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...

Scale Sakura

Scale maille sakura as hair stick ornament.

Based on the new scale flower design by TRL, with extra rings added on the outer edge out of necessity to stabilize the structure; my bronze rings must be slightly bigger than TRL's size.  This turned out to be very useful for attaching more rings, fringes, beads, etc.

Scales are very addictive, I must admit.  Before the whole scale flower thing, I hadn't thought about making anything with scales.  That was then, this is now.  Interesting how things take on their own paths...  Now I see scales are just like rings, bit flat, with off center, smallish holes compared to typical jump rings; sky's the limit, hahaha!

Specs:  Unanodized aluminum small scales, all 18 swg rings 1.2mm WD, in bright aluminum, anodized aluminum, bronze, and jeweler's brass.  Uh, that's about it; I can't remember the exact ring sizes, so many different sizes here; good way to use up leftover rings though.  Handmade double eye pins out of non-tarnish craft wire, also 1.2mm.  Size 5/0 triangle seed beads in silver-lined mauve.  Final sizes: flower 2" in diameter, full length of ornament 4" from the top connector ring to bottom of the longest fringe.

More pix here.

Steel Magnolia

I named this bracelet "Steel Magnolia", it got nothing to do with the movie (no, please don't tell me I can't use the name), just simply, big bold beautiful magnolia flowers made in steel.

As to the weave, it is called "Double Spiral Half Byzantine + 1". Hee hee, that's a long name, isn't it? But very accurate, just take a look: There's the double spiral, half of a Byzantine (is that aka. a unit of Box?), and + 1 holding onto the next half Byzantine. Or, I'll fess up, I just love everything with double rings:-)

I learned it from this tutorial by Onering on MWw. Mine is made with 1 mm x 1 mm square stainless steel rings from C&T Designs. These rings were originally sized for JPL5, but since I don't know JPL5 (not yet :-), I used it for this fun bracelet.

Would have been great if I had a different metal in same size to work with in this bracelet, maybe copper, kind of like the pictures in the tutorial. Maybe next time, I will. This is too much fun to make only one.

"Are You Alive?"

The first line spoken by Number Six in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica mini-series. The tight red dress, a callback to the red blinking light of Cylon raiders, gave me the idea of creating a line of BSG-inspired jewelry. Here's the first one.




This is a simple Jens Pind Linkage (JPL) bracelet in bright aluminum and anodized aluminum, both in 18 swg, 1.2 mm. By dramatically changing the AR for the last 2 rings in every other JPL, the look is totally different than traditional JPL3. Check out Zili's article, WHATIF - Variants of JPL, gives awesome insight to this often finicky weave.



Next in the BSG-line: 33. Stay tuned:-)



Edited, Sept. 1, 2010: I'm starting the BSG-inspired line solely as a challenge to myself to create with 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.

Chainmaille Kabob

OK, so these are not really kabobs, they're Whirlybirds with odd size rings and frilly edges, but don't they look yummy on a stick?!!

Whirlybird is a fun pattern, lots of possibilities if you just let your mind go (which I do on a regular basis:-) Don't worry about the ring sizes, the metal, colors, or even the number of rings, you can always compensate with even more variations. Just wing it as you go:-)

In the picture, left to right: Rosetta edging, bi-cone shape with even rows on top and bottom, lop-sided by using different size rings on top and on bottom, HP 3-1 edging (this is a Persian Vortex by Clever Wench).

More Upcycled Aluminum Flowers

There are more aluminum cans than I have time to turn them into decoration for my hair and my garden:-)

I got couple of questions on if recycled aluminum flowers are sturdy enough as hair ornaments or for jewelry. To be honest, I can wear them OK probably because I'm fairly careful with these things. But just for fun, I tested folding aluminum sheet 3 times, kind of like folding table napkins, to form the base of each petal. They are for sure stronger and hold their shapes well even with me swapping rings back and forth to find the right sizes.

The neat thing about making your own petals (or scales, whatever you call them) is you can make them any shape you want! Leaf shape petals make tropical plumeria flowers, and heart shape ones make for lucky 4-leaf clovers, specially if you make them in all green!

Here are how they look as hair clip or barrette. I didn't file the edges on these either because I was so anxious to try out more shapes and more ways to use them, like on hair sticks, hair forks... Besides, I'm really planning to tie these to my trees out in my garden, trying to save some water!!! (hee hee)

Check here for more pix.

Don't just recycle, Upcycle!

Yep, Upcycle. Learn a new word everyday. No, I didn't invent it; read it in the new book Create Colorful Aluminum Jewelry by Helen Harle. Lots of interesting ideas; my kind of book:-)

No, these little flowers are not from the book. They are maille flowers; cute, aren't they? Want to learn how to make them? Check out the pages on The Ring Lord or MAIL. Don't have any scales on hand? Why not improvise? Gather some aluminum cans, pair of steel scissors, hole puncher, some rings and pliers (of course), and experiment to your heart's content!

Here's what I got. Not the best made maille flowers out there, but they are "green" none the less:-) I'm so addicted to these little guys, I got a whole box of soda from Costco, that's 24 cans! And I don't even drink soda!

OK, if you're going to try this out, please mind the sharp edges of cut aluminum. If you can't be bothered with making your own scales, order some from Blue Buddha or The Ring Lord, and have a blast!

One Night at Denny's

This little guy begs for attention! Not only bursting with colors, but jingling like crazy too!

Yep, that's the name of the weave, One Night at Denny's. No clue how it came about, but sure is fun to make. I think the half-, semi-Trizantine knots look like little pots of flowers, see them?

I named this bracelet "One very jingly Night at Denny's" because it's crazily jingly. These bells are small, but high decibel. Too much for you? Well then take a look at the "light" version and the "quiet" version in here.

Specs:

All rings are 18 SWG, 1.2mm, from Blue Buddha's sample packs; they're great! I get so much use out of them. The big connector rings are bronze; "flower pots" are anodized aluminum, AR 4.1; bells are connected "Shaggy Loops" style with jeweler's brass rings. I don't know what material the bells are, just that they jingle all right.

And last but not least, the split tail Fish Hook is my own design, out of 16 SWG Nb wire, hand forged then anodized.

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Bath Time!!

Ducky and Bubbles! Bring back fond memories of childhood, don't they?

Bubbles weave is simple, fun, and quick to work up. If you can connect jump rings, you can do this. Just like many other basic weaves, this opens up lots of room for playing with variations, such as colors!

Speaking of colors, my camera is not doing justice to the beautiful colors of anodized Niobium rings. You really want to see these in person. Brilliant, mesmerizing, colors of rainbow, puts a smile on every face:-)

Specs:

Almost the same as Jellybean Barrels, large rings are Niobium, 18 gauge, WD 1.2 mm, AR 5.5; smaller rings are stainless steel from the sample pack of base metal rings of Blue Buddha; and the clasp is hand-forged and anodized by none others than yours truly out of 16 gauge natural Nb wire from TRL.

How about some more photos? Yeah? Click here!

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Jellybeans on Parade! Barrels of them:-)

Yep, that's the name of this weave, Jellybean Barrels! Or, to be exact, it's the Barrels version of Jellybean On Parade. Talk about boat loads of fun, isn't it? Just the name along puts everyone in a party mood:-) btw, this weave is aka Crow Chain; um, I'll stay with the parade for now:-)

OK, specs:

The inner 2x2 chain is 18 gauge, WD 1.2 mm, ID 6.6 mm, AR 5.5, stainless steel rings from C&T Designs; orbitals are same size Niobium rings from TRL; sterling silver toggle bought at San Gabriel Bead Company.

Check out more pix here.

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!

W.I.B.U.T.

What I've been up to:

Most of these haven't been photographed yet. I moved on from one to next, wanting to test out as many weaves as I can; but there are sssooooooo many out there; it's like what they say: So many weaves, so little time:-)

More details to come soon; for now, just a quick glance:

• Shaggy loops (lower left corner) - bracelet and matching earrings in copper, brass, bright aluminum
• Persephone (lower right) - bracelet, with hand forged infinity toggle, in copper
• Tetra Orbs (upper leftmost) - 2 pairs of earrings in bright aluminum with Swarovski cube crystals

from here onto the right:

• Japanese Lace - 2 bracelets in stainless steel and anodized niobium
• GSG-3 rows - bracelet in natural niobium and matching earrings in natural titanium
  
• Half Persian (HP) 4in1 - bracelet in anodized niobium
• HP 4in1 - bracelet in anodized titanium
• HP 3in1 (top row, above all bracelets) - finger ring in anodized niobium
• HP 4in1 (top row, above all bracelets) - hair clip decoration in anodized niobium
  
• HP 3in1 Sheet 5 - 2 bracelets, 20 gauge and 18 gauge bright aluminum
• Oval (or Persian Dragonscale) - bracelet in 18 ga BA
• Roundmaille - bracelet in 18 ga BA
• Turkish Round - 2 bracelets, 18 ga and 16 ga BA
• Helm (or Parallel) - 18 ga BA
• Dragonscale - 18 ga BA
• JPL-3 - 16 ga BA
• JPL What-If variations - 2 bracelets, with 18 ga BA interspersed by larger ID anodized aluminum rings
• Double Spiral Half Byzantine + 1 - bracelet in 18 ga stainless steel square wire rings (this name is quite a mouthful, however the weave turned out like little flower basket, very cute!)
  

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:-)