Unravelings

My Chain-Maille Adventure, Part 2: Dubious Weave Chain - Jewelry Making Daily

by Tammy Jones

Well, I finally did it. I finally sat down with pliers and a million little jump rings and did chain maille. And I survived!

If you've been reading Jewelry Making Daily for awhile, you know that I've resisted chain maille every time I had to, not because I don't like it (in fact, I'm kind of in awe of it and those of you who do it), but because I simply don't have the patience for it. Super detailed, "commitment" crafts like hand quilting, chain maille, bead weaving . . . they're gorgeous and impressive but simply not for me. Or so I thought.

Turns out, chain-maille jewelry doesn't have to takeforever (or even days and days) to make. In fact, some chain-maille projects can be completed in minutes (as I learned from our new chain-maille eBook last Friday). Minutes, I tell you! I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes . . . and done it with my own two fidgety little hands.

But I digress. So when I saw that we had another new chain-maille DVD coming out, I knew I was going to have to actually make some this time. I didn't want to take the "easy" way out and make a chain-maille project with just a few links, either, not with all of you watching! So I decided I'd do honest-to-goodness chain, made from a realchain-maille weave. (Here's where you say "ohh" and "ahh." Ha!)

via www.jewelrymakingdaily.com

Easy European 4-in-1 Chain Maille Technique - Beading Daily

by Jean Campbell

Perhaps it's my inner ADD child, or maybe it's just part of being a creative person, but I get sidetracked very easily. For example, I was tech editing Lynn Davy's project for the October/November 2011 issue of Beadwork magazine last week. Lynn's necklace design incorporates a strap that's stitched to look like chain maille. "What kind of chain maille pattern is this?" questioned my inner child. "Not sure you've actually done this one, Jean," said my inner child as she grabbed the mouse from my tech-editing brain and started surfing the Web. Click, click, click. Research, research, research. "Ah, it's the European 4-in-1 technique that was often used to make a fabric of chain for warriors' tunics," my inner child explains as she pulled my helpless self to the workbench. Before I knew it, I was miles away from editing Lynn's fantastic piece and hunkered over a bunch of jump rings and a pair of chain-nose pliers to figure out how this technique is done. Though I have an attention-deficit side, I'm also quite prudent, so I figure I'll redeem my inner child's naughty "playing while working" folly with a practical tutorial on how this wonderful ancient technique is done:

via www.beadingdaily.com

9 Chain Maille Tool and Supply Tips from a Master --- Jewelry Making Daily

by Tammy Jones

I got some great chain-maille tips watching Scott David Plumlee's Make Chain Maille Jewelry! DVD this weekend, and I had to share. There's so much, I don't want to overload you--so we'll just look at tools and supplies today. Imagine how great the DVD is if I got all of these awesome tips just from the tool intro!?

via jewelrymakingdaily.com

How to Use a Screw Punch - Beading Daily

This nifty little hole-making tool is just a few inches long, only weighs a couple ounces, and is very powerful. I like it because it uses no energy other than the light twist you expend from your fingers, and when punching holes in metal, there's not the crazy amount of heat produced on the metal piece as with an electric drill. I find my holes are also cleaner than the freehand ones I make with my Dremel; there's no bouncing and scraping, which sometimes happens when I'm drilling a thick piece of metal.

Learn how to use the punch: www.beadingdaily.com

You can find this Screw Punch in my store.

Make Custom Jewelry Findings - Jewelry Making Daily

by Tammy Jones

Making your own findings is one of the easiest ways to add unique style to your jewelry-making designs, and for some reason, it's an idea that many jewelry makers often overlook. I was making earrings by the handfuls one afternoon years ago when I realized that I only had one ear wire left. Not one pair, but one. Somewhere along the way I'd lost its mate. Double blow! Not only was I out of the findings I needed, I had an orphaned one (in pricey gold, even) that would likely go to waste.

Can you tell which ear wire was the lone bought one and which one I made? But then I had a little epiphany. I did have gold balled head pins, and the ear wire I had was a pretty simple design with a ball on the end. . . . Just as I realized that I could probably make a good match for the lone ear wire, it also struck me that I could make all of my ear wires, all the time, and never run out again. And then I realized how much money it would save me. (You know how there's a bright light and angels sing when someone gets a brilliant idea on TV? It was just like that.)

Once I realized how easy and cost-effective it is to make my own earring findings, I stopped buying manufactured ear wires in favor of making my own. The possibilities truly are endless; ear wires can be just about any shape or style, as long as they go through the ear easily, hang properly and balanced, and don't fall out. That allowed my creativity to soar, thinking of new ways to make earring findings that are as unique as the baubles I hang on them.

via www.jewelrymakingdaily.com

Writing Product Descriptions for Your Jewelry: Part 5 - "Designer"

by Chelsea Clarey (TangoPig Jewelry Creations)

When we sell through catalogues or online, we have a unique challenge to face.

How to make up for the absent experience of touching and holding jewelry? How do we persuade people to connect to a piece of jewelry though a computer screen or a glossy page?

One way is to provide text descriptions, or copywriting, that gives the reader an added emotional response through artful presentation.

However, description space is usually limited, and shoppers' attention spans always are! Every word in the space we have becomes important.

In this article we're going to examine the word "designer," and try to figure out exactly what we mean by it.

via www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com

Steampunk 101: Create Romantic and Edgy Steampunk-Style Jewelry - Jewelry Making Daily

Search for Steampunk on Etsy and you'll find almost 70,000 results . . . and 6.5 million on Google. To help put this cool trend in perspective, searches for "silver jewelry" net a little over 2,800 results on Etsy and 6,440,000 on Google—or 60,000 less than Steampunk.

What is Steampunk, anyway?
Steampunk gets its name from a time or "world" where steam power was used, typically the Victorian era and the 1800s. It was a romantic time full of arts and beauty but also full of discovery and new technology, like the invention of steam power. The Steampunk movement aims to combine those two feelings. Though it seems like a hot new idea, the term was actually coined in the 1980s and the work that led to the creation of the term (books, movies, even art) is even older—from the 1960s and '70s. A large part of the trend's popularity comes from science-fiction writing that was set in the steam age of Victorian England.

Simply put, Steampunk is industrial and mechanical "stuff" with an elaborate and romantic—albeit incongruous—Victorian twist. Good examples seen on Wikipedia include "coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, and Victorian dialogue."  Like I said, incongruous! But interesting.

via jewelrymakingdaily.com

10 Chain Maille Designs eBook---I'm a featured artist AND on the cover!

Interweve Press has just published a new eBook called 10 Chain Maille Designs. The book features ten innovative designs from jewelry artists that have been featured in Interweave Press publications.

I'm thrilled that my Three Sisters Set is included in the book and even more thrilled that my work is on the cover!

Get your copy of the eBook here: 10 Chain Maille Designs.

Silver Jewelry-Making for Everyone: Intro to the 5 Silversmithing Techniques - Jewelry Making Daily

Steps of Silver Jewelry Making
There are basically only five steps from the design in your mind to the ring on your finger—or whatever piece of jewelry you want to make. Many silver jewelry-making projects won't even require all five steps. By breaking silversmithing down into manageable steps and learning them one by one, I realized that creating custom silver jewelry is an achievable (and extremely fun) process.

via www.jewelrymakingdaily.com

Jewelry Mailing Tips - Jewelry Business Success News

We're lucky - mailing jewelry is far easier and cheaper than mailing most other types of artwork! Most jewelry is small and lightweight enough to fit in the smallest size shipping box or bubble-padded envelope, and sent with a relatively small amount of postage.

When shipping jewelry, I package the piece carefully in a ziplock jewelry bag and place it (along with its hang tag or earring card) in a cotton-padded cardboard or metal jewelry gift box.

Then I slip an elastic bow onto the box and slide a blank gift card under the elastic, to make the jewelry easy to give as a gift. Or if the customer ordered the jewelry for herself, then my packaging can make her feel that she's just received a gift from herself!

Then I put the gift box, my packing slip, a few business cards, and any promotional flyers inside a medium-sized ziplock jewelry bag so none of these elements can be missed or thrown away accidentally when my customer opens the shipping box.

Finally, this package goes into a small bubble mailer or cardboard shipping box.

via www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com