New Jewelry Magazine!

I always get excited when a new jewelry magazine comes out, and today I finally found the new Step by Step Wire Artist Magazine - Spring edition on newstands! I guess you know what I will be doing all night...catching up on some reading!

I used to pick these up from time to time, if i liked more than 2 or 3 projects in the mag, but now i seem to be getting them more frequently.

Interweave Press puts out alot of magazines - from beading to knitting and crocheting. My fav is the wire artist ones.

One of the projects i've been wanting to tackle for a while is the Captive inverted round, usually it has other rings in the center to look like they are floating, but i have been starting to see people use crystals and pearls which adds alot of colour and texture!

( Image from Step by Step Wire Artist - Spring 2008 Ed.)

Jens Pind Weave

Here's my first Jen's pind weave. Made of 925 Sterling Silver. I think it turned out pretty well, and wasn't too hard to make. It is known to be one of the more advanced weaves to do in chainmaille so i'm told. But i didn't have a problem at all... maybe i got lucky ... or maybe i had a great tutorial to learn from :)

I have been trying to learn the dragonscale weave - that is one that i have been struggling with ... i've been through a few tutorials but nothing good has come out of it yet. Will post my progress on that one if there ever is any!

Which reminds me of a tip for beginner chainmaillers! When i am starting a new weave i try to use stainless steel or copper first, even aluminum is great - usually whatever i can get my hands on in the ring sizes that i need. These materials are cheap! Incase you really mess up and the whole thing goes in the garbage. (and with some projects it probably will... trial and error!) Once i've mastered the weave, silver and gold here we come!

More About the Birdcage

I'm one of the few to call it the 'birdcage' - its just easier to say! Its more commonly known as the Byzantine weave. It is one of the most common weaves around and is super durable and strong! This is one that i wear on a daily basis, it's nice enough to wear on a night out or casually.

It's the first weave that i learned and pretty much what got me hooked on chainmaille!

There is a really great birdcage weave tutorial over at Davidchain Jewelry for beginners.

Here are a few more pics of the different variations i've done.

The first one is made of 925 Sterling Silver aprox. 230 rings used!

This one is also using 925 Sterling silver and 14k rose gold filled rings for the colour accents.




The one above is rose gold, the one below yellow gold accents, the pictures don't do the colours justice, but in the natural light there is quite a difference... i think my photography has gotten alittle better since last time though!... chainmaille is ahard thing to photograph (mental note to write down some tips when i figure it out for myself!)



And this one i was playing around with coloured Niobium rigns - this one in purple, and sterling silver.



Hope you enjoyed, i'm working on a solid 14k yellow gold at the moment and will post it when i get some pics.

Finally some pics!!

So, it's been a while since my first post! I was super busy this summer with the whole looking for, buying, moving into and doing minor renovations of our loft! Happy to be a home owner though! Now that the winter has set in i have a bit more time to play around with and learn new designs! So here are some random pics - the ones that turned out! :) I mostly have been busy with chainmaille and will go into more detail on each weave alittle later. Until then, enjoy!

Jens's Pind Weave

Full Persian Weave

Birdcage Weave - a.k.a. Byzantine

All braclets are made of 925 sterling silver. I love the look sterling gives, its just so shiney and nice (and cheaper than white gold!)

Since I am still fairly new to jewelry design and chainmaille I will try to post things i learn along the way. So hopefully if you are new to this also you won't have to look around as hard as myself for information!

The one website i have used the most is Maille Artisans. It has all the information you could imagine! Weaves, tutorials, message boards and a nice gallery! It's great!

http://www.mailleartisans.org/index.cgi

New Blog!

So i've opened up a blog to share some of the jewelry i like to make. I am still just a hobbyist and admirer but hope to persue jewelry design more seriously in the future.

Coming soon some pictures of my work

Thanks for taking the time to check out my work!

~Shannon~