Chainmaille

People often ask me how I learned to make chainmaille. I taught myself from the internet. There are lots of sites with tutorials and information about making chainmaille. If you do a search, be sure to also look at different spellings. I’ve seen it called chainmaille, chainmail, chain mail, chain maille, maille . . . well you get the idea.

The first place to check out is M.A.I.L. The Maille Artisans International League. They have a huge listing of maille weaves and many of them also include instructions. The forums are a great source of help if you have questions.

The Ring Lord is another good place to check out. They sell the largest variety of rings of anyplace I know. There are also tutorials, information about ring sizes, and a forum for asking questions. 

C.G.Maille has fantastic tutorials with graphics that help you see exactly how the rings are inserted into the weave. Phong has most of my original weave tutorials on his site.

Derakon’s site is another great resource for weave tutorials.

Spider Chain has lots of information on her site and also sells rings. Her DVD’s are the best way to learn new weaves if you are like me and need to “see” it done. 

Need to know how many rings you need for that bracelet or necklace? Zlosk’s site has a ring quantity calculator that I find very helpful. If you click on one of the weave links, the calculator will open up and you can type in the size of wire and diameter of the rings and it will tell you how many (approximately) you will need. I always order 10% more just to be on the safe side and to take care of any defective rings you have to discard. All of the information you need to enter about the rings can be found on The Ring Lord’s site.

There are a couple of my newer weave tutorials on my website as well. Beaded-Baubles.

Pick up some pliers and start creating chainmaille!

 

Mother’s Day is Coming

What are you getting your mom for her special day? My mother loves jewelry – especially bracelets. Her favorite earrings are a small pair of pearls I made for her when I was a Brownie in 3rd grade! We glued pearls to screw type earring backs and thought they were so glamorous. She still wears those earrings today.

This is a bracelet I made for my mother a few years ago. I fitted it to her wrist so that we were sure it wasn’t too loose or too tight. 

Remember, whatever you get for your mother this year, the gift isn’t nearly as important as letting your mom how much you love her and what she means to you. 

What do you wear most often?

What jewelry do you wear most often? I always wear earrings and sometimes wear necklaces. I rarely wear bracelets because they get in the way when I’m typing on the computer. I never wear anklets (don’t have any ankles).

I love jewelry and feel undressed if I don’t wear something everyday. How about you?

 

It looks more like Christmas than April!

Everything is white again but the snow won’t last long. It is very wet and our temps are supposed to be in the upper 50’s and 60’s next week. My poor little Iris shoots are buried under a blanket of white. Spring will be here before we know it so it’s time to get started on some anklets. 

I prefer small delicate beads on anklets such as those in this gold filled and pearl drop anklet. 

Chainmaille anklets are also very popular. Here is one of my favorite maille anklets. It has neoprene rings (black) between the chainmail sections so it will stretch to slide over your foot. The maille pattern is the Scherzo weave which I designed. 

Have you started your spring/sumer jewelry yet?

 

Blizzard!

It is cold and yucky and starting to snow. I thought Spring was here! The weatherman says we are in for a blizzard that will rage from 1 PM today through 7PM tomorrow night. 

Weather like this can be very depressing or occasionally inspiring. Who hasn’t looked out at softly falling snow and enjoyed the beauty of the snowflakes? 

On one one such day during the winter months I designed the bead weaving pattern called snowflakes. Here is a bracelet made in the snowflake pattern. I chose the red color to cheer up the dark dreary days of winter as well as to contrast with the white snowflakes. 

Do colors influence your mood?

How Much to Charge?

Making jewelry is fun but selling it is a different kettle of fish all together. Figuring out a system of pricing is tricky. How much is too much? What is a fair wage for your time? How do you figure in overhead, packaging, tools, etc. There are many formulas that jewelry designers use. 

There is a very nice price calculator developed by Eni Oken for Microsoft Exel users. You can purchase it here: http://www.enioken.com/jewelry/pricecalc.html

One factor to consider is your market. If you live in a major city you have many more options than you do if you live in a rural area as I do. In a city, selling a necklace for $200-$300 might be very reasonable but in the rural areas $50-$60 is about as much as people are willing to spend.

My formula is 2.5 x materials plus labor. You determine how much your time is worth and add that, per hour, to the materials cost. Some artists just multiply materials by 3, 4, or 5 times and figure the labor will be covered. Whatever formula you use, be consistent so that your prices won’t fluctuate wildly. 

I must admit that I still struggle with pricing. It is my least favorite part of selling jewelry. 

The perfect clasp

Following up on my thoughts about finding the right clasp, today I’m posting a new bracelet I just finished called Chantilly. The bracelet is absolutely gorgeous and I didn’t want to add a clasp that wasn’t as beautiful as the bracelet itself. Pulling out my stash of Sterling clasps I began to try various shapes and sizes. 

The slide clasp was taller than the width of the bracelet so that was eliminated. The spring ring and lobster claws were too small.  I didn’t have any Sterling barrel clasps at all. That left me with toggle clasps to sort  through. There were several that were OK but when I got to this beautiful, simple, geometric Saki clasp I knew I’d found the perfect clasp. 

Do you think I’ve made the right choice?

Picking the right clasp

Picking the right clasp for your necklaces and bracelets is so important. You should consider two things when choosing the clasp for any piece of jewelry, function and style. Will it do the job and how well does it compliment the piece.

A small spring ring type clasp will be secure and while it is not obtrusive, it doesn’t add any interest to the piece. These are the most common clasps found on costume jewelry.

Barrel clasps screw tightly together and work well for both necklaces and bracelets. If you have trouble with your hands this is probably not a good clasp for you.

Toggle clasps are much prettier and can even be the focal point of your necklace or bracelet but they need to be tight enough not to fall off, without being so tight you have to struggle to attach them.

Magnetic clasps are easy to get on and a favorite for necklaces with my older customers. Bracelets can also be made with magnetic clasps but they attach themselves to anything metallic such as metal desks, file cabinets, railings, even silverware, so beware!

Safety clasps are another good option for all types of jewelry. The classic pearl clasp stays on but can be hard to attach until you get the hang of the turning around the “u” shaped hook. Adding a chain to each side of the closure is a good way to make sure you don’t lose your necklace or bracelet.

S-hooks look wonderful on necklaces and are easy to attach but aren’t usually a good option for bracelets since the motion of your hands can make them come apart. 

Hook and eye clasps are another good clasp for necklaces but not quite a good for bracelets. Some hook and eyes have a very small or curved opening and these will work better for bracelets.

Of course there are no set rules about clasps. It is a matter of taste and preference. If one of my customers prefers a different clasp, I’m always happy to make the change for them. It’s a good idea to shake your hand when trying a bracelet to see if it stays on. I test all of the bracelets I make to see if I can shake them off. If I can, I change the clasp.

I think Spring is finally here!

I thought Spring had arrived but then we had another 5-6 inches of snow last Monday. Yesterday I noticed that the wind felt softer and no longer chills the bones. My honeysuckle vine has a few green leaves peaking out so it won’t be long until the grass greens up and the flowers start poking their heads out after the long winter.

I love this bracelet because the African turquoise beads look like new leaves poking out from under the snow. The freshwater pearls remind me of snowdrops in the Spring.

Chunky is in for summer

After looking at several catalogues recently, I’ve decided that chunky jewelry is the new in thing for summer. The necklace I just finished fits the bill perfectly for summer jewelry and the red color will even move into fall styles. 

I call this necklace Red Mesa since it reminds me of the red rock formations in the southwest.