Ash Tree Chains Handmade Chainmaille

There have been quite a few pieces I've made that I'm not quite sure where to classify them for the sake of these blog posts.  That being the case, here's a whole bunch of miscellaneous pieces that I have no current category for! Captive Caterpillar Bracelet and Earrings in Anodized Aluminum First, the Captive Caterpillar- a design from Metal Designz.  The purple rings are all wrapped around smaller rings holding them captive.  It has a nice rolling, textile feel to it.  I always end up playing with mine when I wear it.  Second, the Enthrall bracelet- a design by Joshua Diliberto.  This one is one of the more "manly" bracelets I have made so far, but always learning so expect to see more! Enthrall Bracelet in Anodized Aluminum Third, a simple 3 in 3 keychain, lanyard, wallet chain- basically whatever you'd like it to be it is! Fourth, Cascade of Hoops Earrings.  Pretty basic loopy earrings, but also intriguingly beautiful. 3 in 3 La...

An amazing woman named Lisa Ellis has found a way to make chainmaille fidget toys and thankfully has released a tutorial as well, so I have also learned how to make these. There are three sizes so far, though I have only made the medium-sized one.  There is a tiny version, a medium version, and a larger version.  The tiny one is more of a truly pocket-sized fidget while the medium size is larger, sort of palm-sized.  The large size fidget has rubber rings inside and can be worn as a bracelet when you don't need to fidget. They are amazing to watch as they spin.  I have made two medium-sized ones in different colors and they are absolutely hypnotizing. I have included videos in this post so you can see for yourself!    Rings for all pieces completed are from Metal Designz and The Ring Lord.

I have found a few amazing tutorials that helped me combine weaves to create a dragon and an owl.  I haven't made too many of them so far, but the ones I have made turned out very cute. The owls are really versatile and can be made in two different sizes and SO MANY different colors!  They can be simple decorations, pendants, tree ornaments, or almost anything really.  They're also super cute! Large Owl in Anodized Aluminum Dragon figurine in Anodized Aluminum I have also made a couple of Dragons!  They can be a statuette sort of figure or can be worn as what some call and hand flower and some call a slave bracelet.  I wear one this way with my costume for the Renaissance Festival!  I even tried it on as a dragon choker, that may take some tweaking but it can be done. There are a ton of variations of the dragons that I have seen, but I have only made it the one way so far. Dragon as hand flower On ...

Provided photo of Isagenix Logo I have finished a custom requested piece for a lovely woman who wanted her business logo on a necklace.  After lots and lots of playing around with rings, I finally fabricated a workable necklace!  I delivered it to her a few days ago and am happy to report she loved it!!  For those who may not know, the logo she requested (see picture) is for Isagenix.  It was a few tricky looking shapes to try to make and took a lot longer than I care to admit (lol) to figure out a way to make it.  I was able to get it all done though, mostly in a simple European 4 in 1 pattern with some Half-Persian for stabilization.  I've added some photos of the process.  These are all the same photos I had sent to her throughout and I would do the same for you if you were to request a custom piece (or any piece if you'd like updates). Step One: Making the shapes  The first thing I did was try to get the different shapes of the logo m...

Since maille became more popular for decorative and jewelry purposes rather than armor, there have been patterns and weaves designed that incorporate beads and crystals.  I have learned some weaves that use beads or crystals alongside the metal rings to add embellishment to the pieces themselves and some weaves that "capture" the bead/crystal in the mail and hold it without it actually being attached.  I'll get right to the pictures on this one since there will be a bit of a description of each piece.  As always, feel free to get in touch with me if you see something that interests you!  You can message me through here ,  here , or email me here . African Bead Necklace, Bracelet, and Earrings The African Beaded set includes hand-crafted beads known as Krobo Trade Beads from Ghana, Africa.  Each bead is made from recycled glass bottles and then hand-painted and sold using Fair Trade Principles.  This set is truly one-of-a-kind due to this. ...

As previously mentioned in my intro post, Chainmaille is believed to have been invented by the Celts.  There are SO MANY variations and types of "Celtic" jewelry weaves that I cannot even begin to tell you about all of them here.  I think they're most likely called "Celtic" because they sort of mimic the way traditional Celtic patterns look with the amazing amount of detail and intricacy found in traditional tapestries and such.  I'll make this a very quick post and show you the two pieces I have learned to make so far :D First: the Celtic Flower, which I have made in two styles.  A pendant, roughly the size of an American Quarter coin (a little larger, but not much) and a ring, around the size of an American Nickel coin. Celtic Flower Pendant in Bright Aluminum Celtic Flower Ring in Anodized and Bright Aluminum Second: the Celtic Stars which are a bit larger as I made them keychain size.  They are around 2 inches all around. Celtic Star...

The Japanese weaving style is one of the oldest forms of maille.   It dates back over 3000 years!  The Japanese called their maille “Kasuri” and their style uses a basic flat box structure or hexagonal grid pattern. Often with rings that are smaller than the ones used by Europeans.  They usually lacquered  their rings as well, to prevent rust when being sewn together with cloth or leather.  Japanese weaves are typically designed to be more flexible than their European counterparts.  Europeans, with the advent of plate armor, would use maille for joints and parts that needed to be able to move more to give a range of motion to their fighting style and allow the plate to take more of a beating.  The Japanese weaves allowed for more fluid movement by the body as a whole since mobility was a primary concern with their own fighting styles.   The difference between the Japanese weaves and European weaves also varied based on the weapons the maille was ...