Celtic Knot Bracelet in Progress

Here is a kit I purchased from The Jump Ring Lady called a Celtic Knot Bracelet. It is much fussier than the helm weave, but it's coming along and I think the finished product will be very pleasing. It is silver and magenta and is made of 20 gauge 4 mm and 6 mm jump rings.

Second Bracelet

I placed an order with The Jump Ring Lady which arrived yesterday, just in time for me to make a bracelet for my friend's birthday. I followed the pattern of the first bracelet, but due to the slightly different gauge and inner diameter (ID) I had to add several more rings in order to come up with the same length. The rings I used were 20 gauge, with the small being 5 mm ID and the large being 8 mm. The colors were silver and peacock blue. The ring count was: 42 small, 19 floater, 40 large. Neither picture does it justice, but at least you can get some idea of how it looked.

Earring Experiment

Unkamen Gifts has made a bunch of youtube tutorials on how to make the various kits they sell. After watching most of them last week, I decided to try my hand at making a mobius, which is a set of three twined jump rings. Their tutorial featured their "Eye Candy" bracelet, but they mentioned that it would work for earrings also. They had included some sample jump rings along with the pliers I purchased from them, so I put together some blue & purple earrings and was pleased with the results. They were fairly easy to assemble and have endless potential for variation - color, size, length of dangle...the mind swirls with ideas!!!

First Project

My first project was a bracelet in the helm weave pattern. It was not too hard to figure out and I LOVE the final result. The materials used were all 18 gauge anodized copper. The colors were rose gold and non-tarnishing silver. The ring sizes were 3.75 mm ID (inside diameter) and 7 mm ID. The head count is: 38 each small, 17 each floater, and 36 each large.

A New Addiction

A few years ago I worked with a man whose son was into chain maille. (Doesn't that spelling make it more romantic sounding than chain mail?) I thought it was interesting, but never did anything about it. Recently, after seeing chain maille classes offered in a continuing education brochure, I started looking into it. I got some books out of the library and of course, started surfing the internet. Eventually I found a person on Etsy (Unkamen Gifts) who sells chain maille jewelry, supplies and kits and I took the plunge. I purchased a bracelet kit, a cross pendant kit, and a set of pliers that had been prepped for use in chain maille.

There's a lot to learn, so I decided to start a new blog and catalog my projects, particularly the jump ring sizes used, since they have a huge impact on the final result.

Of course, the cats think it is all TOO fascinating for words!