My First Attempts at Chainmaille

Hi everyone,

I feel like such a bad blogger...I make these promises to blog at least once a week, and I'm lucky if I blog once a month. :P Last month was pretty busy, though...it started off with my first Renaissance faire, and then came my mother's birthday, and my birthday, and then our vacation to Disneyland. I probably wouldn't be blogging today if our vacation hadn't been cut short by a saddening death in the family. But, although we didn't get to finish our vacation last week, we do get to finish it this week, by spending a couple of days on the coast! I'm excited to feel that cool ocean breeze!

Anyway...I now have a new hobby! As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I've started making chainmaille. ^^ I've always wanted to, and after I found an inexpensive chainmaille-making kit at the Ren Faire, I knew I had to grab the opportunity. I read in the instruction manual that it's sometimes called "chain knitting," and I realized while working with it that it really is a lot like knitting! For one thing, I find both of the crafts very confusing because I want to start off doing all these complex things when it's best to start simply, and follow the directions VERY closely. It didn't help that I decided that I didn't want to do the project that the kit was initially for and decided to make up my own. It was frustrating, but it actually turned out looking very, very cool.

Here's how my two projects turned out:



This is my first one, and it's got this kind of romantic look combined with the hardness of the metal, which I love. The centerpiece is actually from a gargantuan ring that I got from Forever 21. Its base slid off of my thin finger, and the ring just looked too long and slightly gaudy to be used as a ring. I mean, I like big rings, but not quite that big! So I decided to make it into a necklace!





And here's one that I just made this weekend, inspired by a Forever21 necklace that I spotted while on vacation. As soon as I got home, I started work on it! And I love the result.(:





I thought you might like to see a photo of what I wore to the Renaissance faire...I felt obligated to dress up and had so much fun doing it! Next time, I want to make my own costume! There was so much inspiration at the faire to drool over...I only wish i had taken more photos!



Have a lovely day!

~Vicki