idea was to transfer "Valar Morghulis" onto a brass oxidized coin-like piece using wintergreen - it did nothing!)