Excessively diverted!

Mr CraftyAdy thinks I have the attention span of a flea and is about as flitty as a butterfly when it comes to crafts.

I am the first to admit that I am very easily diverted. I have a gazillion projects on the go and when something neat comes within range of my craft radar, I have a tendency to drop everything and dash off to throw myself 110% off the bridge and into the deep.

My friend, Debs and I have been mulling over a project for a little while now. I am tasked with the design of said project. Can't say too much about it yet as it is in the early stages of development. In the course of my research into ideas to incorporate into the project, I stumbled across the ancient art of chain maille. Yeah ... chain maille ... as in armour - like in Lord of the Rings.

A brief shopping spree on the internet and a couple of days waiting on Mr Postie later, I had myself some nice shiny aluminium rings. Armed with a couple of pairs of pliers, a pair of tweezers (damn but those rings are fiddley and small!) and a little bit of patience, I launched myself into my first chain maille project. Here's the result.



Using about a hundred small blue aluminium rings and 50 or so even smaller silver aluminium rings, I made this 6.5 inch bracelet (I have small wrists) using a popular weave called the Byzantine weave. It's a really cool metal link chain with an interesting texture, don't you think?



My jump ring closures are not as neat as I'd like them to be but it is not bad for a first effort. Chain maille work is incredibly addictive ... one bracelet and I am chomping at the bit to try more weaves!



There were enough blue rings left over to rustle up a pair of matching earrings. I am pretty happy with my new bracelet and in fact, I've started a second Byzantine bracelet in some matt gold aluminium rings and the leftover teeny silver rings.

In the words of the lovely Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, "Oh! I am excessively diverted. But it is so strange!"