Sunday, June 17, 2012

Chainmaille Earrings with Swarovski Crystals

Chainmaille is near and dear to my heart, in all its iterations - but with my well-known love of embellishing, this pair of earrings was a natural:

They began as "flat chain", a weave I really love - it looks especially nice in bracelets, because it lies so flat. Hmmm -- wonder if that's where the name came from? LOL. This particular flat weave was done with 14g square rings (meaning, the round jump rings were created from 14g square wire). Many of you know I love to mix up my chainmaille by using heavier gauges and/or square or twisted wire for the rings, like this JPL, this dragonscale, and this tryzantine.

Anyway, since this weave does like to lie flat, it was an unusual choice for earrings. But I wanted the earrings, to go with the matching bracelet (which doesn't have crystals - yet). Once I had woven the rings into the earring length I wanted, I saw that they just didn't want to hang right, so I started thinking about dangles. I love Swarovski crystals in Fire Opal AB, and like how they look when paired with citrine AB Swarovskis - so bright, vivid, and summery! So that's what I chose, and I love these earrings!

I haven't listed the bracelet on Etsy - I'm debating with myself over whether to put the fire opal and citrine crystals on the bracelet. But the earrings are available! And if you like them, and would like a matching bracelet (with or without crystals) feel free to contact me through my Etsy shop!