At the beginning of the year I decided I needed to focus. That included not making jewelry. Well, that decision didn’t last long. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I love all types of arts and crafts. I love trying different techniques and mediums.
When I received Chain Maille, Jewelry Workshop by Karen Karon last week, I thought this Interweave book would be one I’d set aside. It looked way too hard for me to attempt. But I was wrong!
Chain Maille is an ancient form of linking metal rings together to form a fabric-like mesh. In medieval times, warriors wore chain maille armor in battle. So all of the projects in this book are made with jump rings! Wow! that sounded interesting and possibly doable.
The chain maille weaves in this book represent three categories:
- Chain weaves such as Byzantine and full Persian weaves
- Sheet weaves to produce flat, fabric-like pieces
- Units or jump ring formations that can be used alone, connected to form chains, or used as decorative accents.
Karen starts off the book with basics including information on purchasing and making jump rings and then working with those rings.
Karen shows a variety of ways to “weave” and demonstrates “speed weaving,” which helps with larger projects. The projects increase in complexity, offering inspiration and projects for all skill levels.
Here are a couple of her lovely projects.
Of course, instead of starting with a project in the beginning of the book, I found this Buds and Blooms bracelet half way through the book that I just had to try.
What I love about this book is her easy-to-understand illustrations with step-by-step instructions. See the left side of the above page spread. Here are my blooms with two colors of jump rings.
And now my finished piece. I love it!
I really love this book. Just making some of the lovely chains to use as the basis of other projects would be worth the price of this book. This is definitely a keeper for my library and one I will look to for inspiration.
Here is some extra information about Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop by Karen Karon
- 160 pages
- Detailed instructions with diagrams
- Finishing, maintenance and storing tips
- Resources for supplies
- The MSRP is $24.95 and is available at amazon.com for $15.44. You can also purchase it from Interweave as an ebook.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review and received no monetary compensation.