Crescent Maille :: News

There are two new necklaces at Crescent Maille this week. The second is the Olivia Butterfly Necklace. This necklace is based on Crescent Maille original Wave Lace weave. Crescent Lace weaves are based on the traditional Japanese style of chain maille weave. Wave Lace is related to the Octopus Lace design, but with graduated sizes of rings flowing along the edge to create the illusion of waves.

This original necklace design is based on the traditional Olivia chain maille weave. A segment of Olivia weave is embellished to resemble an abstract butterfly.

A versatile necklace, it can be worn short as a choker, or with more of a drop, to make a different statement.

The focal bit of the butterfly is 1-1/8 inches wide (30mm) and 1 inch high at the center (27mm). It’s held by a cable chain (2mm round links). The necklace is 15 inches long, with an additional 3 inch extension chain made of larger rings, allowing for a maximum length of 18 inches.

If you would prefer either the cable chain or extension chain to be longer or shorter to match your perfect size specifications, just contact me at checkout.

The Olivia Butterfly Necklace is made completely from sterling silver.

You can find it in my shops now >> visit the Etsy shop or the cMaille.com shop.

There are two new necklaces at Crescent Maille this week. The first is the Wave Lace Necklace. This necklace is based on Crescent Maille original Wave Lace weave. Crescent Lace weaves are based on the traditional Japanese style of chain maille weave. Wave Lace is related to the Octopus Lace design, but with graduated sizes of rings flowing along the edge to create the illusion of waves.

Wave Lace is an intricately engineered weave — just the right appearance balanced with the perfect degree of flexibility. The largest rings are 7mm in diameter, and the smallest rings are 3mm. Almost all rings are doubled for depth and strength.

This necklace features a delicate segment of Wave Lace just over 1-1/2 inches long (40mm), and 1/2-inch (12mm) from the top of one curve to the bottom of the next. Graduated rings on either side link to a cable chain (2mm round links). The necklace is a total of 16 inches long, but can be made shorter or longer upon request (up to 20 inches).

It is made completely from sterling silver.

You can find it in my shops now >> visit the Etsy shop or the cMaille.com shop.

In addition to various online venues like Etsy.com, Artfire.com, and the Handmade Artists’ Shop, Crescent Maille has experimented over the past year in setting up an independent shop. After testing various platforms and formats, I’ve chosen to go with a shop on Big Cartel. For now, 25 products will be available at any given time. Etsy will continue to be the primary Crescent Maille shop with the entire line always available — currently 80 items! So, pick your venue, and go do some shopping — and thanks for your continued support.

Visit Crescent Maille’s New Shop at buy.cMaille.com.

Crescent Maille is now selling at a new online venue — the Handmade Artists’ Shop, a part of the Handmade Artists’ Forum (HAF). Launched in November 2009, founded and run by artists, here’s a quote from their mission statement:

Our primary mission for the Handmade Artists’ Shop is to support handmade. There are so many mass produced items out there that we feel the world has lost the respect for the small time merchant. It is so easy to go out to one of those mega stores and get everything you want in one stop. We’ll some of us think it’s better to take some time and create something with our hands and our imaginations. So therefore The Handmade Artists’ Shop will hopefully be one of those places that when you leave you say, “They truly love and support the handmade.”

Visit Crescent Maille’s shop at the HAF.

The first Barrel Weave Bracelet in the shop is one made with 18 gauge rings. Now a new version is available — what I call the “filigree” weave. Made with smaller and thinner 20 gauge rings, the pattern is less distinct, and is more like a very intricate chain. You can see from the photos below a comparison of the 18g and 20g sizes. Now available in the Etsy shop.

Update 14 February 2010: A slight amendment to the giveaway — if you are putting off making a purchase because you might become a gift certificate winner, put it off no longer! If you make a purchase before March 3, and then you’re chosen as a winner, your gift certificate can be applied retroactively. If you purchase an item under $40 you will be refunded the purchase price, and any remainder will be held as store credit. If your purchase totals $40 or more, you’ll receive a full $40 refund. Or, you can choose to take the gift certificate after all, for a future purchase.

For your chance to a $40 gift certificate to cMaille.etsy.com, just leave a comment on Crescent Maille’s February Shadowbox page on the blog etsystalker.com. You can enter as often as once a day to increase your chances of winning. Two winners will be chosen randomly from all entries on March 3rd. Good luck!

For your chance to win either a pair of sterling silver Clover Earrings or a $30 gift certificate to cMaille.etsy.com, just leave a comment on Crescent Maille’s January Shadowbox page on the blog etsystalker.com. You can enter as often as once a day to increase your chances of winning. The winner will be chosen randomly from all entries on February 9th. Good luck!

At the request of a customer about the possibility of including a pendant on a Byzantine chain, I developed this new necklace: “Spiral Captured in Byzantine.” This unique and beautiful necklace features a fine byzantine chain bisected by a “captured” mobius spiral. Lovely for dressing up, yet subtle enough for daily wear, it makes a quiet statement of elegance.

The spiral, made of 4 rings woven through the centers of one another, is suspended from a 16-inch Byzantine Weave chain (also known as the Birdcage Weave). The chain is created from 21 gauge rings and just 1/8-inch wide (4mm); the spiral itself is just about 3/8-inch wide (15mm, about the diameter of a penny). The necklace fastens with a simple toggle clasp. Made entirely from sterling silver. Available at the Etsy shop.

The Square Spiral Necklace and the Square Jens Pind Necklace: two new designs from Crescent Maille, available at the Etsy shop (as well as the cMaille Prêt-à-Porter Shop).

The Square Spiral Necklace is a different take on Crescent Maille’s classic Spiral Necklace: A fine cable chain is strung with five mobius links made of square wire rings. These links are made up of either 2 or 3 rings woven through the centers of one another to resemble endless spirals. The spiral is about 1/2-inch in diameter (13mm), 3/4-inch wide on the chain (20mm), and the chain is 18 inches long. Made entirely of sterling silver.

The Square Jens Pind necklace features a 3-inch segment of the Jens Pind weave constructed from square wire rings, suspended from cable chain. The facets of the rings catch the light, angular and sparkling; it’s modern and industrial, yet subtle and minimalist. The square rings are 18 gauge, and the segment is 1/4-inch wide (5mm). The cable chain is made of 2.5mm round links, and the necklace is a total of 16 inches long. Made entirely from sterling silver.

Over the past week, I’ve added three new items to my shops: a bracelet, a necklace, and a pair of earrings. All three are available at cMaille2; the earrings are also available at cMaille on Etsy and 1000 Markets.

The Sunset to Twilight Bracelet: This one of a kind chain maille bracelet features three chains in the Jens Pind weave made from luxurious metallic colors of anodized niobium. Colors range from bright sunset hues to deep twilight tones. They secured with a gold fill toggle clasp. The colors? One chain is composed of sunset colors (bright yellow, golden-orange, salmon, apricot, fuchsia, royal purple, and iridescent dark teal), and one of twilight colors (navy blue, midnight blue, deep plum, eggplant, coffee brown, milk chocolate, steel, and graphite); the center chain is graduated from sunset to twilight.

The Golden Ring Necklace: Several graphite-colored anodized niobium rings create a loop at the bottom of a sterling silver snake chain, from which hangs a single lovely, substantial gold fill ring. Subtle; a quiet statement and a mix of calm complementary colors. Unusual & unique.

Clover Earrings: These small, delicate earrings — each one segment of the chain maille “barrel weave” — are made of sterling silver rings hanging from Bali silver earwires. The “clover” segment (doesn’t it resemble a four leaf clover?) is 1/2-inch long and 1/4-inch wide (12mm, 7mm). The length of the earring from the top of the wire is 7/8-inch (22mm). The earwires are small and secure.