Well, the workshop isn’t entirely together yet but at least I can share a few of my in-progress images. Lemony was in there to help me out. She likes sneaking up to watch me work. ^_^ These were taken before the holiday madness, so it actually looks a bit better now.

Also, classes will resume at Zomburgh at the end of the month! I’ll let you know as soon as the regisration page on their site is up.

This is something I’ve been working on for the past month as I’ve been preparing for various shows and events. A street-legal chainmaille bikini top with a fire inlay that I designed!

The bikini part is made entirely from anodized aluminum, and the straps are made from black suede. Although I sized it to fit our foam mannequins, which are smaller than I am, I think it looks pretty good on me. These things always look better when shown on real people, too. ^_^ And in case anyone is curious, a bikini top like this one is around $225. Pricing varies with size, obviously.

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.

I get a lot of people at various events who wonder about what I do and how I do it, so I decided to make a Ustream channel! Rather than prerecording shows (which I would be tempted to spend many hours editing because I’m picky like that) I broadcast a live feed of me working at my bench. I’ve had two good shows so far, and I really enojyed it! I’ve been testing various camera and microphone set-ups, and I think I’ve found a camera that’ll work well for it. The others either had bad quality, really touchy autofocus, or were nearly impossible to position.

The broadcasts themselves are mostly late shows, as I have to wait until the Little One has gone to bed. I keep an eye on the chat window so I can answer any questions that people may have, and I have fielded some good ones! ^_^ I try to narrate what I’m doing as well. As for show content, I might be working on steel costume armor, or I might be using a torch on fine silver – You never know. I try to keep it interesting, though. Last time, I tried out a design for a ring that had been in my head, and the viewers got to watch the start-to-finish creation of this piece:

So if you’re into watching people practice their craft, give it a look!

Rabbit Dance on UStream

There’s no set schedule, but I announce when I’m doing shows on the Facebook Page. There’s no set length, either. I stop when I’ve done what I want to do on a certain piece, or when I finish something in the case of small pieces. If you guys like it enough, I wouldn’t mind doing a regular show once or twice a week!

Speaking of, I’ve got to get set-up for tonight’s broadcast! ^_^

Since I’ve gotten my silversmithing tools, I’ve been dying to get started on making the maille-specific jewelry components that I’ve been designing. With that goal in mind, I set out to make a simple prong setting for a gemstone cabochon. I’ve got a small hoard of cabs, and I honestly think that the first step – Picking a cab to use – took longer than the actual construction of the pendant itself!

Anyway, what do you think? I think it’s pretty good for a first try and no real idea what I was doing.

And of course, I ended up not using the cab that I initially chose. I made an album showing the whole process on the Rabbit Dance Facebook page so if you’re interested in the story you can hop over and give it a look.

Now to make a nice Byzantine necklace and a pretty clasp to complete it!