Yemenite Copper Wire Beaded Bracelets

As part of our unit of study about the Jews of Yemen, we learned that because Muslims refused to work with precious metals like gold or silver because it was considered a sin in Islam, it was the Jews of Yemen who became the jewelers. They became especially adept working with silver and copper.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, our Edot students had the opportunity to make copper wire beaded bracelets, simple versions of popular Yemenite jewelry. In doing so, they learned how to use the needle pliers, a basic tool for bending and shaping the wire. They also learned that jewelry was often a wearable talisman, used to keep away the djinni  that Arab Muslims believed caused disease and even death. According to pre-Muslim Arabic mythology, these djinni were attracted to shiny objects, and could be captured only inside of circular-shaped objects, since circles have no beginning and no end.

Thus, much Arab jewelry is decorated with round, shiny beads or coins to attract and then capture the evil spirits.

I set out containers filled with round wooden and glass beads.

The first step in making the bracelet was to take an 18" long, 24-gauge piece of copper wire, and then to grab one end of the wire with a pair of needle pliers and wind it six times around the pointed end of the tool.

It took only a few practice tries 'til the students caught onto the fact that you have to grip the wire's end tightly with the pliers even as you're winding the wire around the "needle" part of the tool.

After winding the wire six times around the pliers, you push the wire off the end of the pliers, then squeeze the resulting spiral as flat as you can using your fingers. Then it's time to choose 15 or more beads to string onto the opposite end of the wire.

Ideally, you would choose shiny, round beads to fit among any other beads you might find attractive for the bracelet.

Once you string on all the beads that can fit on the wire, it's time to follow the first two steps on the other end of the wire, leaving a little bit extra wire to shape into a hook with the pliers. 

And voila, you have a beautiful bracelet which doubles as a talisman to ward off those djinni that are always trying to cause trouble in our lives!

It's a perfect fit!

With all the djinni surrounding us, just one bracelet is probably not enough. (I wonder how many djinni fit into that big, brown bead on Phin's left wrist.)

Another proud Edot jeweler.

One to wear and one to bear.

And because it's so much fun to make, I had plastic bags available for students to take more beads and wire home to make more bracelets (hmmm - I wonder if any Edot mothers will be sporting new bracelets come Mother's Day!).

I'm looking forward to seeing many of our fifth graders at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Sunday morning. I've been advised that our art project there will involve making our own Rube Goldberg-inspired chain reaction machines from wacky everyday objects. I, for one, can hardly wait!!!