You might have seen the new-style charm-bracelets in the last five years or so on Etsy.com or eBay.com. These bracelets are constructed upon a heavy chain-link bracelet (the heavier the better for support and extra links to attach the multitude of charms). With a new-style charm bracelet, the monochrome look and the even spacing get tossed out the window.

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Each bracelet is a riot of charms made of everything from plastic or glass to wood. Typical charms include gumball-machine trinkets, beads of glass or plastic, photo-charms, lockets, religious medallions, crucifixes, netsuke, and pendants or even watch-faces. So many charms bristle from the links that the entire bracelet stands out from your wrist like a tubular cuff.

It's an extreme look that couldn't be further from the dainty Sweet-Sixteen motif of the old-style charm bracelet. Depending upon the materials you choose, its chaotic appearance could look trashy – but, hey, that can be a legitimate style!

Designers of the new-style charm bracelets often attach head-pins or eye-pins to the links of the chain after loading each head-pin with a vertical stack of beads and charms. Others attach photo-charms with images placed on both sides of the backing and sealed with glossy adhesive for a double-sided effect. It's all about making the most detailed, colorful, textured, outrageous new-style charm bracelet possible.

The new-style charm bracelet pictured here I bought from Sweet Excess on Etsy.com. It was made with charms of various weights fastened with soldered jump-rings to a heavy single-link bracelet. You'll see a little bit of everything on this bracelet including a functioning watch-face, a wooden elephant netsuke, a cloisonné heart, a four-leaf clover in silver, a transparent glass rectangle with a yarn-flower charm inside, a green heart charm made from a porcelain shard, a Snow White bubble-charm, and a tiny metal automobile.

Supplies and Assembly of New-Style Charm Bracelet:

• As a start, take the same supplies as for the old-style charm bracelet, and add your choice of the following:


• Photo charms, images, clear craft lacquer such as Diamond Glaze™ to attach and brush over as a finish


• Head-pins or eye-pins, whatever length you need to wrap into a secure loop around the link on the charm bracelet. If, like me, you're sort of clumsy with the wrapping or are going for overkill on your loop to make sure your stack of beads and charms remains secure, you might want to go for the longer size like a 2-inch. Once you've looped your pin over the link, use the round-nose pliers to smoothly wrap the excess wire back around the stem of the pin, pulling each coil tight and stacking it atop the previous one. Cut the excess or use the flat-nose pliers to press the end into the stem.


• Beads – plastic, glass, wood, mineral


• Lockets with or without photos inside


• Plastic or metal trinkets from gumball machines


• And anything else you can think of!

Clasps and Safety-Chains. If you're working with a length of chain rather than a plain or vintage bracelet that already has a clasp, you can attach a clasp with the jump- or split-rings. Remember that split-rings are stronger structurally than jump-rings and the clasp of a bracelet catches a lot of stress.

You could also attach a safety-chain. This is where you take a delicate single-link chain that is thinner than your main charm bracelet and attach each end to each end of your charm bracelet.

It will look like a little splice that lengthens the circle of your original charm bracelet. You want its length to be just long enough to allow you to slip the charm bracelet with its clasp undone on and off over your hand. If your clasp were ever to break, the bracelet should fall slack on your wrist with your safety chain holding it together. It could slide off your hand, but you'll probably notice in time to grab it.