Ssssssssparkly

I was going through the few photos I took during my NYC excursion in December, and this fellow jumped out at me - An Emerald Tree Boa at Central Park Zoo. The slithery scales were so vibrant and bright, I wish the glass on the enclosure wasn't so dirty so you could see just how gorgeous the colors are. I know snakes don't float a lot of peoples boats, but I love the visual texture of snake skin. 

That might be why some of my favorite chainmaille patterns are "scale" styles - like Dragonscale

Rainbow patterns in Dragonscale are awesome - 

This piece was one I finished for a custom request - 

I love the fringed pattern and how the colors go through the spectrum.

Another one of my favorite snaky styles is called "Shenanigans"

This piece just called out for a matching clasp. I called this bracelet "Garden of Eden", because of the serpent influences, and the use of apple red rings.

There are even more patterns I have yet to learn, but hopefully sometime soon I will have them in my arsenal. Until then, I hope you enjoy examining the details of the intricate ring linking as much as I do.

Missing Links

Nothing more frustrating than when I'm working along happily on an order and then this happens -

"D'oh" about sums it up.

Bronze Beauty

I recently completed another custom piece and sent it off to its new home. It seems as though this year is starting out as the year of the handflower since I've already received a few more requests for one -

and the backside -

A handflower was the first piece of chainmaille I ever got. My boyfriend at the time bought it for me on a visit to the Renaissance Festival one summer almost ten years ago, and I still wear it to this day. They're very elegant pieces of jewelry. This last one I made was a custom order since I usually offer it in a silver metal, but this customer requested bronze. I'm not sure why I didn't think of making a piece like this in Bronze before, but I'm so happy I got to make this one. I see more Bronze and Copper pieces on the horizon. Stay tuned.

Hip To Be Square

I am always on the lookout to incorporate unique materials in my work not only to expand my skill level but also to give an updated look to chainmaille as people know it. One of the newer trends among chainmaillers is to use rings that are made of square wire. These are a little bit tougher to work with sometimes, because even when they are the same size as round wire rings they don't always work for the same patterns that "normal" rings can be used for.

As an example - One of my favorite patterns to make is a dodecahedron ball ( I call them my "Porcupine Balls"). It looks like this -

 When I tried to create the same thing with the square wire rings I was using, even though the size was similar, the pattern was not coming together properly. I almost got discouraged that I'd have to take it all apart and start over, but then something about the shape got my brain moving. The rings were stiff enough to keep the pearl inside captive, so I thought it would work out well as a ring design. I attached it to a simple mesh band and here's what it turned out like:

It's not scratchy like you might think from the edges. The mesh has loosened up a little bit, but that is normal for most rings. I wore it a few days in a row and it was quite a conversation piece! It makes me think of a geodesic dome, like at epcot or an observation center. It's very sci-fi in my opinion.

The reason I bought the square rings in the first place was actually for a custom order - The request was for a stainless steel byzantine bracelet in a heavy gauge. It was going to be a Christmas gift for a man. I am not a fan of working with heavy gauge stainless steel. Rather than turn the customer away, I made the suggestion for the square rings and it was accepted. Here it is:

I'm happy with how my experimenting has turned out lately. I'm working on some modifications of the ring design, and I have some smaller sized square rings that I'll be using for other projects as well. The square rings may be a new favorite of mine - they give the pieces more of a modern edge, which is what I gear my style towards. Stay tuned and I'll be sharing even more fun developments with you.

The Process, In Photos

This is just a short pictoral discription of my general jewelry making process-