I Love My Tools

However, I don't know what's going on with them lately. A few weeks back, I was weaving bright aluminum with my lovely Lindstrom flat nose pliers. All of a sudden, there was a snap and then something hit me (hard) in the shoulder. I just thought that a ring snapped, so I went to pick up another one and noticed that half of the jaw on one of my pairs of pliers was gone! After the initial confusion, I went into shock, and then got very upset. That never, ever should have happened with those pliers: they are known to last for decades. Luckily, they are covered by a lifetime guarantee and I'm expecting a brand new pair to arrive in the mail this week. Yay!


Over the weekend, I had quite a few projects going on. One of which is filling an order for an Uber Chain Maille Dice Bag (it's the size of a Crown Royal bag!). I coiled and cut rings until I ran out of wire and then had to tumble them to remove any burrs and make them nice and shiny. I walked away and when I came back, the barrel on my tumbler had stopped rotating. I opened it up and the belt finally broke on the thing. In not one, but three places! So, I got out my mini screwdrivers and went at it. Eager to get my hands dirty and fix my tumbler, I forgot to unplug it and suffered a mild electrocution. Sigh. All was well after that: I got the new belt in place, screwed it all back together, and finished tumbling my rings!

Apparently, the tumbler available from Harbor Freight has a reputation of easily breaking belts. I've had mine for two years and this is the first time it's happened. That said, if you experience belt problems with your Harbor Freight tumbler there is a cheaper alternative to purchasing a new belt. An experienced mailler I know recommended using the heavy duty rubber bands from broccoli. Apparently, he's been doing that for years to much success! Happy tumbling!

FAE Street Team Fairy Contest Entry

I'm so excited that I finally got something done! All of my time for the past month or so has been dedicated to the moving experience: cleaning, repairing, packing boxes, unpacking boxes, you get the idea. Unfortunately, I don't have my office/studio/workshop (weeeeee!) set up yet either. I know it should take a priority, but I might be getting a real jeweler's workbench so I've been putting off setting things up until I know where I want it to go.

In any event, I'm a member of the FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) Street Team and we're having a member contest right now based on fairies. Kathryn of Interior Glass Designs is hosting this contest and offering a prize for the winner. Her work is just gorgeous, so I can't wait to see what she's giving away! Even though she's not entering it herself, she designed a gorgeous fairy, too.

I'm so excited to have been able to participate because it gave me an excuse to play with my pliers again. I designed this Fairy Lariat Necklace:


There is an adorably whimsical flower fairy pendant featured on this necklace. She's sterling silver with a small garnet towards the bottom. She measures 1 1/2" long and 3/4" wide. There are three beads wire wrapped and connecting her to the byzantine chain. These beads represent the flowers she dwells among: the bottom bead is wood for the stems, the middle bead is an emerald green Swarovski crystal for the leaves, and the top bead is garnet for the petals and to match the stone on the pendant.


The byzantine chain is one of the oldest chain maille weaves in existence. All of the jump rings that the chain is comprised of, were coiled, cut, and woven by me. There are approximately 1100 bright aluminum rings in this chain, measuring 36" long (including the fairy pendant).


It can be worn double wrapped around your neck, as a super long necklace, or even as a multi-strand bracelet. She is available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

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!

My Fabulous New Lindstrom Pliers

When you make chain maille, you need to use one pair of pliers in each hand in order to twist the rings either open or closed. Some people think that you just pull the connecting ends of the rings apart, but if you do that, you'll lose the circular shape of the ring. If you twist one half of the ring towards you with one plier and the other half away from you with your other plier, you can then close them (going in the opposite direction) and keep the ring in it's shape.

I first started making maille with a pair of chain nose pliers: picture your average every day joe pliers, except a bit shorter and non-serrated (non-serrated means without teeth which is important so that you don't mar your metal). I wasn't too crazy about these pliers because it felt like I didn't have enough control over the rings (lack of surface area). I wanted to try a pair of flat nose pliers and my carpenter boyfriend suggested getting some from Craftsman (the gold ones in the photos).

The problem I was running into with these guys was the notch on the handle. It literally kept bruising my palm and then I would lose weaving time because I wanted to try and let it heal a little bit. Poor Scott started to feel bad since he was the one who recommended them to me.

Connie Fox's website. She's got lots of fabulous wire working supplies, decent prices, great customer service, and quick shipping. Needless to say, I found what I was looking for and on sale, no less! It had been about a week and I hadn't gotten around to ordering yet. But, in that time, little did I know that Scott went ahead and ordered my fabulous Lindstrom Flat Nose Pliers from her already and asked her to not fill my order (when and if I would ever get around to placing it) because he wanted to give them to me for a present. She was way cool and said no problem.

So now I've got my fabulous new Lindstrom pliers that I just love. The grips are longer allowing for better leverage (and no notch!), they have way more cushion, and you can even adjust how much the jaws open! I love them!