Chain Mail Again!

About three weeks ago, I was asked to participate in an outdoor art fair. I had about ten days' notice and nothing in stock. I thought it would be a good moment to try some of the display tips from a recent webinar that I followed, so I decided to offer only chain mail. I spent a week doing nothing but opening and closing rings and thinking about what could be a drop-dead eye-catcher piece.

The weather forecast for the Sunday of the art fair was ghastly, and Saturday morning I opened my e-mail to find that the fair had been cancelled, a wise decision as it turned out - the pouring rain and howling winds on Sunday morning were enough to keep any and everybody at home warm and dry. I'm very philosophic about this sort of thing - making the jewelry was time well spent, as it gives me more stock for the next show (though I didn't get to try out my idea for an eye-catcher).

So I did pastels ... interesting to see how the same colors have a different effect according to the weave and the color distribution. The byzantine necklace on the left is made with square wire rings, whereas the chaos weave one on the right is made with round wire rings - the square wire has more reflective surfaces and so it glitters more.

And I had some interesting glass pendants to play with ...

I'm delighted to have found these large metal beads again - they go perfectly with the aluminum rings!

  

The box chain uses as much as 50% more rings than some of the other chains because the weave is tight.

And this flat weave is very elegant ...

A friend of mine who has done all the color training tells me that purple is a color that most people can wear, and I love all the colors that it mixes with.

And finally, there is always something new to play with! The idea for this one has been lurking in the back of my mind for a while. It's a simple chain with larger square wire rings linked through chain links, in a mix of colors. When I finished one "layer" of colored rings, I wondered what I would get if I picked up the alternate chain links and added another layer - and here's what happened!