Scale Mail Halter Top - The Beginning!

I'm lucky enough to know a lot of talented, interesting people.  One of them, MsPixy--burlesque hostess, performer, and producer extraordinaire--commissioned me to make her a scale halter top for GenCon.  After a couple meetings, we settled on a bronze/gold number with a fake leather back. 

I started working on this in June after teaching at Bead&Button, but here are some photos of my creative process so far.

I try to keep all of my ongoing projects in little plastic bins.  It's a small attempt at staying organized.

With scale projects, I always start by linking together many pairs of scales.  I get the quick feeling of accomplishment with every pair I link, and it makes the scale mail process more efficient.

Patterns... I don't know why for the first several pieces of clothing I didn't make any patterns.  I guess the struggle of putting on and taking off bits of scale mail was exciting to me.  In any case, when working on a piece for someone else, that's not possible.  Thankfully, Pixy had some muslin and cut out some pieces like a sewing ninja at our meeting.  Here are the shoulders:

I love watching a piece come to life.

I'll be posting daily updates until the piece is finished.  Stay tuned tomorrow for images of the front of the piece!

Vanessa
Handmade jewelry
Chainmail jewelry

Deadlines, chainmail, and all other things

I wish there were enough hours in the day.  While I was working on the costumes for Queen Amarantha, I wanted to make a chainmail headdress out of aluminum.  Sadly, because I need to eat AND sleep like a mere mortal, I didn't have enough time to finish it.  However, now that I've properly recovered from Bead&Button (and the unfortunate food poisoning I suffered from there, ugh), I was able to finish it.

Hopefully it'll make an appearance at Bristol Ren Faire.  Or, maybe I'll wear it while I practice belly dance moves to feel a little fancier.

Vanessa
Aluminum jewelry
Handmade chainmail jewelry

Belly dance

I recently started taking belly dancing classes at Arabesque Dance & Fitness in Chicago.  After a long, cold winter, I wanted to start moving again.  After seeing a friend perform at one of their haflas, I decided to sign up.

I absolutely love the classes so far, so much so that I decided to design a chainmail belly dance belt.  I had disks, rings, and chain, and when I got an idea, I quickly doodled it on a scrap of paper.

I started working obsessively on it immediately.  I finished it last night, and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out.

Now that it's done, I guess I'll go back to knitting that sweater I started a couple weeks ago.  If I finish it soon, I might be able to wear it once before it gets too warm.

Vanessa
Aluminum chainmail jewelry
Handmade jewelry

Make Something Beautiful - Chainmaille Belt

I've been futzing with this belt for months. It emerged after I altered the ring size I used for one of my pieces of chain mail jewelry and suddenly had a plethora of rings in a size I couldn't use. And then I thought the former bracelet design would work great as a belt. The ends of the belt, however, thwarted me for months. I wasn't sure how to finish it off so that it looked polished. I came up with a solution just a couple of days ago, and now I have a belt that I can proudly wear. I am a happy lady.

Vanessa Walilko
Chain mail jewelry