I know I told a lot of you at Tekko this, but in case you weren’t there… I’m taking BLACKSMITHING LESSONS next weekend! WOOT! *dances* As much as I love jewelry, I learned to make chainmaile so that I could make armor. Once I get the hang of smithing (and an anvil), I’ll offer riveted maille and, eventually, FULL PLATE. If the teacher allows pics at the workshop I’ll take them, but I might only be able to snap photos with my camera. At any rate, I’ll post what I can get here next week, even if it’s only shots of what I make/do.

Speaking of pictures, it’s been a while, so here’s a time-lapse video to make up for it. It’s a video of me making a red and black chainmaile dice bag! Next one I make I’ll try to position the mini-pod so you get a better angle. Hope you like!

I know it’s October, but before we know it November will be upon us, and you know what THAT means…

NaNoWriMo!

November is National Novel Writing Month, during which time aspiring (and professional) writers accept the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in the space of one month. Participants create on-line profiles and can post their word count, add other writers to their buddy list, and hit the forums for writing advice. The driving force behind it is The Office of Letters and Light, a nonprofit organization that creates and distributes creative writing materials to classrooms nationwide with their Young Writers Program, in addition to running NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy in April.

“That’s really cool, Rabbit Dance,” you say, “But what does this have to do with a necklace?”

Well, a year ago for Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday I made this necklace inspired by his life and his works. Poe has a special place in my bibliophibian heart, so to honor his memory I will donate the entire $50 sale price to the Office of Letters and Light. Donors get goodies, but I will eschew those and list your name when I donate, so people know that you’re awesome! A mere $50 can do a lot at the OLL. If you or someone you know is participating in NaNoWriMo, I can add their screen name when I donate the money so that the donor halo is properly distributed. Just tell me in the “Note to Seller” box that’ll be up during checkout.

On that note, if you or someone you know is taking a crack at NaNoWriMo, add Brian to your friend list! He’s doing it again this year, and could use some writing buddies. He’ll also be setting up a sponsorship page like he did last year, so if you really like the idea of NaNoWriMo but don’t have $50, you can toss whatever amount you like at the event via that. It serves as motivation for him to get to his keyboard and get crackin’!

Have I perhaps inspired you to give NaNoWriMo a shot? In November I will make a Sticky Post where I will list Brian’s word count, along with his sponsors and goal. If you would like on that list as a writer, comment here or on that future post, add Brian as a writing buddy, and I will post your screen name with a link to your profile, along with your word count. If you’ve got a website or blog, I’ll link to that as well. Let’s see how many people we can get on the Rabbit Dance Writing Team! If you’re on deviantART, I can post you there, too. Just let me know.

Why am I doing this? I love books and writing, but right now, with chainmaille and the Little One, I have little time for both. So, I will encourage and enable the literary arts as much as I possibly can. This article about Kanye West where he declared himself a “proud non-reader” damn near gave me an aneurysm. And HE wrote a book. And it’s being published.

I think we can do better than that.

Leave a comment, join the team, and let’s show them how mighty our pens (and keyboards) really are.

Those poking around in the Shop might have noticed but in case you haven’t, we’ve got precious metals! ^_^ Add to that a ton of gemstones and Swarovski crystals, and you’ve got the makings for some very fine jewelry. I’m considering making a special section of the shop just for items made of silver and gold. What do you think?

I’m currently working on a nice CIR weave necklace in sterling silver. If I didn’t have a plan for the gold rings I have in this size, I’d be capturing those in the center to set off the weave.

I love mixing the two metals, though. I especially like when the silver gets to age a bit. The tarnish sets off the gold even more and makes for a higher contrast.

In other news, I am hunting for a proper anvil (or chunk of railroad tie) so I can try my hand at riveted maille. Anyone out there in internet land have anything like that cluttering up a corner of your garage or shed?

This is by far the “fan favorite” out of all the maille I have made. It’s one of my favorites as well, and provided some surprising challenges!

The piece itself is made from bright aluminum with some tiny Czech glass drops attached. The connectors and enamelled butterfly pendant are set with Swarovski crystals. The clasp is a large floral-themed toggle, so the whole thing looks pretty from any angle.

But first I have to say that Brian has an amazing eye for findings and embellishments, to the point where I will often steer him towards an interesting collection of them and then ask him to make the final pick. Even when it comes to clasps, he will invariably choose something great that I either didn’t notice the first time or initially dismissed for one reason or another. He found the green butterfly on his own and said, “I’ll bet you could do something really amazing with this”.

Gee, no pressure there, right? *laughs*

The butterfly sat on the edge of my workspace for a solid month before I noticed that I had some tiny matching teardrop beads. I set these beside the butterfly and could feel the gears starting to turn in the back of my head, so I busied myself with some earrings while they spun.

I learned long ago that my subconscious is like an insubordinate engine. It only needs a little spark to get going, but a well-placed kick can do wonders! After that it’s best to just leave it alone and let it run.

Once I finished the earrings I remembered the green crystal links I had and put those next to rest of the parts – Perfect Match! Right then everything clicked. I was so happy and started right away on making the triangular sections. That part went relatively quickly (as chainmaille goes – the whole piece took about three days) but work ground to a halt once I hit the centerpiece. The pendant has two vertical bars in the back, with two holes going horizontally on each side. It was originally intended for beadwork, and probably specifically as a choker, given the configuration of everything on the back.

I remember thinking, “How am I supposed to connect this thing?”

First I tried making a large maille sheet and just using four rings to simply attach the butterfly to it, like setting a stone on a bezel. That didn’t work; it sat funny and seemed to want to flip over. After a few tries I realized that I had to separate the center chunk of maille in half and reshape it so that everything would be properly balanced. Aluminum is a lightweight metal, and the pendant itself made up the bulk of the necklace’s weight as it was, so getting the balance was tricky.

After a few tries I managed to get everything balanced and the butterfly set at just the right place, collar bone-wise. Luckily the clasp was an easy choice, so I was able to add that and the little green beads without any problems. Getting the pendant on right took a whole day, but I think it was worth it! Once the necklace was finished I just had to wait for a sunny enough day to take the photo you see here.

The current owner is a girl who bought it to match her green butterfly-themed prom dress. She asked me to add a few links to the back so that she could also wear it as a headdress, and it worked beautifully both ways. I was sad to see it go, but I’m sure she looked fabulous at the dance. ^_^

I made this necklace a little while ago and now I’ve finished it off with a nice clasp, so it’s all ready for photos and putting up on Etsy. Thing is, the only name I could come up with for it is “Shoggoth World Turtle”! I’m a Lovecraft fan and I love sea turtles, so apparently in my brain that forms a logical connection? I know, I’m odd.

Any other name ideas that would be better for this piece?

About the Maille:
The necklace part is made from bronze, and features an abbreviated version of the Celtic Visions weave. I wanted something spikey-looking to go along with the points on the pendant piece, and this was the thing that first popped into my head when I saw it. I decided to use bronze rings because bright copper just isn’t earthy enough, and brass would have been too yellow. I love silver tones, but when I put the pendant in a container to steel rings I realized that it just wouldn’t work. The clasp is a simple hand-forged copper S clasp.

About the pendant:
I bought it during one of my breaks at a craft faire late last year. I always wander around and look to see if I can’t find anything I can use in my own pieces. I found this really talented glassmaker who sadly did not have any business cards on him, and nothing to write down his contact info on. But I still bought the pendant because I love it. The glassmaker is local, so I’m going to keep my eye out for him at other events. There’s a good chance I’ll run into him, I think. I really want to find the guy because he makes such imaginative stuff that I want to buy off him AND I want to give him some credit, here.