New in Shop: Gaia Bracelet

I've always admired the Jens Pind (pronounced yens pint) chain maille weave. I like the rope-like nature of it (both the looks and feel of it), but also that it's very intricate and delicate at the same time that it's strong. It's a captivating spiral weave and for some reason, despite how much I love it, it took me until this past weekend to sit down and try it for the first time. Needless to say, I was hooked. It works up fairly quickly and feels nice in the hand.

I've also had it in my head to make some multi-strand bracelets for a long time now, combining the intricacies of chain maille with the earthiness of gemstones. Working up a pure copper Jens Pind chain, the thought occured to me that this would be the perfect marriage. I'd like to introduce to you the Gaia Bracelet.


Gaia is a Greek Goddess also known as Earth Mother. She is the earth and all the power of the earth. Gaia was the original deity at Delphi, for she is the giver of dreams, mantic oracles and prophecies. She is a reminder that we must ground ourselves in the reality of nature and incorporate all sides of ourselves, be they pleasant or unpleasant, light or dark. All bodies eventually return to her, into the black, fertile earth, to be devoured and to receive her life to live again.

The Gaia Bracelet is available in both Athena's Armoury Artfire Studio and Etsy Shop.

New in Shop: Alienmaille Bracelet & Hana Gusari Chakra Anklet

This past weekend, there was a heat advisory going on in FL. Seems strange since it's always insanely hot here over the summer, but I went along with it and tried to stay in inside. Having the tail end of my head cold actually made me want to stay inside anyway: the air was so thick, I could hardly breathe. I wanted to do something for Athena's Armoury, but I wasn't necessarily feeling up to mailling (a sinus headache and looking at little jump rings just doesn't work so well for me). It's been a long time since I had a maille photo shoot for a couple of reasons:

1. Picture taking, editing, and listing is not one of my favorite parts of selling online so I tend to procrastinate doing it.

2. Things have been somewhat quiet in the shop, so it seemed a little silly to me to keep listing new items. I'd have a ton of inventory in the shop and I firmly believe that people only look at the first couple of pages anyway.

I did read at some point, though that new items get more love and attention that renewed ones, so I guess we'll see how true that is because I spent some time taking pictures, editing, and creating listings. I already shared with you my Aeracura Necklace which I listed over the weekend. Here are a couple more new items in both my Etsy shop and Artfire studio:

Alienmaille Bracelet available in Etsy Shop and Artfire Studio

One of the reasons why I love the classic Euro 4-1 chain maille weave so much is because of all of the variations that can be done with it or using it as a base. Alienmaille is one of those. It is simply two layers of Euro 4-1 woven together on top of each other making it look like a much more complex weave than it truly is.

Hana Gusari Chakra Anklet available in Etsy shop and Artfire Studio

The word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or disk and signifies one of seven basic energy centers in the body that run from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Each of these energy centers has a specific color and symbol and control different aspects of the body and being.

Japanese chain maille was more often than not used as a decorative element or in combination with padded steel plates or to connect plated armor. It is not as strong as it's European maille cousins, but this flexibility gives this type of maille a beautiful flow to be used as jewelry.

Fleamarkets Are A Haven for Display Items

shhhhh. . . You can see some stuff I've been working on in the background. Soon available in the shop.

Scott and I hit a local flea market yesterday. He's always got something in mind to look for, and I'm usually looking for unique display items or stuff that I could upcycle. Yesterday I found this awesome old typesetter's box. I fell in love with the old wood and little compartments. Once it's cleaned up a little bit, it will be perfect for displaying pendants or other smaller items.

I also saw a half mannequin there that I'm still deciding whether I should have picked up. The stand was wood, but the bust itself was plastic with fabric covering it. The fabric was a bit ripped, but I probably could have gotten my sewing wiz MIL to fix it or make a new one for me. It was a female bust and the guy was asking $20. I have access to a very similar male bust for free. Damn. I should have gotten it.

Here's another little something coming to the Armoury soon.

Dragonscale Bracelet in Bright Aluminum

Check Out Athena's Armoury in TWO Places!

I'm pleased to share with you that three items from Athena's Armoury are being featured in the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's Spring Fever Exhibition! There are all kinds of fun goodies included in the exhibition, such as: artwork, jewelry, ritual oil, dolls, sculpture, accessories, housewares, masks, and more. Items from the Armoury include:

Napkin Armour for that spring picnic:

A Beaded Daisies Bracelet to wear to the picnic:


And the Katie Collar for your pup:


Athena's Armoury has also been featured at MyFairyBabies, a blog run by Hyla with the Etsy shop of the same name. This shop contains all kinds of fun kiddie items, fairy dolls, and dragon ornaments. I actually love Hyla's other shop: Steampunk Box Books. It is thanks to her that I was introduced to this fabulous genre. And finally, Faewood Creations houses her fingerless gloves, tote bags, and jewelry. She's a busy lady!

Beach Bum Creations is Moving in with Athena's Armoury

Now available in Athena's Armoury.

Many of you may already know that my first shop on Etsy was called Beach Bum Creations. And then chain maille pretty much took over all of the creations and I felt it necessary to open a second shop strictly for my maille. Well, after trying to make a go at maintaining and promoting two different shops, and not being terribly successful at it, I think it's time to try something new. All stock from Beach Bum Creations (mainly semi-precious gemstone jewelry) will be moved over to Athena's Armoury. It will make my life so much easier by only having to promote one shop!! But it will also help round out my shop and give me even more stuff to list as I continue to work on larger scale maille projects that take some more time. But, I'm also hoping that it will give my customers more fun stuff to look at and perhaps encourage cross purchasing.

The first item to make the move is this gorgeous bracelet entitled For a Good Cause - The Nature Conservancy. $5 from the sale of this bracelet will be donated to The Nature Conservancy - the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. Please visit Athena's Armoury for the details about this bracelet and to find out how you can help make a difference for our Planet Earth.

For a Good Cause: Charity Gems

I just listed in my Beach Bum Creations Etsy shop, my first charity item. It is the Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelet. All profits from the purchase of this bracelet will go to benefit Susan G. Koman for the Cure.

There are earrings to match coming as well as other items to benefit other great causes. Check back soon!

Will Copper Turn My Skin Green?

Personally, I love copper. I love it when it's bright and shiny and even after it starts to oxidize and get darker. There's a bit more weight to it than bright aluminum or even sterling silver and has such a beautiful warm glow. I love mixing it with other metals for a two tone look. Also, I'm not an expert, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest it might help people reduce the pain of arthritis.

I do get a lot of questions and comments from people about whether or not copper will make their skin turn green. Copper oxidizes by darkening and then turning green, just as sterling does so by tarnishing and iron does so by rusting. It's a natural process and the environment determines how quickly it happens. It happens faster in high humidity, but the speed of oxidation is also affected by the body chemistry of different people. Some people wear copper every day and it never turns green, some people wear it and it turns in one day. Some people can turn sterling dark in one day, too. We're all different in that way. I guess I'm lucky, because it actually takes quite some time for copper to even begin to show signs of oxidation for me and it also doesn't turn me green, so I get to enjoy wearing this lovely metal!

If you check out my last post, you'll find a quick, easy way to clean your copper if it does start to oxidize. Enjoy!

Etsy Bloggers Street Team Theme: Orange

I've been racking my brain trying to think of a fantastic project I can do using orange jump rings or O-rings, but not having any in stock at the moment put a serious damper on that! But then, I realized that I already have some orange already in both of my shops! I've got some orange pendants in my original Etsy shop, Beach Bum Creations.

But, even more exciting than supplies is something that I've made. Although, not really orange, copper's as close as I've got! You can find this Mobiused Rosette Bracelet in Athena's Armoury, my new shop for chain maille.

That's probably one of my all time favorite bracelets. I made one for myself and always get compliments on it. It was made using 18 gauge copper rings with, I believe, 1/4" inner diameter. It's a variation on the classic Euro 4-1 chain maille weave (most commonly seen in armour).

Cleaning Copper
I've had mine for quite some time now and it's starting to get a little dull, but that's easily fixed. Just mix together some lemon juice and salt, add bracelet, then slosh around a little bit. However, you must make sure you rinse it off!! The salt will make the bracelet crusty if you let it sit and the acid in the lemon juice will eat away at the metal. If you want to make extra certain it's clean of the lemon juice solution and perhaps keep the shine a bit longer, you can make a paste with baking powder and water and rub it on the copper. This will neutralize the acid. Then, of course, rinse again and dry. Beautiful, shiny copper once again!