Celtic Labyrinth, or December?

My very first contact with chainmaille was a Byzantine chain, as demo'ed by David Scott Plumlee on an episode of Beads, Baubles, and Jewels.  I was hooked by how the tiny little jump rings of exactly same sizes and shapes morphed into this mesmerizing pattern.

I'll bet I'm not the only one that started their chainmaille addiction, uh, I meant "journey", from this weave:-)

There's a reason for this Byzantine Effect; and this Celtic Labyrinth pendant is a good example.  Look closely and you'll see this weave is another play on the same weave but with rings of rather different AR's.

And I do like making this weave with the Byzantine flip method, which is building the pendant inside out starting from the center rings.  This allows for a sturdy, immobile structure if you wish.  The other method, which builds the 2x2 chain first, inserts center rings last, seems difficult for me to properly close the center rings, i.e., no room to land my pliers.

So, what about December?  Right, the other weave that actually works exactly the same way as Celtic Labyrinth, but with different number of points; December as it's recorded in MAIL weave library has 6 points; Celtic Labyrinth has 4.  Those who came to chainmaille before me had already discussed this on MAIL.

I experimented with a few 5 pointed ones in different AR combinations.

Isn't it amazing that while they are all made in the same manner, the results are quite different, even with some 3-D effect!

Be it Celtic Labyrinth (Unit) or December, the influence of Byzantine is not hard to see, and I now have a much deeper appreciation for Byzantine weave's versatility.

Any insight learnt from making this pendant?  When needed, square wire rings are quite excellent in increasing the stability of the weave.  Now you know!! :-)

More views of the pendant, as well as my experiments, are here and here in my Picasa web albums.

Japanese Dodecaheron Chainmaille Cufflinks

I've been wanting to make these cuff links for a while.... ever since I saw the beautiful cuff links by Corvus in sterling silver.  Very inspired!!

So I thought, what can I do to give my cuff links a little something extra, something to set them apart from the traditional style, like this?

Well, I didn't come up with much... it's hard to improve upon perfection, which the Japanese Dodcahedron is as far as sphere shape goes.  As you can see, and I hope you agree, the little spunky cuff link is already beyond adorable.

So, if there's not much I can add in the front, how about the back, huh?

I'm a big fan of tassels:-)  Anything that swings, moves, with some sparkles, something shiny!

I like these the best in that the tassels are optional.  You can wear the cuff links with or without the tassels.  Yes, I'm all for having options:-)

Traditional.

Or.... a little extra!!

Your choice!!

These lovely cufflinks are now available in my online studio DaisyKreates.com.  Hope you'll come by for a visit.

As for you DIYers out there, I used the fabulous square wire rings 20-C from C and T Designs for the Japanese balls, with a 6 mm Swarovski #5040 inside to plump it up.  Now you know:-)

Thank you for stopping by my blog!  Would love to hear from ya!!

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'33' Watch Bracelet - BSG Inspired

'33' - As in, "Every 33 minutes, the Cylons find us."



'33' is the very first episode of BSG season 1, and my favorite!  Talk about being on the edge of my seat, feeling the extreme fatigue of having no sleep for 5 days straight running for your life....  I was exhausted just from watching it.

front view

When I set out for a design that captures the episode, in my head I had the scenes of multiple watches, clocks, digital, analog, flashing, all marked at 33 minutes.  Do you see it?

back view

side view

Made in European 4-in-1 in circular form with Persian edging.  The bright aluminum, copper, and bronze rings give this 'watch face' an interesting asymmetry.  It's clearly not half-half, but more of a 5/7 split.  The front and back sides are slightly different in looks because of the severe tension held by the double ring Persian edging.  I improvised the smaller rings on the outer rim to stabilize the plane.

Now comes the fun part, the watch band.  I want something that looks a lot like a common metal watch band, while still coordinates with the watch face.  I stayed within Euro family but this time in scale form as in 8-in-2, plus small double ring connectors running down each edge.



However, the rings used here are with much smaller ARs than required for typical Euro 8-in-2.  That's why the left strip slightly overlap the right strip, allowing the center strip to look more dominant.



Then comes the closure.  I tried so many, but none looked right.  They are either too tight, too loose, too flimsy, or too bracelet-like.

As this "watch" sat in idle for months waiting for a closure, I stumbled upon a box clasp on Rio Grande.  This simple box clasp not only is the perfect size, 2-connector style, but it has "cut corners', or octagon shaped!!  That's totally BSG!



btw, I had tried to make a box clasp myself using wire.  Not working, even with memory wire.  The spring mechanism is the key to a box clasp, and I still haven't found a way to duplicate that function with wire.  A bit disappointed... Well, no fear.  As a prototype in shape and size, I'm still pleased.

So, what do you think?  Does it look like a watch that's permanently pointing at 33?



Postscript:  Since the watch face has sat on my table for a while, it's starting to tarnish naturally.  Notice the slightly different colors of bronze and copper?  The large double rings are bronze and tarnish bit slower than copper in the back.  Didn't plan on it, but now I know:-)



Note to readers:

I create the BSG-inspired line of jewelry solely as a challenge to myself to design/create within a theme. I'm fascinated by the storyline and totally enjoyed watching the entire series from day 1 back in 2003. These jewelry pieces are not endorsed by anyone related to BSG, and are not intended to infringe upon
any of BSG rights. I'm just an admirer showing appreciation for the best TV program EVER! If any official BSG representative feels otherwise, please let me know; the last thing I want from this line is to upset the BSG creation.

Scary Weave

Relax, nothing scary here, just 2 new bracelets made in Scary Weave pattern. This is in response to Maillers Worldwide's July 2010 challenge.

I had wanted to try the weave for some time now; earlier attempts didn't go far; I had a hard time placing the connector rings. Base on the tutorial, I think it's meant to form a 3-tier step up or down, depending on how you look at it. But some photos of finished work out there show either a peak/valley style or multiple-ring-connection. I don't know which is which... They all look nice to me:-) Mine followed exact steps of the tutorial, and I must say, it's easier said than done. The Honey Bee connection was much easier.

Any who, here are the specs:

Copper and stainless steel square wire rings from C&T, 20-K, 0.8 mm x 0.8 mm, AR sized for HP4-1, so about 5ish. The stainless steel rings' AR seems wee bit smaller than copper; my attempt to make a "copper orbital on one side, steel the other" didn't work... it only flexed to the steel side. Photographed here is the remake on the copper/steel mix; it only comes up half a unit shorter than the all copper one.

RPI: This one measured 3 units per inch, so that makes it 21 rings per inch.

The heart clasp together with the catch rings are hand forged from 1.3 mm copper wire. I'm getting to be quite good at this:-)

The matching earrings came from extra units of the all copper bracelet; the ear wires are from 1.0 mm Niobium, handmade then anodized.

Enjoy the slide show!

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!!!

Shaggy Loops Earrings

Fun earrings made with left over rings from practice kits. All rings are in 18 gauge, big and small; the beads at the very bottom are sterling silver.

Now only if I had a earring display stand .... hum, maybe a custom stand like this one, wouldn't that be nifty?! Here's the how-to on the stand; must give it a try.