Designer Challenge in Beads And Beyond Magazine

I took part in the bead soup challenge for Beads and Beyond Magazine again (October 2014 issue). I love doing these challenges. I always get new things I have never worked with before and it is a great personal challenge to try and use these pieces. It also offers me a look into the items carried in shops I may never have known about or had the chance to shop in yet. 

This months challenge pack was put together by Beadsisters. Beadsisters have a huge range of rings for making chainmaille so I was really happy to find out the pack was coming from them. The pack had some great jump rings and pearls in it in beautiful colours. I made some pieces that are quite different for my style but I love how they turned out. I made three in total. 

I think my favourite piece is the necklace. Its simple and stunning at the same time. The colours of the beads that Beadsisters picked out work so well together with the colours of all the findings. Don't forget to pick up the October issue of Beads and Beyond Magazine (click here to buy online) and see what the other designers made using the same pack. 

Busy Wednesday

I am getting myself ready for a Craft Fair this weekend which is the first I have done in a very long time. I have been trying to make a few extra bits this week so that I have a wide variety of things to display. Today I focused mainly on earrings using the sparkly pave beads and chain.

I also made one bracelet today. I have a few odd chainmaille rings in different colours and used them to make a small bit of a byzantine weave and attached some chain to either side to complete the bracelet. I love  the look of this. Im calling it a Shot of Chainmaille. Its a simple bracelet with just a pop of colour.

I've Been Shopping

I have wanted to pick up a few new things for the last while but I just hadn't gotten around to ordering them until last week and they finally arrived on Friday so I thought I would share what I had bought!

First I bought a Kumihimo Plate and Mini Kumihimo Disk. This is a technique I have been wanting to try for a long time but have never learned. I have been working with a lot of cords and threads for bracelets lately so this seemed like a natural thing to move onto.

I also bought myself Basics of Chain Maille and Advanced Chain Maille both by Lauren Andersen. I have been working with Chain Maille quite a bit over the last while as well but thought it would be good to get the books and see the other weaves that are possible. I love the layout of these books are they are so well explained.

Check back with me over the next while and I will be posting my progress using the Kumihimo supplies and the Chain Maille books.

As always if you have any questions or requests for things to be featured on the blog let me know in the comments below. Feel free to just leave a comment as well. I love getting comments and feedback from readers!

Chainmaille Byzantine Weave Tutorial

This is one of the first weaves I learned and is quite simple as it is very repetitive so once you learn the few steps required you will fly through it. I used black and gold coloured rings in the bracelet above but you can use so many different colours the bracelet will look different every time.

What you need:

 4mm Jump Rings (made using 0.8mm wire) I have used Silver Plated here and you can see how to make them by clicking here. 

A Piece of Scrap Wire This gives you something to grip while you get the first few rings worked.

A Toggle Clasp Any closure will do but I prefer toggles.







Two Pairs of Flat Nosed Pliers I use a long and a short just because its what I have and am now used to but any will do as long as they are smooth so as not to mark the metal. 












1: Secure the scrap of wire through two closed jump rings.

2: Now add two sets of two jump rings so it looks like this.

3: Holding onto the loops and wire fold down the top two jump rings and open the two apart that are now at the top.

4: Open a new jump ring and capture the two rings that you had folded down and pull them up.

5: Now do this again with a second ring and you can see you pattern starting to form.

6: You now need to add two sets of two jump rings
again like you did at the start.


















7: Again fold the top two jump rings down and and split the next two apart.

8: Using an open jump ring capture the two folded down jump rings and pull them up.

9: And do this again with a second jump ring. You now have your pattern. Just follow the same steps over and over until you have your desired lenght for your bracelet or necklace. Simply attach your toggle clasp using jump rings and your done!

Enjoy!