March 17, 2009
Oasis Bead Show This Weekend!
Just wanted to write a quick note to let folks know that there's still room available for all of my classes at the Canadian Bead Oasis Show this coming weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
I'll also be hanging out with the fine folks from Dragon's Lair Beads (located at booths 49 & 50), so if you want to check out any of the pieces from Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry in person, or pick up an autographed copy of any of my books and tutorials, this is your chance! I'll also have a selection of my other jewelry and ring kits from my friends at Metal Desginz.
I look forward to seeing you there!
January 15, 2009
Better Late than Never
I have just completed arrangements with the fine folks at the Canadian Bead Oasis Shows and my friends at Dragon's Lair Beads to attend the "Almost Spring" Bead Oasis Show in Toronto this March 20th, 21st and 22nd.
For folks interested in learning how to make beaded chain jewelry I will teaching 3 classes based on projects from my new book, "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry".
It's been a while since I've had time to teach classes, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity!
For anyone who is interested in obtaining copies of any of my books, tutorials or kits, I will be hanging out at the Dragon's Lair Beads booth while not teaching classes, so come on down!
For more detailed information and pictures of the projects that I'll be teaching, please check out my main website.
Hope to see you there!
December 23, 2008
An Early X-mas Present for My Readers
Recently, several readers of my new book, "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry", asked about some of the specific materials that I had used for each projects, which gave me the idea to put together this list, which, in turn, contains specific references to just about every jump ring, bead and finding that I used for every project in BCMJ, along with a few useful notes. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Arrowhead Wrap
For this project I wanted to create a piece of jewelry that was super versitile, which I accomplished by designing the chain to wrap around multiple times, meaning that it can as easily be worn around the wrist or ankle as it is worn around the neck!
(photo courtesy of Lark Books)
Check out Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry, available everywhere January 6th, 2009! Available Now on Amazon!
December 16, 2008
Dancing Bells Anklet
This design has proved to be a fan favourite at my market table over the past couple of years, especially in the summertime, when shorts and sandels are at their most popular!
The supplier reference lists Fire Mountain Gems as the source for the bells, but recently my friends over at Metal Designz started carrying them and in multiple colours as well!
(photo courtesy of Lark Books)
Check out Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry, available everywhere January 6th, 2009! Available Now on Amazon!
December 11, 2008
Drops of Jupiter
This is one of my personal favorite pieces from "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry". The beads, which contain actual flecks of pure Yukon gold, came from a friend who had been visiting Dawson City in the Yukon and picked them up at a place called "Forty Mile Gold" for me .
After it was too late to change the product reference, I found the original card from Forty Mile Gold that states the beads were made by an artist named Charlotte Fort of Hood River, Oregon. I tried to find this artist on the web to no avail, but if anyone is interested, be sure to check out Forty Mile Gold's website.
(photo courtesy of Lark Books)
Check out Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry, available everywhere January 6th, 2009! Available Now on Amazon!
December 10, 2008
Andromeda Necklace
To help celebrate the launch of my new book: "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry - Timeless Techniques with a Twist", I have obtained special permission from my publisher to post some select photographs of projects from the book. Over the next month (or so) I will be trying to post a new project every few days, so be sure to check back often!
For my inaugural post, I would like to present the "Andromeda Necklace"!
(photo courtesy of Lark Books)
The beads for this fancy dress necklace came from a friend who is a master Lampworker, but who wishes to remain anonymous. I simply can't thank them enough for contributing such original and beautiful art beads to my new book!
Check out Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry, available everywhere January 6th, 2009! Available Now on Amazon!
December 3, 2008
Holy Cow!
I was just mucking around the web when I discovered that apparently I'm the "Lark Books Featured Author of the Month"!
You can read more here and don't forget to look at the official Lark Book page for my upcoming book : "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry", which be available on January 6th (that's just over 1 month away)!
Order your copy today!
Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of the projects in this exciting new title shortly, keep your eyes peeled!
September 3, 2008
Important Dates (Not to be Late!)
Important Dates, Not to be Late!
Here's a list of upcoming important show dates (I will be adding more as I confirm my fall and x-mas show schedule):
October 4th, 2008 - Manitoulin Island Visual Heritage Project Film Premiere at the M'Chigeeng Community Complex - This is the premiere of the project that I was involved with last summer, playing the part of William Gibbard, fisheries minister and the principal protagonist of "The Manitoulin Incident". This was my first time acting on film, so I'm excited to finally see the results!
November 8th, 2008 - I will be attending the first ever Northern Ontario Conference of Kink (NOCK) as a vendor. You can visit the NOCK website for more information regarding this unique adult oriented show.
November 8th, 2008 - My dad will be running my regular market table for the annual Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association Christmas show in Gore Bay from 10am to 3pm at the Community Hall. He will be displaying my full range of original chainmail earrings and pendants, as well as Manitoulin Illustrated Volume I and his new Manitoulin Island Sketch Book!
April 1, 2008
A Nice Surprise for April Fool's
One of my fans just noticed that my upcoming book "Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry: Timeless Techniques with a Twist
" has been officially listed on Amazon.com!
Having spent more than the past year working on this title, it's very exciting to finally see things taking shape. Of course, the actual release isn't until this coming fall, but it's great to know that things are progressing as scheduled!
Stay tuned for more information!
October 9, 2007
Finally back in print!
After being out of print for nearly a year, "The Art of Chainmail: Volume I" is finally available again and looking better than ever!
All of the original art for AoCv1 has been digitally remastered for this brand new third edition! This is also the first time that AoCv1 has been reproduced using 4-colour process printing on heavy duty gloss stock.
"The Art of Chainmail: Volume I" is currently available from the following sources:
Spiderchain Jewelry (with special thanks to Spider for helping get AoCv1 back in print!)
Spider also has exclusive distribution for the first 100 third edition copies, which have been signed and numbered by Dylon Whyte.
Metal Designz
Chain Tutorial Bonanza!
In between preparations for the fall market/show season and working on the new book for Lark, I somehow found time to put together 10 all-new chain tutorials, which are now available on through Metal Designz and through Etsy.com.
Painstakingly written and illustrated, all of my tutorials feature high resolution 3D images, a proven step-by-step instruction method for construction and have been reproduced from high resolution digital files on a state-of-the-art colour laser printer on heavy paper stock for durability.
If you are familiar with any either of my best-selling books on the construction of chains and chainmail jewelry, you will know exactly what to expect from these well-respected quality tutorials.
Patterns include:
1 in 3 Half Persian
Ormlank
Silver Serpent
Full Persian
Double Half-Persian
Persian Star
Fieldstone
Sweet Pea
Double Spiral
Rings of Saturn
Take a look today!
October 4, 2007
Fall Events
Here's a quick list of a couple of events that I will be attending this fall:
October 27th - The Fall Crown Tournament of Trumbrand and Kaylah - This is the Fall SCA Crown Tournament for all of Ealdormere and also the 20th crown tournament since Ealdormere became a kingdom. I will be attending with my regular assortment of chain jewelry and books and will also be teaching all day chainmail classes to anyone who is interested in learning new chainmail patterns. So bring your rings, bring your pliers and enjoy!
November 10th and 11th - The Toronto Bead Society Fall Bead and Jewellery Fair 2007 - I will have a table with my regular jewelry and books, as well as kits and jump rings from my friends at Metal Designz. I will also be teaching a class on how to make the bracelet seen below, more details to come!
April 25, 2007
2007 Class Schedule
Here is a list of the shows and shops that I currently have teaching gigs with in the next year:
Project: Rainbow Bracelet (Neoprene)
When: Sunday May 13th, 2007
Where: Bead Junction, Toronto, Ontario
More Information
Project: Centipede Bracelet (Aluminum)
When: Sunday May 13th, 2007
Where: Bead Junction, Toronto, Ontario
More Information
Project: Double Half-Persian Bracelet (Sterling Silver)
When: Saturday September 29th, 2007
Where: Canadian Oasis Bead Shows - Toronto Fall Show - Toronto, Ontario
More Information
Project: 1 in 4 Half Persian - Ormlänk (Sterling Silver)
When: Sunday September 30th, 2007
Where: Canadian Oasis Bead Shows - Toronto Fall Show - Toronto, Ontario
More Information
April 4, 2007
Chainmail Bolo Tie
Here's a "little" project that I've been working on this week for a customer who wanted to get a chainmail bolo tie for her father.
I picked up the stone a couple of years ago from the fine folks at Manitoulin's own Rainbow Lapidary, it's a geniune island stone, sliced and hand polished. It's held in place with a simple clasp, that allows the stone to be fully interchangable and adjustable for asymmetric and symmetric looks..
The chain itself is my own "Fieldstone" pattern, made from 18ga stainless steel links.
I have to work on getting a photograph of it with an actual dress shirt, it looks even more narfy when actually worn.
March 9, 2007
Mini Etsy
Etsy has just added a cool feature called "Mini Etsy", which, much like flickr's image badges, allows sellers to add mini galleries of their items, linked back to Etsy for easy browsing, to their own personal webpages and blogs.
So far I'm fairly impressed, setup was much easier than a flickr image badge, however, it would be nice to be able to change the background colour of the mini gallery and I wish that it was actually drawing random items from my gallery each time the page was loaded, not just once, oh well, I'm sure they're working on!
I'm not sure if I like this version, without prices:
Or this version with prices:
What do you think? Do prices and descriptions scare off potential customers before they even have the chance to visit my Etsy Store or do they help encourage further investigation?
February 24, 2007
Pimp MySpace
Well, after the shedding of much blood, sweat and tears, I have finally completed renovations to my MySpace page.
Please take a look at let me know what you think!
(Pssssst! I also have a secret deal going on for MySpace friends this weekend! If you'd like to receive these kinds of exclusive offers as well, be sure to add me to your MySpace friends!)
February 19, 2007
Last Year's Big Project
I've been meaning to post this picture for ages, it's a full suit of chainmail I made for a client last spring; it contains about 60,000 stainless steel split rings and is design to be worn on horseback.
Modeled by a very patient friend (and producer of excellent honey products) from the Island Farmers' Markets
November 11, 2006
SCA Garb
More old data from my website:
This is the Garb that I wear when I wish to take on another of my names. That name is : Conon Adamantius Dracontius Silentairius, this is my SCA (Society of Creative Anachronisms) persona. (The Roman Blacksmith, from the fall of the empire, who just happens to look a lot like a right proper Barbarian.)
The main part of this garb is my artificially aged Mail Shirt. It is made in the Japanese Hitoye-Gusari Pattern, but turned on a 45 degree angle. It is made from 100,000 #6 formally zinc-plated lock washers. It took me eight months to complete this shirt.
June 2010
