bungee!
The history of the bungee cord is a bit mysterious. Elastic cording has been used for decades for rigs used to secure luggage in vans, trucks, and even the undercarriage of planes. They were once used in parachute releases.
According to wikipedia, “The first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the 250-foot (76 m) Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, by members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club.”
It is a little bananas to think that a similar product to one that allows you to hurtle towards the ground at roller coaster speed and snap back up through the air is available at your local hardware store. And you can make a bracelet out of it.
Cufflinks
It is a flirting accessory, a piece of jewelry that appears and disappears like a tide. The raise of a hand, the pull of a jacket, and a secret treasure is revealed, telling much about its’ owner in the cufflinks’ style, utility, and sense of whimsy.
The original concept of cufflinks dates back to the 1600s, however it was Edward VII who made them popular, including it into his opulent playboy lifestyle.
Cuffinks can be made of most any material. There are many different modes of operation, as well. There are double knots, ones that operate on toggles, or chains, the old-fashioned snaps, and one very talented watchmaker, Richard Mille, even created a mechanized closure. They can be double-faced or single, though single, as it has been pointed out, sometimes leaves it seeming like you couldn’t afford the other side. They are worn either with french or barrel cuffs.
Some consider the cufflink to be rather….well, foppish. But let the Bond men assure you, this is hardly so. It represents a kind of old world discretion and elegance rarely found these, and a type to be savored when it is found.
It may seem an excessive style statement to some, but even the sartorially terse Cary Grant treasured his cufflinks, to the extent of personally insuring that they were returned whenever they were loaned out.
And as Carole Morin said in Dead Glamorous, “God, for all anyone knows, could be Cary Grant.” Ooooh, I hope so….
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down
At sea, sailors, in their boredom, would create small crafts off of extra bits of rope lying around on board. They discovered, in time, that rope bracelets would also prevent chafing on their wrists when they were up in the rigging. They were also durable in the sea and the sun, which eventually made them popular with landlubbers as well.
Interested in more?
You can learn to make a sailor’s bracelet here:
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2012/how-tuesday-sailors-knot-bracelets/
Accessory After The Fact 