First I had to recognize the many different wooden dominoes in my stash (the plastic ones are too heavy for bracelets, I think). I came up with 4 types:
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| 4 different types of dominoes, found at thrift stores |
The one on the left is bamboo, I believe. The others are plain wood with recessed dots. The one on the far right is the oldest and the best made.
I followed the same method I use with Scrabble tile bracelets. Step 1 is drilling holes in the sides. (I used my husband's drill press.) The bamboo dominoes were easy, but the others tended to crack and split. In fact, it turned out the smallest ones were all but impossible to drill.
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| Holes drilled through |
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| Some cracked easily |
I made three bracelets. The first was unadorned -- just beads and elastic thread. For the other two, I cut images out of large playing cards, attached them to the dominoes, and covered them with resin. (I also added words to the larger dominoes.)
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| Bamboo dominoes after resin |
When I pushed the bamboo dominoes together, the square composition caught my eye. Maybe a future project? In any case, I like the way the abstract images (cropped from the face card "bodies") turned out -- they almost look African.
Since this was the first time using dominoes, I wasn't sure how small or large the finished bracelets would be. I experimented with different sized beads and elastic thread. After a few failed attempts (too small), I settled on larger beads and .7 mm thread.
Here are the final versions. I worry that the larger dominoes may be too large for petite wrists. I like the way the bamboo ones fits. (Of course, those dominoes are the hardest to come by.)
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What do you think?
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