A little bit of code that really wants to end up on somebody's wrist

Friendship Bracelets

I came to Alexis André with an idea for generative artworks you could turn into physical friendship bracelets. Four colors, a few dollars of thread, and something to give away.

Each output already knows its four DMC thread numbers. It is less an image of a bracelet than a bracelet waiting for your hands.

Project 05 of 11artistic collaboration / community work

Friendship Bracelet #0View live

Released: Nov 3, 2022
Format: Generative artwork + physical bracelet recipe
Edition: 38,965 bracelets claimed
Platform: Art Blocks / Ethereum

The Idea

These are physical crafts waiting to be made

On a screen, Friendship Bracelets is a huge collection of colorful generative artworks made with Alexis André. But every single output is also a very specific list of four embroidery threads and a set of instructions for turning them into a bracelet.

You do not need to understand wallets, blockchains, or generative algorithms to make one. You need four colors of DMC floss, scissors, tape or a friend with a reasonably steady hand, and maybe twenty minutes. Honestly, finding the exact colors may take longer than the bracelet.

The project started as a thank-you. Eligible Art Blocks collectors could claim two for free: keep one and give the other away. Then the physical version creates another chance to do the same thing. You make it, put it on somebody else's wrist, and the whole project suddenly makes sense without anybody explaining the technology.

Four Full Threads

Every bracelet uses four full strands of six-strand embroidery floss. No loom and no complicated knot chart.

An Exact DMC Recipe

The live artwork names all four DMC numbers so the physical colors can match the generated output.

Twist / Fold / Repeat

Twist, fold, let it wind itself together, then twist the new cord backward and fold it one more time.

Made To Be Given

The original claim came in pairs because keeping one and giving one away was part of the work from the beginning.

The Whole Technique

Four colors. Twist, fold, twist, fold.

That really is most of it. The tension in the thread does the clever part: each time you fold a tightly twisted bundle, it winds itself into a thicker cord.

01 / Match The Numbers

Find the four DMC numbers in your output. Use the numbers because shops are not always consistent about the color names.

02 / Cut Four Strands

Cut each full strand to 105 cm / 42 inches for a smaller bracelet or 120 cm / 48 inches for a larger one.

03 / Twist + Fold

Secure one end, twist the bundle until it wants to kink, put a finger in the middle, fold, and let it spring together.

04 / Do It Again

Twist that new cord in the opposite direction, fold again, release, smooth it out, knot one end, and give it to somebody.

Pick One Up

Every output is a trip to the craft store

Put in any bracelet number and I’ll pull out its exact four DMC colors. If you own one, the same thread card now follows it in your collection and at the top of this page.

Finding the thread box…

Friendship Bracelets #0Loading palette

Thread Card

Four DMC colors

Loading the original animation…Original token animation

Step01of 10

Make Along

Gather four threads

Match the four DMC numbers, not just the color names. Use the whole six-strand floss. Do not split it into little strands.

The Thread Box

The numbers matter more than the names

Alexis built a color system around actual DMC embroidery floss. So the colors are not an approximation somebody has to eyeball from a monitor later. The four exact thread numbers are already in the artwork.

Some palettes use regular cotton floss and some sneak in Étoile, which has a little bit of sparkle. A screen swatch is helpful, but screens lie about color constantly. Take the DMC number to the store and trust the label on the thread.

Use full six-strand floss; do not separate it
One standard 8 m / 8.7 yd skein is plenty for one bracelet
Repeated colors still mean repeated physical strands
Étoile codes begin with C and contain a subtle metallic sparkle

A Team Project Hiding Inside The Project

Everybody on the Art Blocks team named colors

Each person on the Art Blocks team designed and named a four-color palette. The first group of tokens introduced those palettes, and they occasionally reappear throughout the larger collection. The rest of the outputs let Alexis's algorithm go wandering through the same big box of thread.

I like that there is a very literal community layer hiding inside the color system. A collection made to thank a community contains palettes made by the people who were building Art Blocks every day. That feels appropriately a little overcomplicated for four pieces of string.

Why There Were Two

Keep one. Give one away.

When we released the project, an eligible wallet could claim two tokens for free and just pay gas. The invitation was pretty direct: keep one and give the second one to somebody else. The distribution was part of the idea, not a marketing bonus stapled onto it.

Then making one creates a second kind of gift. Maybe you own the token and give away the physical bracelet. Maybe you make a friend's token for them. Maybe you just find an output you love, buy four pieces of thread, and hand the finished thing to somebody who has never cared about an NFT in their life. All of those feel like the project working.

Cheap Materials Are Not A Compromise

A few dollars of thread can still carry the whole idea

Donald Judd was one of the references in the original conversation. Not because these look like Judd sculptures, obviously. We were thinking about his ability to pair very precise ideas with ordinary materials you could actually go find.

I wanted the physical object to be ephemeral and meaningful without pretending the thread itself was precious. It can fray. You can swim with it, forget it is there, wear it until it gets kind of gross, and eventually lose it. The time somebody spent making it is the valuable part.

Made With Alexis André

I brought the premise. Alexis made it sing.

I came to Alexis with the friendship-bracelet idea and the physical gesture I wanted. He designed the aesthetics and wrote the generative system that made 38,965 outputs feel related without feeling stamped out.

The live work is animated and interactive, and clicking it walks through the full making guide. That guide is not documentation sitting next to the artwork. It is inside the artwork because the instructions are part of what the token is.

Go Look Around

Find one, then make it

Use the thread workbench above for any claimed output. The original live artwork has its own animated ten-step guide too: open it and click anywhere to move through the instructions.

01View the collection on Art Blocks 02Open Friendship Bracelets #0 live 03See DMC six-strand embroidery floss 04Watch the basic twist-and-fold move

Dates

A few dates

2022-10-26Eligibility snapshotsourced
2022-11-03Art Blocks releasesourced
2023-01-10Claim deadlinesourced

Provenance

On-chain details

Friendship BraceletsEthereum0x942bc2d3e7a589fe5bd4a5c6ef9727dfd82f5c8a

In The Bigger Picture

Where this one goes

Surface: Generated bracelet patterns
Deeper Layer: The free claim, gifting, instructions, and people actually making the bracelets
Builds On: The Art Blocks community and a very old, very understandable way of showing friendship
Sets Up: The supporters in LIFT and the participation inside send/receive

Sources

Where this came from

These are the public links I used to check the dates and details. A few of them also have much longer versions of the story.

Official / primary

Art Blocks collection
official projectprimary source
The official Friendship Bracelets reference for project facts and public links.
Art Blocks marketplace text
official projectprimary source
The official Friendship Bracelets reference for project facts and public links.
Art Blocks token example
official projectprimary source
The official Friendship Bracelets reference for project facts and public links.

Press / artist context

Whitehot Magazine
press profile
Additional Press / artist context context for Friendship Bracelets; primary sources carry the core facts.
NFTNow launch article
press profile
Additional Press / artist context context for Friendship Bracelets; primary sources carry the core facts.
Kanbas Alexis Andre page
press profile
Additional Press / artist context context for Friendship Bracelets; primary sources carry the core facts.