Posts Tagged ‘chainmaille’

• Summer Forecast!!!

  Date: 2010.07.04 | Category: earrings | Response: 0

  It seems I keep talking about summer but I think that’s because we are all starved for some great summer weather.  The kids are out of school now and the Canada Long Weekend has come and gone and I was so cold in the house today that I contemplated wearing long sleeves today.  But then, there’s the weather forecast and it’s calling for hot temperatures by the middle of the week.  Yahooo!!!  Maybe the July Portobello West market will be blessed with dry and warm weather so that it can be held outside.  The June market, my first go at Portobello West, was forced back inside the train station because of the cool and suspect weather forecast.  I had a fun day.  I had a fabulous neighbour which always makes it a better day.

  In preparation for scorching sunshine, I photographed some of my earrings that make me think summer sun in blazing reds, yellows and oranges.  Fun, No?

  

  Blazing Sun Shaggy Loops Earrings

  The Blazing Sun Shaggy Loops earrings are made from enameled copper rings in bright and shiny colours.  Shaggy loops is such a fun weave.  There’s structure and there’s chaos and these will look fabulous with your dog days of summer casual outfits.  I’m looking forward to being more laid back and just chilling out a bit.

  And in similar colourways, are another version of my jingly scale maille earrings.  I love, love, love this colour combination.

  

  Warm Scale Maille

  Back to work for me tomorrow after a nice 4-day Canada Day weekend.  I wish I had found more time to do a bit more chain weaving but at the same time, it’s been fun hanging with the kids and the hubby.  Have an awesome week!!!

• Held Captive – Poor Beads, Oh My….

  Date: 2010.05.28 | Category: Chainmaille Necklaces, New Listings | Response: 0

  How tragic for these beautiful, yet simple, black and white Czech glass beads…… many hundred (I lost count but there are at least 450 rings in this necklace) bright aluminum rings got together and trapped all these lovely black and white beads in their little cages. There is no escaping!!!

  I really enjoyed creating this necklace over the course of last weekend, a long weekend, no less. The weave I used is called “captive inverted round” and the captive part refers to the beads that are captive inside the rope like structure. I had no idea what ring size to use to make this work but trial and error helped me find the right size to work with these beads I had at hand. I have seen the captive part be other things than beads such as more rings, for example, rings of a contrasting colour. I will experiment with that concept at some point in time as well.

  This particular necklace is fairly long at over 26″ and I haven’t used a clasp. It’s one continuous loop and easily slides over my head (and I have a pretty big one). I kept contemplating, as I was working on this piece, whether I should make it a short choker style necklace or a longer one and the long style won out. I do have plans though to make another one that’s a whole lot shorter with sparkly Swarovski crystals inside the cage. I already have the crystals at home. I just need to sit down and make it.

  Speaking of making it, Fab Fair is coming up in just another short week and I have some great new pieces ready to go as well as tons of earrings. However, I’ve fallen prey to a bit of procrastinating. I have several bracelets and necklaces half finished and quite a few lonely earrings – earrings that are either just missing the ear wire or lonely earrings that don’t have a partner yet. Before getting too much more creative with new ideas, I need to sit down and finish what’s waiting for me to be finished. In the sock knitting world (which I’m deeply entrenched in – I try to knit at least one pair of socks a month), we call this sort of thing the second sock syndrome when you knit one sock and then lose interest in making the sock’s buddy. I guess I’m suffering second earring syndrome…. I think.

  Aside from creating jewelry, I am currently in the middle of a yarn/fibre dyeing workshop. We started last night and are continuing tomorrow. I will blog about my yarn dyeing experience over on my “other blog” when the workshop is done.  Tomorrow I will spend the day learning to dye up 108 little hanks of silk (little hanks that I spent countless days winding) in the full spectrum of the colours. I just wish the weather would coordinate. On Sunday, I’ll get back to the jewelry!!! Enjoy the weekend!

• An Earring A Day – Day #2

  Date: 2010.05.03 | Category: New Listings, earrings | Response: 0

  

  I Love Purple Earrings

  Today’s pair of  earrings are made from light weight bright aluminum and display a fun purple spade shaped bead as the design feature at the bottom.  These earrings are casual and fun.  The dangle is woven in the box chain weave.

  They are now listed in my Etsy shop.

• Chainmaille Earring a Day

  Date: 2010.05.02 | Category: At Events, earrings | Response: 0

  I’ve been busy…. with lots of things. A little peek into my life away from creating chainmaille jewelry – I’ve been running my Grade 3 daughter around to her dance classes all weekend including some auditions today for the competitive dance troupe at her studio. When I’m ‘taxi Mom’, I often have either some knitting with me or, especially if I’m prepping for a big event, I’ll have my rings and pliers with me and you’ll see me weaving chainmaille as I patiently wait. We also had my Mom’s birthday to celebrate this weekend and my little boy’s soccer practices… so now, as I reflect on the weekend, I’m surprised that we’ve already reached the end of Sunday evening and that Monday is already around the corner.

  

  Box Chain Anodized Titanium Chainmaille Earrings

  Nonetheless, I did sneak in creative moments left right an centre and earrings were the name of the game.  Stay tuned as I present one earring a day over the course of this week.  First up, I was playing around with my favourite, the anodized titanium rings in a muted rainbow mix of colours.  I created a short dangle using the box chain weave and then finished it off with a moebius chainmaille flower.  The ear wires are made from natural coloured niobium which is said to be hypo-allergenic so these earrings are great for individuals with metal sensitivities.  They are now available in my Etsy shop

  Watch this spot for more new earrings!!!

  In event news, I just added my next confirmed Christmas show to the event calendar – the Abbotsford Arts Council Christmas Craft Fair which will take place the weekend of November 27-29!!!  It seems like a long way off but I always fool myself into thinking how far off events are and the next thing I know, the time as snuck up on me!!!

• Featured on CanArtisan

  Date: 2010.01.06 | Category: Features, Uncategorized | Response: 0

  One of my pieces, the Jen’s Pind sterling silver toggle necklace was featured on a great blog promoting Canadian Artisans today – go take a peek and look around to see many of the other wonderful Canadian artisans.  There is a lot of Canadian handmade artisan talent!!!

  CanArtisan Feature

• Saturday Night’s Sparkly Inspiration

  Date: 2010.01.02 | Category: New Listings | Response: 0

  I have had this bracelet design in my head the entire Christmas break.  I bought the beads on December 23rd and knew almost exactly what I wanted to do with them.  I didn’t realize the design until tonight because I must admit that I didn’t do much jewelry work over the holidays.  I mostly worked on my fibery pursuits as well as spending time with the kids and my husband.  I did some weaving, some spinning and a fair bit of knitting.

  This particular design uses a very simple chain structure but the sterling silver leaf clasp and the gorgeous lampwork teardrop beads add the pizazz.   This bracelet will make its way into my Etsy shop in the morning some time (Jan. 4) but I have made a mental note that I MUST make myself one as well.  For myself, I might go for black or purple beads as that will fit with my wardrobe more.  Take a peek!!!  Let me know what you think of it.

  

  

  
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  
  
  

• Back in the Swing of Things

  Date: 2009.12.14 | Category: New Listings | Response: 0

  Craft show season is done, for this year and after the first weekend in Coquitlam, I’d like to thank all my customers who bought a piece, or two or three.  I’d also like to thank everyone who stopped by and let me know what they enjoyed about my creations.  It was a hectic and busy three weeks but also very much fun and rewarding.

  I took a bit of a break last week just to ground myself and also catch up with some of my other ventures like my fibery creations.  I sell some of those out of a little country store out in South Langley.  I’ll link to it at some point but right now, the fibery inventory is limited.  They almost sold out of things, especially my funky hats knit from handspun and my woven scarves.  I am working hard to replenish the inventory there.

  I have lots of plans for 2010, some of which are already finalized and committed to and others are still in the planning stages.  Watch this space for regular updates.

  With no more shows upon me, the snow falling outside and Christmas almost here, I am trying to get ready to my regular routine of listing new items in my Etsy and Artfire shops.  Tonight brought the first of several new listings that will come up in the next few days and it’s my Bermuda Blue Cosmic Oval pendant.

  

  

  
  

  

  

  
  
  

  Lovely, right?  The sparkle on the Swarovski Cosmic Oval is just gorgeous and the Bermuda Blue just works beautifully with the gleam of the sterling silver.

  As you can tell, my picture galleries and all the links aren’t perfectly working yet.  This is a work of progress and I will continue working on this during the holidays when I actually get some time off from my day job.