Although I’m not Irish, I do have a certain affinity for St. Patrick’s Day so of course I had to make a bracelet to celebrate one of my favourite holidays of the year!
I don’t have the brighter emerald or kelly greens that are often associated with St. Patrick’s Day, but the darker greens from my Woodland bracelet still evoke the lush landscape of Ireland for me, so they were a perfect starting point. Last year I quickly cobbled together something using a few beads from that bracelet, along with my Lucky Dragon, and this year the greens from that bracelet took centre stage again, with a few additions and substitutions.
The first addition was my lovely German Clover, representing the Luck of the Irish. The Lucky Knot was another obvious choice for me, as was the Gnome, to represent leprechauns. The original Ohm Beads Leprechaun or the new limited edition version with gold accents would have been a cute addition to this bracelet as well, if I owned either, although I suspect I would have ended up with a very different bracelet in the end had I used either of those since the enamel detailing may not have meshed well with the greens that I chose.
I originally tried a version using some of my white beads to bring a bit of contrast to the darker greens, but ultimately didn’t feel that reflected what I wanted. Instead I went in the opposite direction and decided to include some of my darkest beads to honour the deliciously dark beers of Ireland! We live in a city with multiple universities/colleges so I usually avoid the pubs on St. Patrick’s Day since the lineups often start well before they even open, but I do enjoy partaking in a Guinness or Kilkenny if I can and as soon as the dark beads were on the bracelet, I knew that it was the right choice. And, of course, I had to have a pot of gold for my little “leprechaun”. ;)
The final result may not fit everyone’s idea of a St. Patrick’s Day bracelet, but I love it! We’ll see if I end up tweaking it at all in the next two weeks, but I think if any changes are done, they will be minor.