This chainmaille design is called a Mobius, after the Mobius strip. The elegant twist is created from several jump rings, each carefully twisted inside of all the others.

60 years old may be retro, not antique... but hey, it looks Victorian and it winds. I have never actually seen a little clock without a battery before. :) I love this little trinket, which I got from Grandma's basement. I made it work, so I got to keep it. I love how that works.

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:

I've gotten some new "toys" recently:

Broken jewelry from my grandma:


A set of beads from Hobby Lobby-- I got some jumprings and several other things of beads there, too!!!

My friend Desi taught me how to make these charm bracelets. I apologize for the picture quality... I plan on taking another picture here soon. This is just my latest one... I need a picture of the one Desi helped me make when she was teaching me.

A fun and easy pen! I love to stick it on my desk as both a useful utility and a pretty accesory. I got this idea from a friend's mom's baby shower.

Take a pen (I used a purple BIC)

Cut a flower (two inches of stem included) from one of those fake flower boquets

Attach the flower to the pen with green "floral" tape (found in the craft section of Walmart, I'm sure other stores have it, too).


SEE ALSO: Clay pens

I made these quite awhile ago for some friends. I took an old pair of jeans, cut out the pockets, ironed on some iron-ons, and hand-sewed a string onto it. Voila!