Busy Bee

Sorry if I haven’t been updating much lately. I’ve been working with weaves I’m more familiar with so I haven’t had to do too much new stuff. I also have left such a consistent craftermath that I haven’t been able to do a photo shoot for the new stuff.

I’m thisclose to done on a customer order. I have the inverted aura earrings, the choker, and the European 4-in-1 bracelet. I just want to look into different clasps since the order was in a custom color (burgundy) so I only have it in one ring size (16 5/16). The clasp on the bracelet is pretty small so the rings like to move around and twist and I’m hoping to find a clasp large enough, but light enough, that they don’t do that.

For those of you who don’t know what craftermath is, is the mess that’s left over from whatever craft project you just finished. I’m hoping to clear the mess and take some pics this weekend since I’ve started doing some stuff with charms.

Current Jams: Closer by Tegan and Sara 

Jesse and the Technicolor Byzantine

I’ve been doing some work on the Byzantine weave. I know how to start it from scratch and how end it. What I needed to learn was how to do accent colors. If you look up images, accent colors on this weave are usually done in a certain way. If the colors are color A and color B, the rings that loop over and the rings that link are usually where that relationship comes into play.

You start with three sets of two rings. I thought the linkage was ABA but quickly realized it was AAB. Since the rings flip over on each other, you need the flipping rings to match. I think I’ve got the concept down. I used a couple of different colors for short links and added some charms.

Now I need to learn to do double byzantine for a friend of mine. I told him I’d never done the weave before so I needed to learn how to do it, how to do accept colors, and how to double it. It’s a process. Fortunately I have a double bracelet to learn off of. If I can see the piece in front of me, I can usually figure it out.

Rocking Out To: Titanium/Pavane by The Piano Guys

I Got 99 Problems

…but 4-in-1 ain’t one.

After a few bracelets, I’ve mastered the single strand of European 4-in-1. I’ve seen several pairs of earrings that start as 4-in-1 but narrow as they go out and down creating a lovely triangle effect. I figured the best way to figure out how to do that was to start by figuring out how to connect a single 4-in-1 to another.

I’m not repeating the initial insanity of joining one set to another. I stuck with the one loop at a time. I just had to figure out the necessary order and way to connect the rings. It ended up being quite simple. You do one side same as ever and on the next side you connect the center ring through two rings on the side and one on the bottom adding a new fourth ring.

I was originally going to do a bracelet but as I watched I wondered how this would look as a choker. See for yourself: 

The outer row lays a little differently than I expected but it turned out pretty well. I’d show you a picture but I couldn’t find a model and it’s kind of hard to snap a pic of your own neck.

I used the midsize rings which made it time consuming and it used plenty of rings. If I had to charge money, it would be at least $55. I might try this again with the larger rings. That I could put in the $40 range which is reasonable.

Current Jams: Bones by MS MR

Inverted Aura Part 2

I did a few more in this weave whilst messing with different color combinations. I like a bit of drop to my earrings so I added the smaller rings. If I'm ever feeling conservative on materials I can always hook the big ring through the wire.

The violet, black and sea foam ones ended up having a bit of a cyber punk sort of feel.

I liked the cyberpunk feel so much that I decided to use that for my necklace experiment. I field tested it and I think it turned out rather well. It was a somewhat time consuming project and heavy on materials so I won’t be doing it too often but I wouldn’t rule it out.

Listening To: False King by Two Steps from Hell

Scales and Rosettes

While making a rosette necklace, I wondered how they would look as drop earrings. Since I have a plethora of small scales, I decided to add one to the bottom. I stuck with two color combinations (mostly because that’s what was out) but I like the end result.

Three rosettes was as long as I could make it. Right around three or four the weave starts to rotate. I’ve messed with this weave many times and, for reasons unbeknownst to me, it just twists around after a certain point.

I haven’t field tested these so I don’t know how much movement the weave has but since the scales are colored on both sides, the effect shouldn’t be lost.

Tunes Crakning: Skyfall by ADELE