Copper Ethnic Totem Bangle

The four totems on this bangle come from four different places. Everest is the highest peak of the Himalaya, called Qomolangma in Tibetan, meaning goddess. The Garuda is the king of birds in Indian myth, and in Tibet became a familiar protector figure. The flame pattern appears most often in the halo behind a Buddha image. The wave is one of the oldest decorative motifs there is, found on the pottery of Hemudu. Of the four, Everest is by far the most recent; the other three reach back into much older pattern traditions.

The Everest design is a mountain mass built out of triangles, the peak set off to one side and a horizontal line at the foot for the snow line. On the Garuda design the wings are spread, the head centred and the tail feathers fanned below. The flame is a continuous run of tongues, one after another, all leaning the same way. The wave is a few parallel undulating lines with bare metal left between them. Placed on the same batch of bangles they read as four choices of temperament rather than one complete scheme.

Copper, on a wide face, with the pattern formed by die-stamping and then trimmed back with a chisel. A wide bangle carries more weight than a narrow one, has more presence on the wrist, and makes more noise when it meets a desk. The inner face is polished and feels smooth, and it does not stick in summer. The snow line is broken by a single horizontal stroke, with the metal left blank above it and darkened below.

A wide bangle suits a narrow sleeve, where a section of it shows; a loose-sleeved shirt works too if you push it up to the middle of the forearm. When stacking several, mind the hardness: copper and silver worn together will grind each other and leave fine lines. If your knuckles are large, the open-ended version is easier to get on. The flames all point upward and never down, which is the rule for halo patterns.

Copper bangles darken with wear, most obviously on the inner wrist where sweat collects. Use a soft cloth, never steel wool. Lay it flat when it comes off rather than hanging it on a thin hook, since a wide face deforms under its own weight. Die-stamping raises burrs along the edge, which are taken down with a fine file, one pass at a time. Any sand holes left on the inner face will rub the skin red within a day, so feel round the inside when it arrives. The open version can be eased out a few millimetres — copper is tough and will not break. The closed version has to be chosen by hand size, and the widest part of the metacarpals must pass through. Soap left on the inner face dries to white spots, so rinse and dry it. When several are worn together, a leather cord between them saves a great many scratches.