You might remember that a while back I was in search of a tool to make fastening bracelets and necklaces something I could do by myself. I like to wear jewellery - how surprising - but painful hands, the result of an auto immune disease I've had for most of my adult life, make it impossible to fasten them by myself - I can usually manage to undo them, though. Pisces never objects when I ask for his help but he makes such a production of doing it that honestly I'd rather not bother. (He does have finger tips that are somewhat larger than the average but it's not the fumbling but more the irritated muttering that wears me down.)
Then when we were out to lunch the other day I was looking around at the other women who both had necklaces and bracelets on while I had only my wedding and engagement rings - and my mother's wedding ring that I have worn since she passed away - and the long chain necklace I can get over my head. It didn't seem fair. So I got inspired to try - again - to find some sort of help so I can do these tasks by myself.
On-line I went. I tried pages on disability aids first but the only bracelet fastener on them was one with very, very bad reviews so maybe not the ideal. Then I googled bracelet fasteners and there were a whole bunch - none of them with very enthusiastic reviews either but they were relatively cheap at between $15.00 and $20.00. Most according to their reviews seemed to be either cheaply made or to have grippers that could potentially damage the jewellery they were holding. Hmm. Then I discovered Fairy Fasteners - and they sounded great. Well designed, ergonomically suited to the task and they looked attractive - but the price was $119.00 US plus postage and handling. Nope, not going there.
So what about necklace fasteners? Again there are a variety. Most seem to be based on adding a magnetic catch to the necklace and they range from the cheap and tawdry to the only one I could find which incorporates a sort of locking system by using pins that click into holes which are supposed to hold the magnets in place. I'm not sure how secure that would be and I don't much liking the idea of trusting a precious necklace to just a magnet either.
What to do? I decided to look up bracelet and necklace fastening hacks and that's when things got interesting. You can see where I found some of these suggestions here but they came up in a number of other places, too. As well there are a whole bunch of videos on using the opened out paperclip and the tape method if you prefer to see things in action. Just google bracelet fastening hacks.
Well I decided to try out these methods and to say I was sceptical is somewhat of an understatement. I went through my jewellery box and chose this bracelet.
This is because a) it has a clip over catch and b) it's somewhat bulky and likely to slip around and c) it's old and damaged enough that it wouldn't break my heart should it be damaged.
I was not sure if I had the dexterity to use the paperclip hack but it seemed a good place to start so I found a large paperclip - that turned out to be important, because a small one wouldn't give you enough to hold onto - and opened it up like so.
All you have to do then is to lie your wrist over the bracelet, which you've laid out on a flat surface (I found having my hand palm up worked best), hook the smaller hook of the paperclip through a link near the receiving end of the bracelet (the bit with the ring), bring it up over your wrist then hook the catch through while holding the other end of the paperclip. It took a couple of tries to find the best position for the various bits but then it was very effective.
The tape method appealed to me most because of the least risk of damage to me and my bracelets and it's probably the most simple. You need a piece of tape long enough to securely hold the bracelet in place - I used around 6-7 centimetres. You tape the ring end of the bracelet to your wrist leaving just enough overhang for you to slip the catch through the ring and clip it closed. Voila, your bracelet is fastened. You pull off the tape and you're done. According to what I read some kind of invisible sticky or Scotch tape is least likely to transfer unwanted stickiness to your bracelet and it certainly seemed to work for me.
So there you go - my bracelet problem is solved. I'm still looking for a necklace hack, though, so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear from you.
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