more hobby update
I thought I had posted here, but realized it was in a private mailing to another friend.
So here goes another update on the chain mail hobby.
So Dee talked me into making some chandelier earrings. The pattern isn't too bad, but the use of really small rings was taxing on the sanity. Further making the effort troublesome was the inability to get the proper size rings.
Dee wanted to go see what Michaels had. So we went there with our list of components we needed. According to the pattern we needed 3.5mm id, and 5mm id rings. Michaels had 4mm and 6mm. So we thought it wouldn't be that much different, so we can use those. So I make the earrings and lose a portion of my sanity. Especially when I am reducing the hanging chain so it pulls to a point, but the rings keep falling back and just looking like a jumbled mess.
Only after this is all done and I am cleaning the floor of all the rings that decided to jump off the table do I find one that doesn't seem to fit with the sizes I had just been using. I whip out the el-cheapo plastic measuring stick to see what size it was and see about sticking it in with the proper rings. I start measuring it, and get a value I didn't expect. So I decided to check the accuracy of the measuring stick with known rings. That is when I find out the 6mm rings I had been using was actually a hair under 5mm id. I couldn't even put the 4mm rings on the measuring stick to even know what they are. I guess the 4mm rings are closer to 3mm id.
With that bit of knowledge, I switch tack on the necklace Dee wanted. The pattern in the book finally mentions the size a pattern is supposed to make. The necklace they spec out was supposed to be 14". I measure Dee's neck and find out she has a 17" neck. Okay, 14 is way not 17. So I do some quick math and realize that even adding another section to the necklace still puts us over 2 inches short for a choker. So I decide I'll use slightly larger rings, and add another column to the chain to make each section longer. Ended up being almost exactly perfect. Had to make some adjustments to the closure mount to recenter the necklace.
If I do the necklace again, I think I would further modify it to have differing size triangle sections such that the center one would be very obvious as it would be larger. Maybe even to the point of also adding larger jump rings to the connections for it.
As it was, I used 243 6mm OD rings, 13 10mm OD rings, 52 4mm OD rings, 12 semi precious stones in a wire wrap, and a bead on the end of the adjustment chain. Took about 3 hours to complete. Could have been faster, but I was still learning.
I find myself very open to just changing patterns to make them fit. Changing instructions because they don't work for me. Makes me feel that chain mail isn't very difficult. Granted, I have this idea in my mind for some earrings that I tried to make last night and became frustrated with the small rings and decided I needed to stop.
I promise pictures are coming. I have them for the bracelets and earrings, but not the necklace.
So here goes another update on the chain mail hobby.
So Dee talked me into making some chandelier earrings. The pattern isn't too bad, but the use of really small rings was taxing on the sanity. Further making the effort troublesome was the inability to get the proper size rings.
Dee wanted to go see what Michaels had. So we went there with our list of components we needed. According to the pattern we needed 3.5mm id, and 5mm id rings. Michaels had 4mm and 6mm. So we thought it wouldn't be that much different, so we can use those. So I make the earrings and lose a portion of my sanity. Especially when I am reducing the hanging chain so it pulls to a point, but the rings keep falling back and just looking like a jumbled mess.
Only after this is all done and I am cleaning the floor of all the rings that decided to jump off the table do I find one that doesn't seem to fit with the sizes I had just been using. I whip out the el-cheapo plastic measuring stick to see what size it was and see about sticking it in with the proper rings. I start measuring it, and get a value I didn't expect. So I decided to check the accuracy of the measuring stick with known rings. That is when I find out the 6mm rings I had been using was actually a hair under 5mm id. I couldn't even put the 4mm rings on the measuring stick to even know what they are. I guess the 4mm rings are closer to 3mm id.
With that bit of knowledge, I switch tack on the necklace Dee wanted. The pattern in the book finally mentions the size a pattern is supposed to make. The necklace they spec out was supposed to be 14". I measure Dee's neck and find out she has a 17" neck. Okay, 14 is way not 17. So I do some quick math and realize that even adding another section to the necklace still puts us over 2 inches short for a choker. So I decide I'll use slightly larger rings, and add another column to the chain to make each section longer. Ended up being almost exactly perfect. Had to make some adjustments to the closure mount to recenter the necklace.
If I do the necklace again, I think I would further modify it to have differing size triangle sections such that the center one would be very obvious as it would be larger. Maybe even to the point of also adding larger jump rings to the connections for it.
As it was, I used 243 6mm OD rings, 13 10mm OD rings, 52 4mm OD rings, 12 semi precious stones in a wire wrap, and a bead on the end of the adjustment chain. Took about 3 hours to complete. Could have been faster, but I was still learning.
I find myself very open to just changing patterns to make them fit. Changing instructions because they don't work for me. Makes me feel that chain mail isn't very difficult. Granted, I have this idea in my mind for some earrings that I tried to make last night and became frustrated with the small rings and decided I needed to stop.
I promise pictures are coming. I have them for the bracelets and earrings, but not the necklace.