Mattoon Art Fair

Please mark your calendar for the art fair being sponsored by the Mattoon Arts Council on Saturday, June 15, around the bandshell at Peterson Park in Mattoon, Illinois.  I believe the hours are noon to 7:00 p.m. – I’ll double-check that.  Briar Lane Studio will have a tent.  In addition to displaying our jewelry for sale, Barry will be demonstrating chain maille and I will be wire-wrapping.  There will be entertainment at the bandshell throughout the day.  Stop by and say hi! 

Abundant Productivity in the Studio

We’ve been busy in Briar Lane Studio getting things ready for spring shows.  I’ve been learning new techniques with polymer clay, and Barry has been experimenting with new patterns for his chain maille.  For as much time as we’ve spent in the studio together, we’ve been getting along great – as long as he stays in his space and doesn’t complain about the state of confusion that I’m in. 

Here are photos of a few of the new pieces.  I hope to soon have photos of some new zebra print pieces that I’ve just finished. 

One of Barry’s fabulous chain maille creations. I loved it so much, he made one for me.

Several rows of silver and blue make this dramatic bracelet a standout.

Sterling silver and multi-colored niobium rings make up this versatile bracelet.

Lovely Swarovski crystal rings are featured in this bracelet.

This classy piece is made of fine silver.

My newest pin made of polymer clay and accented with copper. It’s quirky, but I love it.

A side view of the quirky pin.

Successful Weekend

We had a very successful weekend at the John A. Logan College Autumn Festival.  My metal pieces were popular, and Barry was busy all weekend making chain maille items to replace the things he sold.  We also met some very, uh, let’s say “interesting” customers.  They certainly kept us smiling.

Chain Chain Cha-a-a-a-ain, Chain and Tools (Sorry, Aretha)

I’ve always thought of my husband as a kind of Tim the Toolman type of guy – handy to have around the house.  Not so good at laundry or cleaning toilets, but he’s strong, so he can carry and lift lots of things.  I didn’t say he’s never dropped or broken anything, but I’ve learned (the hard way) that if you move the breakables and heirlooms out of his way, he can get the job done with minimal damage and minor wall patch-ups.  Plumbing is not his specialty, but he can pretty much do anything in the way of construction and wiring.  However, when I would ask him if he could maneuver a particularly stubborn jewelry part for me, he would offer up the excuse, “My hands are too big for those tiny parts, and I can barely see them.”

So, you can imagine my shock and disbelief when he agreed to sign up for a chainmaille (a/k/a chain-making) class in Milwaukee.  I assured him that he would be able to use manly tools (saws, pliers, cutters), there would be a man teaching the class, and there would be other male students.  I’ve created a monster!  He has discovered a whole world of jewelry tools, a wide

Barry wearing the Optivisor and sawing wire for a bracelet.

variety of wire that he never knew existed, and, best of all, Optivisor Magnifying Lenses (say it in amplified Superman theme song mode).  Word of Caution:  One has to remember to push the Optivisors to the top of one’s head before one turns one’s head or else one will topple over or run into things as if in a drunken stupor.  You will note that I have learned many things the hard way.

When Barry does something, he doesn’t mess around.  He jumps in with both feet.  Back at the studio, we now have an assortment of wire for every type of chain bracelet imaginable to man.  Tools, saws, saw blades, pliers, special lighting…all have overtaken a workbench.  And he’s constantly on the lookout for more tools, specialized little buggers that will get into those tiny spaces between chain links.  He even invented his own tool for cutting the wire into specific sizes of rings.

He has created bracelets in fine silver, sterling silver, aluminum, anodized aluminum, copper, Parawire, and steel.  He has tried numerous patterns – the acute helm (isn’t that a tree disease?), European four-in-one, Byzantine knot, Heracles knot (not to be confused with the strong man), vertebrae, inverted round (I once had a cake come out of the oven that way), and box chain, to name just a few.  Some of his bracelets are very delicate and feminine, but he has a few that are bulky enough to be worn by men.  Some have a mixture of colors, while others stand on their own in silver, copper or aluminum.

Aluminum and anodized aluminum multi-colored bracelet in acute helm pattern

Two-tone Parawire bracelet in box chain

We priced, packed, and proudly displayed them for our first show last weekend in Indianapolis.  They generated a lot of interest, which I thought they would.  But the most amazing thing was that Barry knew the history behind chainmaille and he shared that with his customers.  Barry is a history nut.  We have a whole library of American presidential biographies.  I mean, how many people do you know who could read not one, not two, but three books on Benjamin Harrison?  How many people even know who that is?  When we take vacations, we seek out dead presidents’ homes to visit.  So, it should have come as no surprise to me that Barry would look up the history of chainmaille.

I consulted Wikipedia as one source for the background on chainmaille and decided that it is impossible to include its entire history in this post.  In short, “mail,” as it was called in its early days, was “a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.”  Sir Walter Scott coined the term “chain mail” or “chainmail.”  Mail is thought to have been invented by the Celts somewhere around 300 BC, but it may have originated much earlier.  This linking of chains apparently created a stab-resistant body armor.  If I might add a thought here:  How could you lift the weight of your arm to stab anyone?  In modern days, scuba divers have even used a mail garment to protect them from shark bites.  If I may interject again here:  Wouldn’t you be just a tad nervous about having a chain body suit protect you from a big old shark, and wouldn’t its weight make you sink to the bottom?

If I have stimulated your interest to the fascination level, you can view some pictures of early chainmaille in Wikipedia.  I think I saw a college student wearing a similar garment just the other day.  I’m pretty sure that I would not test the stab-resistance of any of the chains that Barry is making.  It would be just a little too close to the wrist.

So, ladies and gentlemen, you may be interested in purchasing one of Barry’s lovely (or manly) bracelets, but I wouldn’t drop those self-defense classes just yet.

Bold vertebrae pattern in copper