A few weeks ago I ran across two teens working a booth and creating jewelry at the Summerfest. Their family are the creators of Unkamen Gifts. They make their own quality jumprings and some amazing jewelry.
Yes, jewelry! Chainmail isn't all about armor.
I fell in love with their work, and intended to buy one of their necklaces, but we left early. I looked them up-- they have an Etsy shop (several, actually). And, being me, I decided that I did not want to buy the necklace. I wanted to MAKE it! (Look for it in an upcoming post).
But it was complicated, so I needed to start with something a little easier. I picked up some cheap jumprings at Hobby Lobby. They aren't the "right" sizes, but I just wanted to play around.
I found instructions for the Helm Weave at CGMaille.com and set to work:
The finished product:
EDIT: I made another one, HERE.
And here are a few other things I messed around with....
A flower that I saw on Unkamen Gifts... bit of a fail since I had no idea what to do and was just randomly inserting jump rings. I now know that it is a helm weave folded in on itself. *nods knowingly*
And my first attempt at the Byzantine Weave
