Holiday Trinket 2015

Apologies for being a little (more than) tardy for my yearly holiday trinket creation...  But, better late than never :-)

Ta Da!  A minimalist, tall and skinny Christmas tree made in European Vertebrae with graduated sizes of rings, in various materials and colors, complete with its own decoration of dangling rings!  Plus a tree topper with a Rosetta-edged whirlybird and a wire wrapped bead cap.

OK, let me guess what you're thinking, "That's not much of a tree"...  Hey, there's nothing wrong with ad hoc mailling, specially when my hands are still hurting from wrestling with those thick niobium wires, not to mention it's a great way to recycle, improvise, and learn something new at the same time.

So, what have I learned in making this tree?  Quite a few:

1.  The dangling rings in the middle of the "tree trunk" add colors, dimension, and movement.  They are forgiving in AR, so great way to incorporate the orphan rings!

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2.  Got any bead about the right size to fit in one of the big rings?  Put a wire thru the bead, wrap a single loop on each side, and thread thru the big "tree trunk" rings, for extra bling!

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3.  Then there's the tree topper.  Well, I cheated a little on this one ;-)  If you had visited this blog from back when I first started mailling, you may have seen my Rosetta whirlybird bead from 2010, and the wire wrapped bead cap from even before my chainmaille days.  I've been saving them for the right spot to shine, and here they are!  String them together on top of a white flower bead, form a double loop on each end, and there is the adorable angel with the fluffiest ruffle collard!!

Well, what can I say, imagination has always been my best friend, LOL!

♥ Happy Holidays, everyone ♥

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Two Genie Bottles in Classic Golden Mulberry

The smaller, more dainty one, in my original design.

Then the bigger, more showy one, in the second incarnation of my genie bottle design.

Both custom made for my friend Etsuko, in the same color scheme of golden mulberry that is most reminiscent of the "I Dream of Jeannie" bottle.

While I have created quite a few chainmaille genie bottles in lots of color combos, each time I completed one of these beauties, I still find myself falling in love with it all over again!

I wish I had one photo of these two side by side, so you may see how they are similar "and" different...  The next best thing, how about these two photos side by side?

I used the same colors and sizes of AA rings to weave the Whirlybirds, but in different number of rings.  Interesting to see the dramatic changes in the final sizes.

Over the time as I've experimented with incorporating other elements, such as beads, chains, wires, into my chainmaille pieces, one thing becomes clear:  Multimedia is much more than just the materials; it is even more about the techniques, and knowing when to use which material, what technique for their unique qualities and best contribution to the overall design.  Right, so glad that all the time I spent on bead-weaving and wire-wrapping, plus several other more :-) is now coming together nicely.  It's the quickening!!

For complete views of these two pieces, please check them out in

here and here.

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Dancing in the Rainbow

A commissioned 3-piece set of jewelry, with lots of colors, lots of bling!

The finger ring

If this looks lots of fun to wear, it was even more fun to make!

The chainmaille portion is a fancy European 4 in 1, kind of a morphed Chrysanthemum.  Easy enough.

But the base took me a while....  a long while.  Many experiments, lots of testing; I finally settled on the technique I learned from Eni Oken's Ornate Ring, which I modified to make a separate ring base/shank like so....

which can then be used with many other ring applications.  Pretty snazzy, wouldn't you say?!

And here are the earrings with clip-on ear wire findings...

A colorful version of my chainmaille genie bottle line, a very embellished chainmaille Whirlybird.

And finally, the necklace!

* note *

I wanted to take more photos for the necklace but my camera has finally decided to quit.  Not blaming it; it's given me almost 10 years of fun and good time; not many electronic gizmos out there these days can last 10 months with non-stop performance.  Thank you, my little red Exilim!  I will miss you...

So, I'm now shopping for a new camera.  Suggestions/recommendations welcome!  When I'm back behind my new camera, I'll get more pix for this fancy, blingy necklace, provided its owner Eunice will loan this back to me for more photos:-)

Chainmaille Button

And you may be asking, "Why?"

Well, why not?   :-)

I don't remember since when, but I've been somewhat obsessed with mailled daily objects.

Call it "objet d'art" if I may:-)

Can be sewed on as any regular shank button.

May also be turned into a cocktail ring:-)

Perfect on a dark winter coat!

Or a warm fluffy sweater/cardigan.

Complete views available on my Picasa Web Album.

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Ninja Ring

A secret ninja weapon you can wear on your finger!



OK, it's really just another Whirlybird with scales as outer edging.



I was playing with my new scales from B3, made a few flower looking thingy, very fun.  Then, I realized scales can be substituted for the outer edge of pretty much any weave.


Here's my first experiment in using scales in a Whirlybird. Just do a simple strip of 3-row European 4-in-1 with scales as the middle row; then connect end to end like a normal Whirlybird. I added an HP-like ridge on both side to tighten the whole thing, they also even out the scales so they spread like sun rays, or flower petals, whatever.

Finding an "app" for this bird took a while. From the first moment it was done, it screamed "ninja secret weapon" to me; does it do that for you?  Any way, after a few tries, it settles as a finger ring.  Big, but still comfortable.  Definitely Not dainty:-)



I wonder how a pair of them may look as earrings? Hum...