I'm interrupting your regularly scheduled posts with a logo idea. I'm getting bored of my current header, and am considering making the blog background a little cleaner (but with the same picture). Here's what I messed around with while teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator CS5: Its obviously not finished. I wanted opinions, though! What do you think? Be as harsh as...

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I wanted a place-- a key-holder of sorts-- to hang things on. Why bother buying something when you can make it? My room happens to be in the basement, and I have a breaker box above my desk. It would be ugly except for the fact that it is magnetic and I can therefore spruce it up. I made my holder magnetic. I'm...

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Like I'd mentioned before, I bought a set of sample jump rings from Unkamen Supplies. Well, I had to have a way to sort them... So I used these memory card cases (I have a nice, padded case for camera memory cards now-- funny story how I got it...) ...

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Oh, dear! Some incredibly mismatched jump rings and a touch of color exploded all over my desk, changing my Firework Orbital design into a bright and cheerful explosion of dangling rainbows. ...

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Art mannequins are no help, whatsoever. They are supposed to help artists understand the proportions, angles, and movements of a human being. The problem is that mannequins cannot move in the way that people do. My little mannequin cannot sit. It's hands can't touch its face. It can't cross its arms, tuck its ankles primly, or touch its toes. The little wooden joints...

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Hello, everyone! Those of you who know me IRL know we are moving. Those of you who don't now know. :P This means that I will be busy packing and moving. I will probably have all of my arts and crafts stuff (minus my life-sustaining sketchbook) packed up for a month or two. In addition to all that, I've got the gumption to...

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I recently got together with some family friends, who are like little sisters almost. :) They are SO quick to catch on. In the space of an hour, Marlena made the wrapped rock pendants (and developed a cool way of wrapping them) and Christiana made the earrings shown below: The rocks, and some other creations, are for our Church's Oktoberfest. The top two...

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These reminded me of the striking tones of peacock feathers... And the chainmaille mobius looks rather like a flower of sorts, doesn't it? The flower beads on the earring wire only add to the garden effect. This is the sort of creation that occurs when you have a random assortment of jump rings.(Although very nice quality, from UnkamenSupplies) I had a total of...

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It took me awhile, but I finally caught that elusive orb, the marble. I have captured it inside of a chainmaille globe, so that its fiery spirit can be forever seen-- but never again shall this marble roll under the depths of the couch, where it was discovered! I wanted to post instructions for the making of this marbled cage or caged marble,...

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I got one of those cross necklaces from VBS last year-- the gray cross with metal caps that promptly broke. It seemed a pity to throw the cross away, but I had no way of attaching it to a string! That is, until I figured out I could wrap wire around it. Now I have a fun and pretty cross to wear. ...

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To begin with, I am trying to add an RSS feed, which will automatically alert you if there is an update on the blog. Please look at this helpful blogpost, which explains RSS: HERE. Also, a more consise explanation HERE. Edit: I have added this feature, which can be found on the right-hand side of my blog. You can either subscribe via reader...

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This is actually supposed to be a pendant, not an earring. Actually, I wanted to make two of these as earrings, but I did not have enough jump rings. So now it is a necklace pendant. A really small one. It's just a little bigger than my fingernail! I made this for a friend, who is going to be doing a small acting...

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Maille Artisians International Leauge This website has a huge number of weaves, including descriptions of traditional historical weaves and the newer, decorative weaves. While some of their tutorials are confusing, this is the place to go with all chainmaille questions. Look here for inspiration, too. CG Maille Computer generated images that clearly explain the weaves. Best tutorials I have found. UnkamenGifts' Flickr Wonderful tutorials, although sometimes...

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Chainmaille! Little random things like these earrings are the result of having a limited number of jumprings to work with-- and an even smaller number of similar color and size. Orbitals are chainmaille rings that are not hooked into anything-- they are trapped inside of other rings to be held in place. (The Helm weave which I have used in my Geometric Flower...

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What a boring name. "Pearl Bracelet". I took some memory wire (the wire that stays in a bracelet shape even when stretched) and threaded on some glass pearls and little beads inbetween them. ...

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A few days ago we had some families over. Of course, for much of the time I got stuck with the little girls instead of my friends my age (well, some of my friends my age hung out with me and the little girls). That's just the curse of being a hostess. I thought I'd give them some jewelry tips. I helped one...

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This is my second ring of this kind; the first was much better. However, I had gotten it out to show my little cousins and can't find it now. I made this one to teach them how to make it. I used an 18 ga wire as the base of this ring. I twisted it around my finger twice, finshing off the ends...

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We had a pretty family tree picture frame a few years ago; unfortunately we never used it. While cleaning up to sell the house, I accidentally broke the top branch. I pulled the dangling picture frame from the branch and added some fun beads. Simple and fun! I'd give instructions but I doubt anyone else has saved a broken peice of a picture...

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A treble clef and two quarter notes for the musician at heart. That would be me; I love music even though I am quite terrible at it. I also made treble clef earrings: ...

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Fun and funky. Unfortunately, I can't give good instructions for chainmaille, even a simple thing like this. So I will simply post pictures. The chain can be hooked through any one of the rings. ...

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Blame my mother for the name. She is the math geek, and her first remark on this chainmaille charm was "Oh, wow... I love this. It's so geometric!" Which I suppose it is. Geometricity is the nature of chainmaille, and it is a very pleasing look! I made this from the few similar size-and-color rings I got in my sample set from UnkamenGifts....

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Wow. Just wow. I know, I am wowing something that I made. But I just had no idea you could do this with chainmaille. In my first post on chainmaille, I mentioned that I first ran across it three or four weeks ago at UnkamenGifts' Summerfest booth. Instead of buying a necklace from them, as I originally planned, I bought their Celtic Flower...

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