Chain mail anklet
So I've decided to follow joyfulfeather's lead and start making chain mail jewelry. In order to play around with it and see if I enjoyed it enough, I picked up some cheap jump rings at Michael's, a couple pairs of pliers at Joann's, and played around a little with the Byzantine pattern from the chain mail book joyfulfeather loaned me for the weekend.
The book recommended working on a surface covered with fleece or something similar, to keep the rings from sliding around when you go to pick them up. So, since I wanted to work on my couch, I picked up a small beading tray and covered it with some scrap fleece.
Once I got the hang of flipping the rings back, it wasn't really all that hard to put together. I worked through it while watching Iron Man 2. Here's a few pictures.
Finished and on my ankle!
Stretched out on my craft tray:
A close-up of the weave:
The weave isn't as tight as it would be if I actually had the proper jump ring size and gauge, but since I was going with whatever I happened across at Michael's, I worked with what I had. It turned out pretty decent, though! Certainly nice enough to wear around with skirts or shorts on weekends, at least.
I was originally going to do a copper necklace to match the copper earwrap joyfulfeather gave me for Christmas, but the copper rings were more expensive and there weren't so many clasps, so I decided to save that until I can get the exact correct size and gauge. I'll definitely be ordering a jump ring stash of my own soon!
(And I only used half the rings I bought! I may try a different weave for another anklet - but only after my shoulders and hands have uncramped.)
The book recommended working on a surface covered with fleece or something similar, to keep the rings from sliding around when you go to pick them up. So, since I wanted to work on my couch, I picked up a small beading tray and covered it with some scrap fleece.
Once I got the hang of flipping the rings back, it wasn't really all that hard to put together. I worked through it while watching Iron Man 2. Here's a few pictures.
Finished and on my ankle!
Stretched out on my craft tray:
A close-up of the weave:
The weave isn't as tight as it would be if I actually had the proper jump ring size and gauge, but since I was going with whatever I happened across at Michael's, I worked with what I had. It turned out pretty decent, though! Certainly nice enough to wear around with skirts or shorts on weekends, at least.
I was originally going to do a copper necklace to match the copper earwrap joyfulfeather gave me for Christmas, but the copper rings were more expensive and there weren't so many clasps, so I decided to save that until I can get the exact correct size and gauge. I'll definitely be ordering a jump ring stash of my own soon!
(And I only used half the rings I bought! I may try a different weave for another anklet - but only after my shoulders and hands have uncramped.)