Last week’s live feed saw me attempting an idea I’ve had in my head for a LONG time. A silversmithed take on your traditional maille-wrapped pendant. Here are some examples that I’ve made in the past in the usual way that maillers make them.

They can also be sort of caged in a maille wrap, but as you can see, the weaves used are pretty limited. Ususally the chain is wrapped around, then self-leveling epoxy is poured onto the back of the stone, securing the chain. They can also be held in place with pure tension, but that’s iffy and again, there’s only so many weaves (like 3) you can use that’ll work.

So to alleviate the same old, same old, I’ve had this idea in my head to smith a pendant the traditional way, but with maille wrapped around and secured to the bezel. This means I can use whatever chain I want, and I won’t have to worry about the stone popping out of a tension setting or the epoxy failing. It’s also an excuse to play with fire!

Here’s what I came up with, after many hiccups and solder failings:

I took one of my “Mystery Stones” from my cabochon bin, then wove a short chain in sterling silver. Once that was done I made a custom bezel and base plate (slight larger than the stone to accomodate the chain), soldered those together, then attached the chain. I finished it off with a tube bail and gave it a nice polish before I set the stone. All of this was broadcast live, including the parts where things just REFUSED to work! Oh, well… I got it made in the end, and I’m happy with the result. If you want to watch the mailling mayhem, you can watch on my UStream Channel. Airings are late and random, but I usually annouce them on the Facebook page a bit in advance.