Chainmaille Jewelry

Here's that Halloween necklace I was talking about. I think it came out really nice.

The moon is beautiful, isn't it? I bought a package of six of them. I don't remember the exact price, but it was under two dollars. Nice! I attached some chainmaille "Flowers" to it - all orange, all black, and mixed.

The chain is a variation on European 4 in 1. I came up with it on my own, but I'd be very surprised if it's never been done. (Construction techniques coming up, feel free to skip if you're not a mailler.) What I did was mix ring sizes - 18 gauge 1/4 ID (Inner Diameter) paired with 16 gauge 5/16 ID. The outside edges are all 18g 1/4 in orange. The middle row alternates between 18g 1/4 in black and 16g 5/16 in orange. This forms little orange squares with black in the middle, separated by larger orange rings. And then I added some black rings dangling from the center of the boxes - before I did, it was looking a bit bland, and the black was being overwhelmed. I think it looks nice like this, though.

I wanted to post this on my etsy today, but then I realized I hadn't priced it. Pricing is definitely my least favorite part of chainmaille. I'm just enough of a perfectionist to insist that it be done ridiculously specifically. That means weighing, counting rings, weighing, subtracting, possibly counting again, weighing again... It's a pain. I think today I'll post a bracelet I call Very Berry on etsy, instead.

~~Jen