When I used to hear the term Chain Maille this was the image that I used to conjure up.
Although Chain Maille does have its history in being used as a protective garment it also has a very long history of being used for decorative purposes in the form of jewellery.
Until I started my journey in to jewellery making I thought that Chain Maille was something that you could only buy from very high end designer jewellers. How wrong I was.
I regularly watch Jewellery Maker TV, one for it's fantastically priced gemstones and tools but also for inspiration from the brilliant guest designers. This is how I was introduced into creating Chain Maille jewellery for myself. The guest designer was the very talented Debbie Bulford who gave a demonstration and explained the technique very clearly. As with many aspects of crafting when I saw the demo I thought this is something I'd like to try.
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| Chain Maille DVD |
As well as designer inspiration on the show, Jewellery Maker produce some fantastic DVD's for the many different techniques that can be used for jewellery making at a very affordable price of £4.95.
These are brilliant for any one who isn't able to attend a class or work shop but are also a great source of reference as they show the techniques and provide projects in which to use them. Chain Maille and Chain Maille Edition 2 are currently available but as there are many different weaves to learn it would be nice to see some new additions.
Above, you can see the results of one of my first attempts at Chain Maille . I used 4.1mm ID (inner diameter - see notes at the bottom of the post) and 5mm ID silver colour anodised aluminium jump rings and Abalone flat pear shaped drops to create this necklace, which if I do say so myself, I don't think would look out of place in a boutique.
I thought it would be nice to then create the necklace with gold coloured jump rings but this time with a twist. The design, I felt, called for a chain rather than suede cord like the original design but I didn't have any in my stash so I carried on with the 2 in 2 Chain Maille weave to create my own chain.
Do you know how many jump rings it needs to create a design like this?
No, neither did I, as I ran out before completing the necklace. All was not lost though as I had the foresight to get myself a jump ring maker tool, which are also available from Jewellery Maker. These seem to fly out of stock really quickly, so if you see them on the shows or the website and you know you want one, grab one while you can. This is a valuable addition to you tool kit as you will always have jump rings of the size want, in whatever colour wire you own.
When I felt I had got to grips with a basic weave, which I think looked great in creating some quite contemporary necklace designs, I decided to try something more traditional, not to dissimilar to the high end jewellery which I thought would that someone who makes their own jewellery would never be able to achieve. Although the box weave which was used to make the bracelet above was a bit fiddly at first, once you get in to the swing of a more complex design it becomes easy and the pattern grows quickly.
I'm looking forward to incorporating Chain Maille in to more of my designs, discovering, and hopefully mastering some of the numerous weaves and creating some more jewellery that I can be proud of and that the recipients love to wear.
Hope your feeling inspired that you'll pop back soon.
Wendy.
[ NOTES: THE INNER AND OUTER DIAMETER ARE SOME CONSIDERATIONS YOU HAVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CREATING CHAIN MAILLE, THIS IS EXPLAINED CLEARLY ON THE JEWELLERY MAKER DVD AND INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET.]
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