Keep the faith

Shepherd's hook bookmarks with Byzantine weave chainmaille and 'faith' charm.

Have a blessed day!

Starlight

I said, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune"

It was the best night, never would forget how we moved.

The whole place was dressed to the nines,

And we were dancing, dancing

Like we're made of starlight

Like we're made of starlight

This bling charm reminds me of that song from Taylor Swift's latest album. It's attached via a Byzantine chainmaille weave with a grass green suede tassel on another chain.

Have a blessed day!

Afternote:
Made another one.

No headphones

I've always wondered where the dust plug goes when the headphones or earpieces are plugged in. I think I might just add a tiny lobster hook so it can be hooked somewhere. Maybe onto the keyring?

Made this with a bling dust plug that just arrived. Detached the Byzantine chainmaille from a shepherd hook's bookmark and attached it here. Hmm, maybe I should just have a lobster hook so you can have a two-in-one. Bookmark or dust plug. LOL!

Have a blessed day!

Charmed!

Oooh! The Faith charms have arrived!

I wasn't expecting them till early next month and I'm so happy that they arrived. It just so happened that I ran out of charms while I was making more shepherd's hook bookmarks but I decided to just do the Byzantine weave anyway so when the doorbell rang, like 15 mins ago, I quickly opened the package, pulled out one and attached it!

I like it that it's super shiny with a clear print of the word 'Faith'. I'm so tempted to buy the other charms available from this shop :-(

Have a blessed day!

Happy National Day

Here are some pics of what I've been making recently. 

Byzantine bookmarks with anodized aluminium rings and charms.

 

 Antique bronze bookmarks - Full Persian on the left and Byzantine on the right.

For the most important book in the world :-) 

These Byzantine star keychains remind me of the song that goes like...

There are five stars arising out of the stormy sea...

Happy National Day!

Finally something different?

After bracelets and chokers, I've finally made some matching earrings :-)

I used readymade ear hooks though but the chainmaille weaves are mine.

Left to right:

Silver tone Byzantine weave earrings

Gunmetal Byzantine weave earrings

Silver tone barrel weave earrings

Gunmetal barrel weave earrings

Cheers!

So who won the Byzantine bracelet?

Congratulations, Pamela!

You've won this Byzantine bracelet. Please let me know if this length is OK with you else I can customize it to your requirements.

Thanks to all other participants of this giveaway. As a token of appreciation, you get

10% off storewide at Tobias' Shoppe and Tiffany's Shoppe

20% off if you're buying chainmaille items.

Valid till 8Aug2012

Have a blessed day!

Giveaway!

Would you like to have this?

Byzantine bracelet made from 5mm rhodium-plated jump rings with circle toggle.

Yours if you guess the correct (or closest) number of rings used.

Till 30Jul2012 3pm.

Just leave a comment here or on facebook.

Oh, max of 3 guesses per person and I'll take the most recent one, not all three :-)

* HINTS *

25Jul2012 hint: There are 14 rings per repeated section.

26Jul2012 hint: There are more than 10 sections.

28Jul2012 hint: There are less than 18 sections.

Productive weekend

Finally attached toggles to these chains. It's a simple toggle but I like it 'cos it's a bit heavy and has nice clean lines. The hole is in the bar rather than a soldered ring. Would have been nicer if the hole in the ring was incoporated as well. I like it too that this simple toggle doesn't distract from the woven chains.

 

Made a second shaggy bracelet. Only bought two types of long magatama beads. The frosted green one and  this blue one. I like the different shades of blue and teal. 

Another chainmaille belt similar to the earlier one with the 3-by-1 weave. These are larger (and heavier) antique bronze rings. Matched it with a pretty heart charm and flower lobster hook.

Have a blessed day!

More and more rings

Bought some long green frosted magatama beads. I was looking for shorter ones, those that look like drop beads but I could only find these. I like these too after seeing how it all comes together as a bracelet. I also found a tiny Hand Made tag that I added, along with a 2-strand slide lock. This bracelet's fun to wear since it's simple to wear on your own with the slide lock and also 'cos it has a lot of movement.

DD has claimed this.

I found 5mm rings in other colours. From left to right, Byzantine weaves in gunmetal, gold, rhodium and silver. I don't think they're the real thing 'cos of the price (even though the Great Singapore Sale is still on) but they do resemble the real thing. I have some silver-plated rings that I bought from Australia and they look similar to these that I bought here in Singapore. Price-wise, the silver-plated ones from Down Under cost more than 5 times the price of similar looking ones.

Both DS and DD like the gunmetal one the most. I think I still prefer the rhodium rings.

Have a blessed day!

Splash of colour

More aluminium rings arrived yesterday and I made these. Two Byzantine chains using bright and matte anodised ones. The chain with blue looks like a silver chain with a blue ribbon woven inside. DD requested for hers to have green on the outside.

This is not my first attempt at a whirlybird but it's the prettiest. I'll need to experiment more to find the right mix of rings to make these sturdier. I'll want to try putting a marble in too :-)

Have a blessed weekend!

Bees

Still in the chainmaille mood with these 3 chains - barrel, box and Byzantine.

I put a coin there as reference to show how petite these chains are since they were woven from 3.5mm ID rhodium rings. While I like the shiny results, my fingers are aching from handling such small rings and I need even more frequent eye breaks from squinting to check if the rings were closed properly.

I'm just wondering, comparing lengths, which weave is denser, ie, uses more rings. The barrel's out of contention for sure, even I used 3 rings inside this time compared to the usual 2. Would the box have more rings per cm or the Byzantine? Interestingly, the box weave as a tactile feature that you can squeeze opposite sides of the box to flatten it. Can't squeeze the Byzantine or the box.

These chains are short of clasps. When I find suitable ones, I'm thinking of giving away the Byzantine as a National Day giveaway with a twist. Let's see... :-)

Have a blessed day!

Eeny meeny rings

These are not the smallest rings I have. They're just the smallest ones that I'm using on a Byzantine and box weave shown here. These are 3.5mm ID rings so the resulting chain seems rather delicate compared to the first few aluminium chains I made. I like these rhodium rings. They are tough and shiny :-)

Have a blessed day!

Jingle Jangle

 Twelve key rings here.

Green bells - box weave

Blue bells - full Persian weave

Green/blue bell - Byzantine weave

While all are 9mm rhodium rings, the gauges are different for some. The difference is most obvious for the box weaves. The thicker gauge means a dense weave while the thinner gauge means a more open, airy weave.

Have a blessed day!

These shoes weren't made for walking

I saw this mid-cut sneaker charm and immediately thought of DS. He has a pair now in marine blue that he wears quite often. I made this out of 9mm rhodium rings that I attached to a key ring but he didn't want it. He prefers keys in a pouch so that they don't jingle jangle. He said to put it on his bag instead and coincidentally, there's a missing zipper pull.

Have a blessed day!

New take

This is the last watch face that I bought previously. I started with a spiral half reef knot using Chinese knotting string and left it. While it looks ok, I wanted something different and I cut off the string and switched to jump rings.

230 of them. I counted.

5mm 18 gauge jump rings that I pieced one by one into 4 Byzantine strands. I added a simple heart toggle that would clash with the 'complexity' of the weave. I think I like this version better :-)

Have a blessed day!

More aluminium

I bought a bracelet kit meant for making three Byzantine bracelets, in blue, pink and green. DD's making the green and I've completed the blue and the pink. With the 'leftover rings' I made matching earrings and another barrel weave bracelet, below.

I also made some coloured Mobius flowers and added a jump ring to attach as a charm later.

My fingers hurt 'cos with 14 gauge aluminium, I need more effort than the 20 gauge copper I've been using. It's much lighter, of course. And with the large OD, the rings are easier to handle and move into position during weaving. I'm just waiting for DD to finish her bracelet and earrings so I can get the balance from her and maybe make more Mobius flowers to make a charm bracelet?

Have a blessed day!

 I thought it might rain, what with the dark clouds but it's ok. Dark clouds don't always mean rain.

Light and airy

Silver and blue Byzantine bracelet with matching earrings. This time, I used aluminium. 14 gauge 10mm OD. They were a bit stiffer than I expected but still manageable. I wonder what stainless steel will be like.

The camera doesn't capture the brightness of the blue but I still like it. These are a bit chunkier than those I've made before but they're much lighter 'cos of the aluminium.

Have a blessed day!

Jump ring fatigue

My right hand hurts from gripping the chain nose pliers too tightly. I've switched to using the Beadsmith jump ring 'ring' so at least my left hand is recovering. :-) I'm still having lots of fun with chain maille.

These are 3 bracelets. Only the green one is done. The label on the wire was torn off but I suspect it's aluminum 'cos it's so light, compared to the Artistic Wire brass and gunmetal above. Two are similar in design with the 3-ring Mobius flowers, double connectors and heart lobster clasps. The middle one is a part Byzantine and part metal focal charms. While it looks like there's a big gap between the rings, it wasn't easy attaching the metal charms 'cos of the larger ring size. I like the result though. Now I'm deciding between buying a toggle or making a clasp out of the same brass wire. But for now, I rest.

Have a blessed day!

All that glitters

Byzantine bracelet made from non-tarnish brass. It's so shiny and I don't know how to take a pic to show this. I'm happy that this star toggle matches the wire. Sometimes metals have different shades. I'll show you the gunmetal next time and you can see what I mean.

144 jump rings were made from 20-gauge wire wound with inner diameter 3.5mm and then cut and pieced  together. I like this wire. Deliberately made in an 'airy' fashion (compared to typical Byzantine links which are closer together) so it's slinky when worn.

Have a blessed day!