Mom's Byzantine Bracelet

Well, I just got my latest ring order the other day, and this is the first thing I made from it :). It's just a simple byzantine chain made from sterling silver and ice blue enamelled copper, but my mom has been oohing and ahing over the byzantine chain I have on my wrist for the longest time. So this one's for her!

Here's some good news too!! I made a sale the other day! My mom took a bunch of jewelry I've made into her work and one of the ladies there bought a bracelet I made! I don't actually have a picture of it though, because I only made it to learn the weave (GSG).

New Ring Order!

Welp, I just placed a new ring order. It has been quite some time since I have ordered any rings, so I am pretty excited!! I spent $80 on 2 ounces of silver and an ounce each of a bunch of different colours of enamelled copper. Enamelled copper is GORGEOUS. The colours are very vibrant and beautiful and everytime I see people using enamelled copper rings I always think to myself "gee, I really need to order some of that!" but never actually get around to doing so. But I finally bit the budget bullet and now the rings are on their way... or being packaged... or the order's being processed and then the rings'll be packaged and THEN they'll be on their way. But the point is, the order is placed, and the rings will be coming my way... eventually. Then hopefully I'll have some pretty new things to post here!



But for now, here's a pretty little bracelet I made for my mom. Just regular old european 4 in 1 made in sterling silver. Really simple, but SO pretty.

Finally... Something new!

Well, the large projects I keep talking about STILL aren't done. But here's a little something I finished up tonight. I started working on these earrings MONTHS ago and I completely forgot about them until tonight! So without further ado...

Dave's Basket

Well, I finally finished one of those large projects I've been talking about! I started this basket about a year ago. It was supposed to be for my brother Dave for his birthday LAST year, but I got frustrated and put it aside for a while. I finally managed to get it finished for his birthday THIS year. Here's hoping he likes it, as there is quite a bit of blood, sweat and tears put into this one lol.


I can't remember any exact ring sizes as there are probably between 15 and 20 different sizes in it, but it is made entirely from bright aluminum and nickel silver.

Nothing New

So, not much has been happening the past few months in terms of finishing projects and posting pictures. I've been crazy busy with normal life stuff. I'm still working on those rather large projects too, which means not much has actually been FINISHED. I have a bunch of birthdays and Christmas and stuff are coming up too, so it's time to start making presents! So perhaps there will be pictures of those posted! Not until after the birthdays/Christmas of course though, because I don't want to take the chance of ruining any surprises :). I also got a new digital camera, since I don't really have convenient access to the one I used to use. So I may also take some more pictures of older jewelry and stuff just for the purpose of playing around with the camera! So I may post those pictures if I think of it. That's about it for now. Except for one thing, I highly recommend visiting the site b-wats.blogspot.com. This is the blog of a HIGHLY talented actor/director friend of mine. He is absolutely hilarious and is in the beginning stages of making this as his video blog. No videos up yet, but I would definitely expect some highly entertaining material once he gets it up and running well. Check it out :).

Happy Thanksgiving :).

Deviant Art

Welp, I got an account at Deviant Art. Have a look :).

http://padawanchain.deviantart.com/

New bust!

Just got a new bust for properly displaying necklaces! This is exciting since nowhere in my area sells these things, and I had to travel all the way to Toronto just to get one! Hopefully one day I'll be able to get one for bracelets too, but for the moment, I am pleased :). I updated a bunch of the pictures of my necklaces and put them on my website, so go check it out!

Grace

I decided to take a break from the larger projects to make this pretty little necklace! Made from sterling silver and swarovski crystals, I have to say it's one of my favourites so far. It's very light and subtle.

New Pix

I finally got around to taking some pictures of some stuff I made a while ago. Being a big fan of Greek mythology, I named this necklace "Acheron". The Acheron is a river located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. Acheron translates as the "river of woe" and it was believed to be a branch of the underworld river Styx over which in ancient Greek mythology Charon ferried the newly dead souls across into Hades. I felt the colours of the beads made this a fitting name.


This second picture is a set of earrings I named "Night Falls". Not really sure why I named them that... I guess I just liked it :D.

New Website!

I created a new website to hopefully boost my chainmail business. The address is

www.padawanchain.com

Check it out!

Unproductive

SO I am having a largely unproductive few weeks in the area of getting projects FINISHED. I'm currently working on THREE fairly large and time consuming projects, and seem to be alternating which one I feel like working on depending on my mood. One is an inlay. Once completed there will be about 11,000 rings in the inlay part alone, nevermind however many rings it will take if I decide I would like to mount it properly. So far I'm 5247 rings into it. Just under halfway there.

The second project I'm working on is my very first chainmail shirt. I'd say I'm about half finished, but I keep changing my mind on how I'd like it designed, so I have to tear it apart and do some of it over again.

And the third project is only a bracelet, but it's done in a weave called Dragonscale, which is kinda time consuming. It's one of my favourite weaves, but I don't use it very often because it takes SO many rings for such a small area. I suppose you'll see what I mean when it is finished.

I also went to Michael's today and picked up some more beads and findings and things, so I'm sure I'll start ANOTHER project sometime soon. So don't expect to see too much from me for a while!! lol.

GSG Anklet

From time to time, it is fun to learn a new weave, and this is one of the weaves I've learned most recently. It's called GSG. So far all I've made is this anklet, but I'm not sure if I like it. It seems a bit large for an anklet, so I may change it into a necklace at some point. Or maybe not :). The other weave I learned recently is called Viperscale, but I haven't figured out what to make with it yet. When I do, I'll post a picture :).

Here's the anklet:


I usually like to use sterling silver for jewelry, but since I was just making this to learn the weave I used bright aluminum instead.

Bookmark Tassle

I'm a fan of Disney movies, especially the Little Mermaid, so when I found this bookmark, I just had to buy it. It had this nice little turquoise tassle on it, and as with all bookmarks that get used often, it fell apart and I was left with just the cardboard bookmark part. Soooo.... me being the creative little bee that I am, I decided to attach this old bit of chainmail onto it. It's about a two and a half inch length of RSD (Rhinos Snorting Draino) chain with a red glass bead on it. I think it was originally going to be a bracelet when I started making it a long time ago, but ended up just being a scrap of chain. But now it's my bookmark tassle!

Here's the bookmark with it's new tassle:


And here's a close-up of the tassle itself. It's made of red anodized and bright aluminum:

Some Old Stuff PART 2

This stuff I'm particularly proud of. The following items took a LOT of work, and a LOT of patience.

The first picture here is the very first thing I ever made out of chainmail. A dice bag! I suppose if I were to go back and make another of these, I would have no trouble with it, but since it was my very first project, at the time I found it to be difficult.



This belt was made on commission from my sister, Laura. She wanted a belt that would look like something "elves would wear". Whatever the heck that means!! This is a dragonscale decorative belt with byzantine chains and firepolished glass drop beads dangling from it.



This Japanese 6-in-1 wrap was made to go with my Christmas dress. I wore it to both mine and Dave's work Christmas parties, and got TONNES of compliments! I absolutely love this skirt, but I still haven't quite figured out how to incorporate it into an everyday wardrobe.



After a dicebag and a couple of bracelets and things, this was my first MAJOR project (we're talking about 6000 rings here). I am a HUGE Star Wars geek, so I made a pattern from a picture of Princess Leia, drawn by Grant Gould and weaved this bad boy.



And last but certainly not least, my most recently finished inlay, weighing in at about 5000 rings (slightly smaller than the Princess Leia inlay, pictured above). Anyone who knows me, knows I LOOOOOVE comics, more specifically X-men comics, more specifically WOLVERINE! I got him tattooed on my ankle, and decided if I like him THAT much, I must also be crazy enough to spend many many hours making a picture of him from tiny rings. The pattern for this one was also made from a picture drawn by Grant Gould. He's a phenomenal artist, btw. Check out his website Grant Go Boom if you have some time!



Aaaaand, just for kix, here's my Wolverine tattoo :D (it's on my ankle).



***DISCLAIMER Star Wars characters and likenesses are copyright Lucasfilm.***

Some Old Stuff PART 1

I have made a LOT of stuff in the past, so I am just going to show you some of my favourites for now. Perhaps sometime in the future I will show you some more of my older stuff.

The first picture is the sterling silver byzantine necklace I made to wear to my brother's wedding. The beads hanging from it are black and clear swarovski crystals. It took approximately 2oz of silver to make. This is definitely my favourite necklace thus far! Made July 1st, 2007.



This bracelet was made for my sister-in-law, Kindra, as a bridal shower present. It's a byzantine chain made of sterling silver, with opal, turquoise and clear swarovski crystals. Made in June 2007.



These are my favourite earrings. Sterling silver, once again, with blue and green swarovski crystals. Made in May 2007.



This necklace was made for sale at a tattoo shop in Gravenhurst, Ontario. It's made from bright and pink anodized aluminum. It's a Celtic Visions chain with a few extra rings thrown in for variation. Made in winter of 2006.


Laura's Handflower. Backdropped against my beautiful blue bass guitar! This was made as a Christmas present for my sister Laura. The bracelet and ring parts are bright and blue anodized aluminum European 4-in-1. Made in November 2006.


That's it for now I think. :)

About Me

Welp, my real name is Fiona, but most folks in the chainmail community know me as Padawan (my forum alias). I live in St. Catharines, Ontario, and as much as I WISH chainmail was my occupation, unfortunately it is not. Just a hobby of mine for now. My other hobbies include knitting, playing my bass guitar, reading, drawing and playing video games! I have a few other websites going at the moment, but my intent here is to make a blog where I can post new pictures of things I've created and talk a bit about them, without all the hassle of having to make, upload and change eveything like I would on a regular website. So check back often!

P.S. If you see anything on here that you like, I DO make chainmail to sell. So if you have any ideas for something, or see something you want, definitely let me know :). Anything here can be reproduced EXCEPT the inlays.