Custom Chain Maille Purse

This post has been a long time in coming..

I love doing custom work. I love taking inspiration from someone and working with them to create a piece perfect just for them.

I was approached by a woman to make a custom purse for her. She had an idea of the shape and feel that she wanted, so that's where we started. Because of the size of the bag, I wanted to keep it as low weight as possible so we decided to use bright aluminum since it is 1/3 the weight of steel. I hand coiled and cut the thousands of rings that were used. She wanted it to be reminiscent of the days of Camelot, so I suggested weaves in the European family. The picture above is the weave that we used: Gridlock.


This second picture will give you some idea of the depth of the bag. It was honkin'.

In the pictures below, you will see some of the details that were incorporated in to the design. The shot of the left shows a corner of the bag to give it structure. The shot on the right shows how the strap (a simple Euro 4-1) continued into the body of the bag for strength.

She also and her heart set on using dags (or daggers), so I used that element on the flap of the bag and a snowflake charm was the finishing touch.


I love the way this piece came out, but more importantly, my customer was thrilled. Have an idea for a custom piece? Let me know!