Top 10 Chain Maille Creations, More Than Just Armor

When we think chain maille, we generally think armor, knights and medieval things. These days, that isn't just what chain maille is being used for. What if we told you, that you can create beautiful jewellery items with chain maille? Don't believe us, then read on and be amazed.

Thanks to the skill and patience of many talented people, it is now possible to make and purchase bracelets and also necklaces made from chain maille. Boring? I don't think so.

Byzantine Bracelet

Does this colourful Byzantine bracelet look boring to you? 

Best thing is, you can use whatever colours and design you want.

You can keep your work flat and more 2D or you can jazz it up as you will see down the page.

Japanese 12 in 2 Diamond Cuff

Need a new pair of earrings but nobody has quite the style you want?

Japanese 12 in 2 Flower

Why not make your own pair? 

Be as colourful ....

Luna Eclipse

Or as simple as you like, it is completely up to you. 

Like beads? ...

Mobius Flower

Add some beads, the world is your oyster when it comes to creating jewellery with chain maille. 

How about a pendant to go on a necklace?

Japanese 12 in 2 Pendant

There you go, don't like it? Ok, how about this one ...

Helm Flower Pendant

Elegant and eye catching.

There really is no limit when it comes to chain maille, if you can imagine it, then you really can create it.

Three wonderful weaves to learn include ...

Full Persian

The Full Persian, did you know you can also do a Half Persian?

Byzantine Rose

The lovely Byzantine, which we also showed in the first bracelet.

Vertebrae Bracelet

Lucky last is Vertebrae. 

All three are very different and are probably not for beginners but they are a glimpse of what you can create if you try. There are a range of stockists around Australia where you can buy bags of these beautiful links from in all kinds of materials including sterling silver, stainless steel, copper, aluminium and even gold. They can also provide you with all the tools necessary to get you well on your way to creating some very fine jewellery with some ready made kits to teach you the basics when it comes to chain maille. 

The photos on this blog are thanks to Aussie Maille, their website is well worth a look.

Latest Trend - Upcycling

Upcycling has certainly become very popular lately, if you don't already know, Upcycling is the art of transforming an item which is no longer in use, into an item or object that can be used, in short, giving an item a new lease on life. 

To get a taste of what it is all about, take a look at Upcycling on Pinterest where you can see a wide range of upcycled items, chairs turned into a sun lounge, tin cans or glass jars being used as beautiful candle holders, or even a wooden door made into a stunning corner shelf.

So next time before you throw something out, take a look at it again and let your creative juices flow, see what you can create.

Photo thanks to www.thegardenglove.com

Latest Knitting Craze

Knitting, as many of you would know, has made a bit of a come back, no longer is it a past time for elderly women, many people knitting these days are young women, even men,  and they are creating some amazing and beautiful items.

One knitting craze we came across was 'Arm Knitting' thats right, knitting using your arms instead of needles. The result is quite chunky as though the item has been knitted on giant needles, this style however is very trendy these days especially with scarves. 

Arm Knitting For Beginners

Blanket for Winter

We all make beautiful scarves, blankets, beanies and other Winter warmers for ourselves when the weather starts getting colder, why not do a little something for our pets to keep them warm? So the other day I decided to make a little something for my little girl Lola. She feels the cold when she's been clipped and unfortunately we can't really keep her coat long, so instead we have a gorgeous pink hooded jacket for her which we bought, but last night I finished off a blanket for her.

We went a bit crazy buying all this Pom-Pom wool and making blankets and scarves for ourselves and family members, and every time I was knitting away with this Pom-Pom wool, Lola would be right there on my lap, she loved it! So I thought, why not make her a blanket of her own. Only minutes after it was finished and I put it on her bed, she jumped off my lap and snuggled up under her new blanket. Yes she certainly is a little bit spoilt.

Crochet Teddy Bear

Has anyone noticed just how cute some teddy bears are out there? The handmade ones look fantastic and that has been one of our latest DIY projects, to crochet a teddy bear. We didn't want to post a blog on it yet until we were sure it was actually coming together and starting to look like a teddy bear. We found this gorgeous blog on bears and other wonderful looking crochet animals called Heidi Bears Creative and just had to get the pattern and start work. The possibilities are endless with these gorgeous guys and you can really make each one very unique. 

Our first attempt at making these African Flowers was by using multi-coloured wool but soon found that using that to make the whole hexi really made it hard to see the flower, so we tried using 4 different solid colours for each part of the flower and the result looks amazing. Crocheting one of these teddy bears or in fact any of these animals is really a fantastic craft project and you can get the pattern from the Heidi Bears Creative website, they have some amazing blogs you can read up on too. Some say to stitch the pieces together as you go but since we have a few projects on the go at the moment we've found it easier to make a bundle of the hexis and then stitch them together when we have enough for the head, limbs, body etc. With a bit of luck, our bear will come out looking just as good.

Lollo the African Flower bear has been one of my biggest projects lately, after the Shamwari quilt I finished early this year. Creating Lollo has been very time consuming but a lot of fun seeing the teddy bear take shape and I'm very keen to make another, though perhaps a little smaller. I am hoping that using finer wool and a smaller hook will help with this along with perhaps a shorter body and limbs. 

Knitted Jumper

Instead of putting together a blog on another of our creations, we thought to share with you a blog we put together of Angie's latest project, a knitted jumper which has been in progress for a little while now, and this stunningly intricate knitted wool jumper is being made for her son, with a bit of luck, it could be ready to wear during Winter this year. I'm sure we all have projects we manage to spend a bit of time on here and there. Angie says her last knitted jumper took her a couple of years to finish; so many distractions out there for those who are creative and crafty and I think, wouldn't you agree?

Origami Cranes

The last few days have been quite busy but I have somehow managed to find time to work on my latest little project. I bought a few little packets of origami paper some time ago, about 1000 sheets in each packet and slowly but surely I have been creating some pretty cute little cranes. Initially I had thought to make a cute little mobile, but now that I see them all strung up next to each other in rows I'm thinking of perhaps making a curtain out of them to either hang in front of a window or up against a wall to add a bit of colour. I never thought there could be so many possibilities with paper, add some beads and you can make something really beautiful. Has anyone else tried anything similar?

Cute Crochet Hat

I've always thought that little baby clothes, hats and shoes looked so cute, never knew they could be so fiddly to make until I tried unsuccessfully to creat a crochet pair of booties. So after giving up on them, for now, I tried my hand at making a crochet hat and to my surprise it turned out to be very cute. Had to stop a couple of times to think about what I wanted to do next with the hat and decided it was best to keep it fairly simple and just make it into a cute brimmed hat and the pictures below are the hat half finished on my knee to show size, and the photo below is of the hat completed.

Colourful and Cute

This is my latest crafty project I have been working on when I have had a free moment, its a Crochet Sunburst Blanket, after something like 70 rounds I'm still not perfect at creating the little sunbursts but it is something that is really enjoyable. I'd always seen blankets like this that are solid colours so I've chosen to use multicolored wool instead of changing all the time. I haven't quite got them all perfect and the same size but I am hoping that this won't matter too much. This blanket is certainly going to be an original and it will only get better from here. Anyone out there thinking they would love to add a little colour to their bed, their couch or just wanting to create a lovely blanket, then this is certainly the one for you. It is not very difficult at all and there are plenty of sites where you can easily learn the steps to making these colourful little granny squares :-)

Purse Templates

We came across these fantastic images below, of cute little purses and templates to go with them. Sure you will agree they are just a little bit cute and you can make them as fancy or as simple as you like. Great for storing away all those coins.