Chainmaille – My first attempt!
Sunday, January 4th, 2009Subscribe or ‘follow’ Epheriell Designs during July 09 and go in the draw to win a $40 gift voucher to use in my shop – Epheriell. Details here.
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In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I get bored easily. This is why you will always see a variety of jewellery in my collection – I obsessively make one thing for a week or two, before moving onto something else – usually practising or learning a new skill or technique.
Since I am currently waiting for the post lady to come and replenish my stock of sterling, copper and brass wire, I was at a loose end this evening. I have some new wire designs I’m dying to use for another line of jewellery, but as I know what I want to do and don’t have the wire for it, I’m in limbo.
The only relatively thick wire I do have is a coated copper wire roll from Spotlight. I don’t intend to use this for the jewellery I sell, as I like to use raw copper so that it colours naturally over time.
So – I decided to experiment! I’ve seen some chainmaille around, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.
So, I used my copper wire to make some jump rings, and moseyed off through the big wide web to find some help.
I saw a few helpful bits and pieces, and managed to make this tonight – (please excuse the bad photos – my camera has gone AWOL, so I’ve had to resort to using the webcam!)
Chainmaille Bracelet
Bracelet and workspace...
Chainmaille closeup
Chainmaille back and clasp
The clasp in the last photo was handmade by me, too – out of regular copper. You can also see that the jump rings are a little rough – as I was experimenting I didn’t bother to make sure both ends of each ring were flat.
I’m really happy with how this turned out – I think I may have to practice making more chainmaille – and some of the different weaves are just amazing. It does take a lot of patience, though…
Have any of you made chainmaille? Or would you like to? Would you buy chainmaille jewellery?
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