March 5, 2010

Quasi Lotus Flower

Not exactly the same Lotus Flower as was in the tutorial, so I named it Quasi Lotus Flower. Another interesting application of Helm pattern, Lotus Flower takes just one Helm circle, squashed and embellished to your heart's content! I followed first half of the tutorial, then was lost, then I improvised ... Now I'm not sure if I can remember what I did ...

But the specs are simple:
Same ring sizes as the main body of Helm Sphere (because they're from the same left over practice kit:-) No zipping necessary.


Helm Sphere

Helm Sphere is 2 concave Helm circles zipped together. This picture shows one of the Helm circle; copper and brass rings zipped the 2nd circle on the other side. Inside the sphere is a hot pink crystal bead, not really propping up anything (the sphere holds its own shape well enough), just to add color and interests.

I added 2 sets of connector rings to the top and bottom of the sphere; one set is shown in this picture as the horizontal rings right in the center. They are not totally necessary, but make it easier to hang off a chain as a pendant.

Specs:

Rings are all 18 gauge (WD 1.2 mm); the 2 circles are in bright aluminum in 2 sizes: 4.75 mm and 7.4 mm; the stitch rings are copper and jeweler's brass with ID 3 mm; all rings are left over from the mixed metal practice kit by Blue Buddha. The bead inside is 10 mm Swarovski crystal in hot pink with AB. I followed this tutorial from M.A.I.L., a fun one to experiment, and I DID:-)

March 2, 2010

Chainmaille Donut

Since the anodizer is still totally taking over my kitchen counter, had to find other ways to get me some food:-)

This started out as a test piece of double Vipera Berus. I first saw this weave by Clever Wench on Maillers Worldwide, and thought it'd be too much for me; then I read her tutorial... Bing! A light bulb moment! What a fun weave! But I didn't have enough rings to make a bracelet; soooo..... after 10 rows, I zipped it up and called it a ..... donut (was so hungry last night)!

Specs:
18 gauge unanodized Nb rings from TRL (SXNO1814), WD 1.2 mm, ID 6.6 mm, AR 5.5, will do for a normal bracelet, bit too tight for this donut; or maybe I should have taken it to 12 rows before zipping it up? The last 2 rings took me forever; you can tell in the pictures, the ones with big gaps ... Oh well, they're locked in, not going anyway now.

So, should I color it, or not? Rainbow sprinkles are my favorite donuts.