Splashproof

It was supposed to be a quick trip to Chinatown to restock my batting supply. I thought I had enough but there are just so many types of batting, in terms of material, thickness and whether there's adhesive. Since I was there, I detoured to another shop and caught sight of this laminated material rolled up and stuck in a box in the corner and I bought two rolls :-)

Made two pencil cases. The salesgirl at the shop thought I'd be making a tote. She suggested I reinforce the seams with binding. I was thinking smaller items actually. Maybe later, if there's enough for a tote.

Blue zip's flat and lined with cotton. Magenta zip has triangle sides and a base so it can stand. I added a large jump ring and charm 'cos the zipper pull seems too tiny. Maybe I'll do that for the blue zip too.

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!

National colours

I'm looking forward to 9 August.

We'll be going to the Promontory @ Marina Bay for the National Day Parade screening and fireworks. Perhaps next year we'll get tickets to the Grandstand but it'll be nice at the Promontory too.

Made these as an early National Day gift using red and white Toho seed beads and silver tone jump rings and earring hooks.

I'm making a red and white bracelet too. It's WIP 'cos I'm still trying to figure out if I can add a bit of white frosted beads where the moon and stars are supposed to be. More on that soon.

Have a blessed evening!

Make a mark!

DS used to fold dog ears. I don't like dog ears. I'll remove them if I see them on a library book. I much prefer to remember the page number or use a bookmark.

This is DD's request. She chose the spine, the weave and the charm. This is the larger version (and thicker) of the spine. There were plain ones in silver, gunmetal and bronze, zig-zag ones even but she chose this one with the sun and stars detail.

I'm waiting for her to finish reading this book. She's read it 3 times already and going to finish reading the 4th time soon. I'm wondering what's so captivating about this book?

Have a blessed Sunday!

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!

Sliding lock

5-aside European 4-in-1 bracelet made with 5mm silver tone jump rings.

I like the slide lock better with this weave, more than with the lobster hook. The hook's nice but with other weave. Somehow, the with and the simplicity of the closed slide lock complements this weave.

Have a blessed day!

I'm off to the flea market. See you there!

Dual purpose

This is the longest chain I've made so far. It's so long that it can be either a double wrap bracelet or a choker. Woven in the Barrel weave using 5mm silver tone jump rings. I added a silver tone lobster hook with extension chain and squeezed in a 5-ring Mobius flower at the end.

I think this looks really nice when worn with a collared shirt. Maybe I'll keep this too, LOL!

Have a blessed evening!

All packed!

Packed the chainmaille keychains more than a month ahead of the actual day. Sometimes I'm early, sometimes I'm late :-( 

Hope the recipients will like it!

Have a blessed day!

New metal

The gauge of these stainless steel rings are higher so I could attempt a full Persian weave. And a 7-ring Mobius flower too. I didn't bother with aspect ratios again and just started the chain. It's quite fluid but not slinky. I added a stainless steel lobster hook so this bracelet is totally made up of the same stuff as forks and spoons.

I like this and am wondering whether to keep it for myself. I like shaggy bracelets too but there's something about simple clean lines and repetition and sleekness that I associate with chainmaille bracelets.

Hmmm, maybe I should make this mine, LOL!

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: I think this would look very nice as a choker when worn with a collared shirt. If I can find a pretty stainless steel toggle. Hmmm...

Playing with food

Do these look like olives?

DS said the previous black one looked like tiny grapes.

Toho 8/0 seed beads with pink lining and olive green on the outside. Silver tone rings for some brightness and shine.

I think this is the last of the shaggy bracelets for a while. Toho has lots more beads that I would like to try - drop beads, 6/0 beads and all the different colours! Well, if these are popular at the flea market on Sunday, I might just delve into these a bit more.

Meanwhile, my sewing machine beckons.

Have a blessed day!

Slinky

This is a slinky bracelet made using the European 4-in-1 weave. I made a similar one earlier but I added 2 more rows at each side to make it 5 rows wide rather than 3 shown here. Rings used this time are 5mm in a silver tone versus rhodium-plated previously. I added a lobster hook, extension chain with a 4-ring Mobius flower at the end.

Have a blessed day!

Chunky swirly

I like Mobius flowers. The most number of rings I've tried to put in a Mobius flower is 5.

This bracelet is made up of 4-ring Mobius flowers. I used 14 gauge 10mm rhodium-plated rings to this is not only chunky but heavier than usual. With these larger rings, the swirly nature is clearer.

Have a blessed day!

Almost featherweight

This shaggy bracelet is the lightest so far despite having the most glass beads. That's 'cos I've used aluminium rings this time. 5mm ID 18 gauge bright aluminium rings. I didn't count how many but they're certainly lighter than the rhodium ones. Sometimes value of jewelry is affected by the weight of it but this one bucks the trend by being chunky yet lightweight so continuous wear is not an issue. I like the sound this makes as well, with the soft clinks of the rings against the glass beads. Fun bracelet to wear :-)

Have a blessed day!

Wire, rings and other things

I don't always make my own rings. Yes, sometimes I buy spools of Artistic enameled copper wire, wrap them round a mandrel and cut with wire cutters but nowadays, I buy ready made rings. I think it's more cost effective this way 'cos I don't intend to invest in a jewelry saw to get rings with a tiny kerf.

So I buy readymade rings. This pic is just one box of rings that I have. These are mainly aluminium rings from 14g to 20g in various diameters. My most expensive rings, to date, are also here. The silver-plated saw-cut ones. Haven't yet decided what to make out of those as yet. Maybe delicate earrings 'cos the rings are so pretty even if there are only a few of them.

My material of choice at the moment is rhodium-plated machine-cut rings.

Rhodium-plated for the shine and machine-cut to lower the cost. Yup, saw-cut ones cost more. Also, these rings seem tougher and thus less likely to get nicks from the pliers when opening and closing them. Lastly, I've yet to snap a ring due to metal stress but I've snapped a few aluminium ones already. LOL!

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!

Hot pink!

Made another cross again using the full Persian weave. This time, with large glossy fuchsia anodised aluminium rings. This will be the only one 'cos I don't have enough rings to make another one and I don't intend to buy more of such. Not that I don't like it, I just want to try other colours and sizes. 

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!

Almost shaggy

Found a bag of light blue acrylic chips and decided to make a bracelet using the balance 5mm rhodium rings I have. There was one main problem though, that the 5mm OD was too small for some of the chips. I wanted to have the chips all over the full length of the bracelet but since the chips couldn't fit on the rings, I changed the two sides to a 2-by-1 chain.

No clasp yet though :-(

Have a blessed day!

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!