Chaimaille

Hi,

Last night I decided to try something new, always a good thing for a designer to do.  So I decided to try out some chainmaille jewellery.

There are so many different chainmaille weaves just waiting for me to indulge in but as I had a limited number of jumprings in only two colours I chose to make a bracelet and earrings set using the Byzantine weave.

'A Byzantine chain is a metal link chain design used in jewellery that incorporates a rope-like texture and intriguing textural design. The chains are supple and flexible, draping gracefully about the neck. 

The chain is a 4 in 1 chain meaning that each link passes through four others. It is a variation on the Box chain whose links point in a constant direction, unlike Byzantine whose links alternate in direction.' (Wikipedia)

This was my first attempt at this weave. In fact it was my first proper attempt at chainmaille.  Sooo, did I make it easy for myself?  The answer would be 'no'.  I chose to use small jumprings, id (inner diameter) 4mm.  I also chose to use two different colours.  In this case I used turquoise and mat silver.  This may not have been so bad if I had practised the weave first so I could see where all the jumprings went.  But oh no, I decided to go straight into it.  Needless to say it took me a little longer to make the bracelet as first I had to learn the weave at the same time as trying to figure out which coloured jumpring I needed to use at which point.  So to say it took me a little time is an understatement.

There is a quick way of creating this particular weave which uses open and closed rings, due to me complicating things for myself I ended up opening all of my jumprings and adding them one at a time.

I was watching 'Criminal Minds' and I'm not sure whether it was my viewing choice, my adapted method or perhaps a mix of the two but I actually found this project to be strangely therapeutic.

I hope you like it.  Please feel free to leave me a comment.

Thanks,

Annaliese (JBA)