My New Owlet Design

To celebrate the successful fledging of all three owlets at Cornell Lab's Bird Cam, I'm happy to announce the birth of my new chainmaille owlet design!!

It's been a long while since I first started sketching my owlet design.  It had gone from way big, to way complicated, some were too heavy, or too difficult to repeat, .... I looked at many other fellow maillers designs, and there are quite a few excellent ones ....

But it's not until I started following the three little owlets on the web cam, that I had a much better look at their body, the shape, the way they tilt their heads, move their eyes, flap their wings, preening one another, all kinds of antics, that I finally settled on this much stylized design.

Yes, this little guy's eyes, wings, and feet can all move freely, which was an important part of my "design requirement" :-)  I want it to be a "lively" creation, not so much a sculpture.

What do you think?  Maybe a pair of earrings to match?? ;-)

Update, July 16, 2014

It's been suggested to me that I should introduce you to the web cam darling owlets that inspired this chainmaille owlet design; so here they are!!

Aren't they just absolutely adorable?! ♥♥♥

\/

oo

((O))

;;

~~~~~

More Hourglass: Dodecahedron and Truncated Icosahedron

I was already plenty giddy with an Hourglass tetrahedron; then I read Ferrousknight's tutorial on M.A.I.L., and saw the photos in the gallery. Forget food and sleep, I've got to make myself some of these!!


Dodecahedron is a fun and rather quick one to make. I forget how many rings... only that I had to disassemble my first HG tetrahedron, reused the rings here; and then it's still not enough... Finally had to pull out my stash of 18 gauge copper wire to make up the rest. Ideal AR s/b about 7.5 to 8.3; my copper rings went way over that; can't find the right size mandrel around my house; this is the best I had at the time.

Stats:
Bright aluminum rings are R18 (that's 18swg, 11/32" ID) ALUM from Blue Buddha, 18 gauge, WD 1.2 mm, actual ID 9.5 mm, AR ~8. Copper rings are made from 18 gauge wire, WD 1.1 mm, ID about 10 mm, yeah, I know, bit too big, that's why they all have 3-ring connectors, compared to 2 on the BA rings.
Pretty neat, wouldn't you say?

OK, here's the truncated icosahedron. I had to google around to learn what that is.

Here's one made with Hourglass units. Looks complicated? Not really, once I got the concept, it's rather simple and elegant, almost zen.

So my hand cut rings leave lots room for improvement, the AR's were all over the place, copper and brass wires have lots spring back, and the last roll of aluminum wire was so weak that it kinked like every other inch.

But I had loads of fun! Believe me when I say practice makes perfect; this little boy has over 500 rings! (something like 540 in total, according to the math, but don't hold me to it....)

Now I'm obsessed. I'm making a chainmaille soccer ball, in black and white rings, yay!!!

Hourglass Tetrahedron

I did it! I did it! Took me a long, long time, but I finally made it! My first Hourglass Tetrahedron!

Can't say I remember all the steps, but it's here! Many thanks to FalloftheNoldor's video clip on YouTube; I must have replayed the clip a zillion times before completing this cutie.

UPDATE for ring stats:
All one size rings, 16 gauge swg, bright aluminum, with actual WD 1.6 mm, ID 10.10 mm, AR ~6.31;
or simply: Size T16 BA from Blue Buddha.

Now it's time for dissecting it, really understanding how it's put together. I would LOVE to make a garden ornament out of copper tubing, yeah!!

So cute! Can't wait to show them off:-)