For those not familiar with jewelry terms, a jump ring is something used as a connecting link. They are most often metal, but can be made from anything. The ends of the ring can be open or closed.
Get a whole bunch of jump rings together, and suddenly you have chaine maille!
I've dabbled just a little in chain maille so far, and I am really loving it. Just by changing up the size of the rings I can take the same design from very masculine to oh, so feminine.
I started making these bracelets with rubber jump rings for a few friends, and now I can't make them fast enough to satisfy the demand. I may have to raise the price of them to give my hands a rest.
I can even mix jump rings with beads. I made this cute little charm and I have it hanging on my purse.
It takes a lot of patience to do chain maille, because each ring has to be opened and then closed. I want the closures to be nice and smooth so they don't look funny or scratch the wearer, so that takes time. Since I'm still practicing, sometimes my pliers make scratch marks on the rings, and then I have to start that part of the design over again.
I am enjoying learning chain maille very much, and I can't wait until I know how to do some of the more complicated weaves and experiment with different designs.
Cat
6 comments:
Thats is awesome stuff :)
Great going!
Wish I could buy some from you
Keep smiling
Lak
Skill with jump rings eludes me. Somehow I can never get the ends to meet flush but if I squeeze too tight, the ring gets mushed. I avoid using them as much as possible or I use the split rings if I really need one for my project. How do the rubber ones work? Do you have to snip them to make an opening? How do they not pull apart?
Hi JoJo! It is difficult to get the rings to close flush all the time, just takes lots of practice. Don't squeeze them closed, open and close by holding the ring with the O facing you and sliding the ends past each other from front to back.
The rubber rings always are used closed, you open and close the metal rings around them.
dang it, for some reason my computer is not displaying the photos of your work! I'll check again later. I really like chain maille--byzantine is a favorite weave. Next attempt is going to be getting colored jump rings in the center of the byzantine links. I like the idea of rubber jump rings....
Cool! I have never heard of rubber jump rings
I love the little charm you have made!
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