Making bags.

Just a quick shot here of the work area I clear off my trashed computer desk when I’d rather not be down in the workshop away from the television. Ya know, when History or something has a programme about the P-51 Mustang or something equally awesome.

I’m working on a batch of bags for a customer, and here you can kind of see them in various stages of completion.

I guess I do my bags a bit differently than most. I like them a little more flat on the bottoms when they’re fully stuffed with dice or whatever. So I used a ton of expansions in the first few rows, Here it’s 16 on the queen ring, then 24, then 36 and a few rows of 36 before I contract back down to 30 ring sides. This has the effect of keeping the bottoms more or less squared off rather than hanging in an arch.

These in particular are 1.6mm stainless steel with about a 6.4mm ID

While I have a confessed hatred of expanding circles, bags like these are a very simple project for beginners. Especially fellow gamer geeks. If your dice start to outgrow your bag, you can always add more rows at the mouth, or get ambitious and scale the entire thing up by adding more expansion rows for the bottom. With a nice tight weave they’ll hold coins just as easily. I even made a large one to carry my pliers and a couple of pill bottles for rings for travel projects.

Have fun
--Charon

Technorati Tags: Stygian Chains,bags,gamer,dice,maille,chainmaille,work in progress,crafting,stainless steel,weaving,beginner tips,projects

Up to stuff.

Figured I’d toss up a quick snap of what I’ve been playing with lately. I think this is the third attempt to get rings in the right AR for this weave. Vipera Berus 4-1. Don’t ask, I didn’t name it. Looks pretty though.

I think I want to turn this into a full set. Also I’ve got a couple more colours I want to try for this one.

In other news. I’ve finished another whip. This one for a friend.

More accurate than my own Snakewhip. But I have to admit some of the plaiting isn’t as clean. It shows a gap or two down in the 10 and 8 strand areas of the thong. I managed a lead shotbag in this one, and a 16 plait overlay. The extra weight means it hits hard, my arms can tell you all about it.

I really need to work on getting nice round foundations for my heel knots. I’m not sure I like the gearshift look I’ve been using.

Much to learn, have I, mmm?

Have fun
--Charon

Technorati Tags: whip,bullwhip,Stygian Chains,Jewellery,maille,chainmaille,handmade

Earrings for the time constrained mailler.

Stuff I had to do, just to say I got something finished this week. Two pairs of Layered Polyhedral earrings.

First in Brass, Copper, and German Silver.

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And again in Stainless, Copper, German Silver.

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The inner set of copper rings contrasts well with both the brass and the stainless. I just might have to make these a regular addition to my Etsy Shop.

In other news, I’m still working on a non-maille super-secret project that I’ll debut here upon completion. Why does that sound like a Mad Scientist wrote it?

Have fun,
--Charon

Technorati Tags: Stygian Chains,Chainmaille,Maille,Chainmail,Brass,Copper,German Silver,Earrings,Jewelry,Jewellery,Secret Project,Etsy

New Team, new direction.

A couple weeks ago, some of my Etsy friends and I decided it was time to start our own team. Now that things have settled in somewhat. The craziness of the transition and the New Year settled down, and I feel like posting again. I’ll tell you what we’ve become. Creative Handmade Artisans. Not to say we weren’t any of those things before, but that’s what we named the team. So our Etsy team page is up, and we’ve made a home for ourselves on Ning. We’re also setting up a page here at Blogspot. Well, it’s up already, it just doesn’t do anything yet. Follow it though, I’ll be posting there on occassion, also Heather of Heather’s Haven, and Suz of Suzie’s Armoire and quite a few others will be running the place. So I can be confident in telling you there’s going to be a good show from every branch of the craft world. And of course, plenty of Maille.

Speaking of Maille, I’ve seen some horrible excuses for such lately. Everyone here’s been double checking their closures and not chewing through the anodized layer on your coloured rings right? Pliers with teeth suck unless you’re working on stainless.

Hey, Stainless, on the subject, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not suited for anything but armour.

Segue again, I’m off to re-take photos of older creations, it’s long past-due.

Have fun
--Charon

The best news yet.

I’ve been holding back on this post because the holiday weekend, and this week just generally being pretty crazy.

I did some shopping and looking around up in Bloomington a week or so back. It’s a college town, for whatever that says. I won’t go off on an opinionated rant right now, but let’s just say it’s more than a little artsy. That’s good news for me, it turns out.

In looking around for beads and findings and stuff in the local jewellery shops. I ran across The Venue. A privately owned art gallery near the University. So I looked about, talked to the owners, mentioned what I did, and they asked to see it. So I pointed them at Etsy and gave a bit of a tour of my shop. Pretty much instantly I was invited to bring some of my jewellery to show and sell in their gallery.

A freeking art gallery, can you believe it? They host classes on occasion, and shows and a few other things. “Other things” pretty much mean “more exposure” and I’m good with that. They sell what’s on display there, as a consignment kind of deal. While they take a percentage of the sale, it’s a fair percentage. This does mean I’ll likely be raising prices online somewhat. Primarly because I have to match prices between the gallery and anywhere else I sell stuff, contractually. Coupled with the markup I have to make to actually profit after paying The Venue their portion of the sale, it becomes a little problem. I’ve done my best so far to keep my Etsy prices more than reasonable, hell, if I factor the time involved in making maille, I’ve been undercharging since the beginning anyway. Selling through Etsy however, means I only really pay a few cents in commission, and shipping. Which are more than made up for in the necessary adjustments.

What I’m getting at, is, major, major cuts in shipping charges. Probably free on lightweight items. So good news for you too!

 

Have fun,
--Charon

Technorati Tags: chainmaille,maille,chainmail,crafting,etsy,jewellery,making chainmail,marketing,promotion,packaging,shipping,The Venue,Art Gallery

Jackassery, loopholes, copyright infringement, and 35 year old children.

Yep, that’s right. Some pathetic waste of bandwidth and skin set up a crawler to Chainmaille related images over to his own photobucket account, and post them to his site. Around a week ago, Peter Croteau of Virginia made the mistake of stealing images and articles submitted and owned by the members of M.A.I.L. Following him failing to understand the burden of proof, intellectual property laws, or how to conduct himself as a member of a civilized society. His website was shut down.

  That lasted about a week.

  Now Chainmaille.org is back up online, and using a loophole in the EULA with photobucket and several other free image hosting services. Packed with images owned by myself, and many other maille crafters. The solution, aside from pulling all my images from photobucket, is a bit elusive. I’d move everything from photobucket right away if I could find anything on flickr that allows me to link to my images directly, so they could be used in forum posts and such. Since I haven’t found that yet. I’m left with keeping my hosting private, which revokes the license loophole, but it may for the time being mean until I can obtain another hosting option I’m limited in where I can post my images. Unless I begin leaving them here as blog posts and linking to them.

  The rest of the solution, is more important. Association with little Petey and Chainmaille.org should be cut off by anyone with any respect for intellectual property. There’s a reason I’m not linking to him like I try to remember to do with everyone else. His site is an attempt at Search Engine Optimization, without putting any real effort into creating his own content. Search engines require links from outside sources, such as bloggers, community sites, or anywhere else, to partially determine how useful users are likely to find the site in question, and thus the order in which a site appears on a search return.

What Peter wants is to steal traffic from artisans and crafters by appearing in the top slots of search engine results, without actually being a crafter himself. Worse, he wants to steal traffic from you by using your work. Taken without permission through a segment of the EULA that states basically, that while you still own your work on Photobucket, you automatically grant every other Photobucket user the right to publicly display, alter, edit, add to, remove from, etc. He wants your traffic, maillers, for one reason, to generate revenue from advertisement links. Yes, like some of the ads I have here. The difference however is a vast chasm: I’ve made maille, I’ve taken photos, I’ve written articles and the occasional bit of funny; Little Petey there, hasn’t yet shown any ability to make maille, snap photos, or write anything but whiney confrontational blather directed at people who own the things he’s stolen in the past.

What have we learned from this? Peter Croteau is one of the lowest kind of parasites. Photobucket isn’t as cool as it seems. In the end, there’s still assholes on the ‘net. I wonder what Google will think about using the edge of the law to coerce adsense clicks?

Have fun, Unless you’re Peter Corteau of Virginia Beach, VA. If that’s the case, have a stroke, or a cardiac arrest.

--Charon

Technorati Tags: maille,chainmaille,copyright,loopholes,promotion,marketing,intellectual property,children,crafting,making chainmail,tools,beginner tips,chainmail

One of these days I’ll get some Maille done.

Okay, not quite true that I haven’t gotten anything done. I put together a pretty awesome stainless bracelet this morning. I’d have photos, but now that I’m awake again and can take photos, I’ve got to go hang out with family again today. As a note, when your family tries to make you feel obligated to show up for something, it won’t be as amusing as showing up voluntarily.

Have fun, I probably won’t.

--Charon

Technorati Tags: Maille,Chainmaille,Bracelet,Stainless Steel,Family.

Things have arrived.

Well, just one thing, or two. Exactly two photos of the Dark Aura necklace I posted yesterday.

I guess I could say this represents a more evolved line of my work. Finally branching out from copper now that I'm slightly better supplied. I don't really consider copper a primative or less formal material, but it's nice to use something else and have some variety available.

The necklace itself is composed of two real weaves, along with some simple chain. The first to mention is the centerpiece, composed of three units of Aura, a weave created by Legba of Corvus Chainmaille. A very kind and generous person who's taught me alot. The second weave involved is a good classic Half Persian 3-1. I chose this because it lies relatively flat. I didn't want a round chain for a broad piece like this.

I've always wanted to make something like this, so it's been a mini dream come true and I couldn't be more pleased with the result.

How about another tutorial for the next post? I've talked more than enough about my own projects and little annoyances getting in my way. Anyone want to see how HP3-1 is made?

Have fun,
--Charon

A taste of things to come.

New materials, some stones to play with, a couple new weaves on the experiment list. So what happened, well, this.



Got bored, learned Aura, made it in blackened stainless and square stainless. Then I made some simple chains and flung them around like silly string, a few garnet chips here and there.

It's on a barrel clasp right now, I'm not certain if I like it but given the other options this was the only thing I had that suited it.

I'm expecting some more materials this week to finish the piece I previewed a few days back.

Also, I hate being single... I don't have a model. ;>

Handmade Artist Forum Team featured on Handmade News.

I have to say right from the beginning. I am a member of this team, and in the short time I've been with them, I've learned what wonderful and supportive people they all are.

For those unfamiliar the team, usually called by their tag "Hafteam", are a global collection of Etsy sellers dedicated to cross promoting, aiding, provoking, teasing, and challenging one another in the spirit of friendly fun.

Our current event is the Summer Memories Challenge. Members create and submit a work in their chosen craft that represents their memories of the summer season. Vistors and members alike are asked to comment on the pieces and vote on their favourite. This little cereal box of fun even has a prize inside. I promise. Check it out.

Somewhere along the way, word got out to Coco over at Handmade News and she was pleasant enough to write a feature article to support the event.

You can also see what our promotion chair Heather has to say about it on her blog, Heather's Haven.

I didn't really make it in time to submit anything myself, but I do love to browse. Guarantee you, you'll see some Maille from Stygian Chains stepping up for our Fall Challenge.

Have fun,
--Charon