Chainmaille Contest VOTE

Head right on over to the Etsy Chainmaillers' Guild blog to vote in our first contest, "Linked to the Sea."



I haven't quite got these pics to work right, and I don't have any more time to mess with them. Click the little blue square and you get the picture. Or just head straight on over to the contest, the text link above works fine. There you will see a beautiful display of all 22 candidates. You have to only choose two favorites. VOTE! Then put your contact info in the comments, and you will be entered in a drawing for half a dozen gifts the chainmaillers have made as thank-yous for our voters.

oxide gallery!

The owners of the Linwood-Alford florists are opening a gallery in half the store, specifically to showcase Denton artists. They held three "artist's calls" in August: one was invited to bring in up to three pieces to be photographed, following which their jury considered the photographs, and those they liked were asked to come in with a selection of work for the owners to choose from to put on consignment (40% fee).



I auditioned with the stretch "goth" choker and earrings, and the silver, turquoise, and red seed necklace that I made three years ago, that is stunning if not wholly practical. And they asked me back! So as of noon today they have twenty of my pieces - five necklaces, three pendants, three bracelets, eight pairs of earrings, and a ring. And my Etsy shop shelves are kind of bare, as 14 of the 20 had been for sale there.


The gallery opens October 1, with the big opening reception (artists requested please to show up!) the evening before. Well, who knows if they'll make a go of it; the florist's shop side looks kind of bare just now. But maybe that is because they have been concentrating on the gallery and have planned for a couple of slow cash flow months. Hope so, because I REALLY want this enterprise to be a success!

Department of "I remember when ... " — the florist's shop, then Linwood-Roberson, is across the street from where I lived from age 3-7. Its red and white sign, turning on top of its post, Linwood | Roberson - Florists - Linwood | Roberson - Florists - has been a landmark on Hickory for my whole life. I hope they make a go of this, not just for my benefit, but also for the continuity of this town that seems to be turning into all anonymous interchangeable chain stores.

rings rings rings

Lloyd of the chainmaillers' guild ordered a size 10 turks-head ring two weeks ago. I am at last ready to mail him one tomorrow, as soon as the P.O. comes back from Labor Day. Turned out it took me several tries to come up with a satisfactory product.



Quoting from my note to him,

"I'm so sorry to have taken so very long. Turns out I should be building one of these at least every couple of months to keep in practice, it is NOT like riding a bicycle ;-)

Actually the first one I made came out quite nicely. Only it was about a size 12, because I figured wrongly the spacing needed on the jig used for starting the pattern.

So I have a nice big ring; I will probably sell it at the show I have in two weeks. I made another, right size, but I hammered it too hard as I stretched it and evened up the wires on the ring stick (Loren supplies cut sections of billiards cue, they work really well)

So it looked kind of battered, and I tried again. Success.

At this point, I decided to try using my Dremel and some fine sanding discs to smooth of the surface of the over-hammered one, kind of to put smooth "facets" on the raised parts. That worked moderately well, and I polished and cleaned it. THEN I discovered that somehow I had picked up the wrong ring, and sanded off facets on the successful, non-battered one! Erm ... regrettable ... language was heard.

I then did one more, CAREFULLY. I am getting really good at the pattern, thank you."

He was gracious enough not to complain at the delay, and was amused by my account of my attempts, said he was glad to hear these things happened to other people too.