My First Chainmail Art - Valentines Day Gift!

Well as I write this my Valentine's gift is en-route to my darling's home. :) I love it when evil genius plans come together! I've also been itching to show off my first completed chainmaille project. Unfortunately, seeing as how my girlfriend is privy of this blog, I have been unable to do so until now. I reckon this demonstrates a particular need of a blog where I can parade my surprises and creations without fear of her uncovering their form and design prematurely. That does warrant some thought, but seeing as how it would be much more work to write in two separate locations about the same items, I am just going to write about it on this one blog.

So I taught myself how to weave a European 4 in 1 pattern with some chainmaille links that I purchased from Fusion Beads. I experimented with a couple patterns first that I made using larger 18 ga 15/64 rings. Then I went and bought the smaller 11/64 rings and practiced making the pattern with the smaller rings. This proved to look much cleaner and interesting so I went all out to weave together a triangle of rings. The rings feel amazing when they gently roll across the skin and the pattern of copper tone alternating with black is extremely appealing (to my mind, hopefully my lovely lady finds it appealing as well). I decided to add the dragonfly after finding it at Fusion Beads and knowing that she finds them cute (do not ask me why, I don't pretend to understand my own girlfriend completely). I need to get better pliers to work with as the ones I utilized occasionally put scratches on the rings and were prone to slipping. Once I finished the triangle I considered what I could possibly use a triangle weave of chainmaille for and finally settled upon making a choker for my Lover. Here is the finished product:

My primary concern at the moment is actually whether or not the choker will actually fit her neck. I had to estimate the size of her neck using very indirect methods as I don't live very nearby and could only ask her questions about the size of her wrists and such. Fortunately the human wrists circumference is half the circumference of the neck and I know for a fact that her wrist's circumference is 6 inches long. So I'm hoping that her neck is a proper 12 inches in circumference which would mean the choker fits perfectly. This evening we shall find out when she finally returns home from classes and such to find my valentine's package awaiting.

In any case, if the choker doesn't quite fit, I'll bring my chainmaille supplies down with me when I visit this weekend and adjust it to fit her perfectly. After completing this project I have become fairly proficient utilizing the European 4-1 weave. It gives you plenty of practice and especially using the smaller rings, forces you to focus on being quick and precise.

The next weave I intend to fully master is the half-persian 3-1. I have already made a few small chains from it but starting the weave continues to elude me. I also really want to learn the full-persian/foxtail, however thus far none of the rings I have worked with have been correctly sized (or I simply don't know what I am doing which is more likely). These are the next two chainmaille weaves I intend to master. I shall look into practicing those weaves and keep you updated on my progress.