Denise Betesh’s Diamond and Chain Maille Bracelet
Labor of Love
A look behind the design of Denise Betesh’s intricately crafted bracelet
By Tina Snyder
While studying jewelry making at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the 1980s, Santa Fe, New Mexico–based designer Denise Betesh fell head over heels for chain making. “We had access to the Roman chains and ancient foxtails in the old Egyptian department of the museum, and I fell in love with the meditative process of replicating those chain styles.”
The repetition involved in making chain by hand was taken to the next level in this 550-link chain maille bracelet, commissioned by Betesh’s father as a gift to her mom for her 75th birthday. One of her all-time favorite pieces, Betesh describes it as a true labor of love, taking about 40 hours to painstakingly craft, link by link.
Betesh began by drawing 22 karat yellow gold wire down through metal plates to achieve the desired width—in this case 19 gauge. She then wrapped the wire around a 3.5 mm dowel and cut the coil to make symmetrical jump rings to be used for the chain maille.
The trickiest part, says Betesh, was fusing the 22k gold links closed. “I typically fuse as opposed to soldering, so with this piece I had to ensure that I could fuse each link individually without connecting it to the link beside it, or I’d lose the movement,” she explains. Betesh said the first challenge was obtaining the right scale.
“I had to do a few 1 inch square samples first, using different diameters of jump ring and thickness of wire, until I found the proportions that worked the best,” she said. “18 gauge wire on a 4 mm dowel was too airy, while 18 gauge on a 3.5 mm dowel was too heavy; 19 gauge on a 3 mm dowel was too tight, but 19 gauge and a 3.5 mm dowel worked perfectly.”
Denise Betesh
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Betesh assembled the bracelet row by row, attaching 10 links to each other, laying them carefully across a charcoal block, and fusing the jump rings closed. She says the key here was using a propane mini torch, which enabled her to isolate the heat within a very specific area.
Once the chain maille bracelet was fabricated, Betesh added the 75 diamonds that her mother had inherited in the form of a necklace from her grandmother: 35 3 mm diamonds, 25 2.7 mm, and 15 2.25 mm. She set the diamonds in tubing with a half-round jump ring soldered to the base.
Betesh describes her diamond and chain maille bracelet as a labor of love, taking about 40 hours to painstakingly craft, link by link.
To retain movement of the chain maille, she devised settings that would dangle from the bracelet with fluidity. “I didn’t want to solder the diamonds onto the bracelet, so I added the jump ring, slipped it around the link in the chain maille, then soldered it back to the bezel.”
Considering the value of the bracelet, Betesh knew the clasp had to be extra secure. She designed a significant tube setting with a safety catch at the top for extra security. “The materials themselves would have amounted to around $40,000, so I wanted to ensure the bracelet was secure.”
But while the material value of the bracelet is significant, the sentimental value is truly priceless. Her mother adored the birthday gift, and Betesh went on to make a similar, albeit smaller scale, piece for a client years later.