The Pilot's Daughter
I have been having some pretty terrible luck with cameras recently but, I felt the need to share these new pieces so I finally went out and got new batteries. Again. Let’s hope this set lasts a little longer than the last. I finished up the steampunk necklace from the other week – it had been bothering me a bit; it just seemed incomplete and undramatic so I added a second layer of chainmail, this one is gunmetal. I love the look of antique copper and gunmetal, unfortunately the copper does not show up very well against the hemp necklace display but if you look closely, you can tell that the small rings are coppery. I’m not totally sold on the three charms on the triangle but without them it, again, seems unfinished. I could definitely use some feedback on this one.
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Hello! While Antonio keeps the blog up-to-date with useful tips and interesting interviews, I have been working away in the background on some upcoming changes to the store as well as gettng in new products and spending some time on actual jewelry-making! Isn’t it nice when we have time for the things we love?
Fancy Background & Props!
As much as I love all things steampunk, (hence my deep love for the Wunderkammer blog) I have never really done much of it myself so I took the opportunity to change that when I found these wonderful antiqued copper and brass jumprings. Paired with some gunmetal rings I already had lying around, they were just begging to be made into something pretty. I dug around in my stash and came up with some brass wings as well and that’s when I suddenly had an image in my mind of what I wanted.
Really this necklace took very little time to make once the sudden inspiration moment hit; well as little time as opening and closing all these tiny rings can! Of course, the effort and time put into something doesn’t always equal the results and I am fantastically happy with this piece despite its relatively simple construction.
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Spring Comes!
I have been doing far too much looking at pretty things and not enough making of pretty things lately so, over the past few nights (while waiting on video game buddies) I have been working on this charm-heavy bracelet. I love the little blue fiber optic stars; the pink flowers with their fossil bead centres, and the silver butterflies add a lovely touch of spring to my otherwise dull, chosen-purely-for-warmth, ensemble. Just looking at it sitting around my wrist is enough to remind me that the winter won’t last forever! Of course it will be a lot more comfortable once this long-sleeve weather is over but I can’t help but wear it anyway - there is something really nice about bracelets because you can see them as you wear them; the rest of my jewelry feels like it is for everyone else to look at and admire whereas this bracelet is for me.
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Hello again!
Before we get started, I completely forgot to mention that we are offering FREE SHIPPING for the holidays so order now!
I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Christmas Tree tutorial ’cause here we go again! Its time for part 2: Christmas Wreaths!
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Don’t you just love the holidays? My mom sure does and her spirit is certainly infectious. This year she asked me to make some Christmas charms for her to give to our family on Christmas Eve. I really like what I eventually came up with and so I thought I would make a tutorial for any chainmaillers who celebrate Christmas (or want to give a small but handmade gift to someone who does.) These are also pretty fast so they make good last minute oops-I-forgot-someone gifts too!
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Before I return to my seemingly endless holiday crafting, here’s a necklace I made the other day with our new vegetable ivory heart pendants!
First off, so sorry for the massive delay: we had a bout of swine flu going around and it took quite awhile to recover from, Mike is still sick although now with pneumonia! (What a week!) But we are all getting better, slowly, and taking it easy.
I am not one of those girls that gets hugely excited about fancy designer purses but, I have been looking for the ‘perfect purse’ (and spent a small fortune on them in the meantime). The problem is that I can’t seem to find one that matches my style and is interesting with enough pockets for all my stuff and so, it in spirit of DIY, I am making one exactly how I want it. This is the first of series of posts chronicaling my purse’s creation, complete with learning a few new techniques. Coming up there will be some knitting, felting, possibly some embroidery as well, and today: chainmail!
Enough blabbity blab – here are some pictures of the chainmail section which will eventually be a small, secure pocket for money or cards on the outside of the completed purse.
Tools of the trade: chain nose and bent nose pliers, black and blue 3mm anodized aluminum rings (approxiametly 1300 blue, 600 black total).
And the finished chainmail section which measures just under 3 inches square, the perfect size for credit card, ID, cash, etc. For some reason my camera thinks the background is pinkish… which it isn’t.. but you get the idea. This section took probably the longest of all and I am very relieved to have it done, micromail is so fidgety and eye-crossing.
In a couple weeks I will make the main section (knit) and then a couple weeks after that I will share the decoration (felted) and make some final decisions about the strap and extra pockets etc for the inside.
Thanks for looking, happy crafting!
Coming on Monday: part 1 of my first big cross-craft project! This one involves knitting, felting, and chainmail but the project will be revealed on Monday.
TGIF & Happy crafting!
Just a quick note to share some of the fun wire projects I have completed in the past few months learning what I can about wire. The most important thing I have learned is that the possibilities are almost endless – if you can think it, you can probably do it. The best thing to do is buy some cheap wire and just get started playing with it. I have gotten really hooked on these double coiled wire beads and really like the way they look embellished with some colorful beads. What do you think?
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