Pick any jump rings you like for this. Mine were perhaps a little heavy for the light chains I picked, but I bulked up the beaded section to balance it out. Be sure to watch the Byzantine chain video first.

See the video here and don’t forget to check the archives for more.

When I was teaching classes at The Bead Shop one of my popular sessions was hand-making small amounts of jump rings in different sizes to make a pair of spiral earrings. This pendant is the same technique, using a larger variety of rings and finished with a large ametrine drop.

Ametrine is a form of quartz and it’s labeled as such when the elements that create the colors of citrine and amethyst form in the same stone. This results in a beautiful purple and orange gem, and this one has a unique fracture through the center which gives it a green tint.

The bail is a Peruvian handmade silver piece. I like how the shape reflects the shape of the stone, and it has gorgeous etching that picks up the look of the chain.

Finally the necklace part of the design is a simple rope weave, one which I’ll feature soon in a video. It’s super dense and feels great on.

See the Sterling Silver and Ametrine Necklace here.

It’s a good idea to develop a collection of “starter sets” – keep about an inch of each weave in a standard size on a paper clip. Each time you want to make chain you can continue on from what you have, then remove the starter amount. It’s so much quicker and less frustrating than trying to start from scratch each time.

Once completed, Full Persian makes a beautifully silky rope of chain that is super-flexible. Full Persian (also known as Foxtail) is what I used to make my favorite Persian Knot necklace.

Again we’re looking at adjusting what you already know, so go take a look at Byzantine and Queen’s Link first. I’ll show you how to make another tiny adjustment to product a whole new look.

Check out the archives, or get started with Full Persian Chain Maille.

If you’ve had a chance to look at my Byzantine tutorial, you’re going to find Queen’s Link much easier than starting from scratch. In this new video I talk about the tiny difference between the two techniques, so you can get going on a new project with no fuss.

See the video and get the ingredient list.

See the free video archives.

To get started you’ll need to master making wire-wrapped bead units, then move on to the byzantine bracelet project.

Next up, I’ll show you how to modify what you know into two other weaves.

I’m a visual learner. I can’t always follow when someone just tells me the steps in a process, and I have a bad tendency to skim when I’m reading instructions. However, if I see it done once, I can usually repeat it with no problems. Even though I’ve been making chain maille for a decade, I still get just as frustrated as any beginner if I’m stuck with nothing but badly printed how-tos.

Chain maille requires so much spatial reasoning that many people have trouble getting the hang of it, and I’ve found when I teach that people have a much better chance of understanding how to create chain maille weaves if they see it happen, rather than trying to follow along a booklet.

Even though a lot of my jewelry falls into more general wire and gemstone designs, chain maille is where I started creating jewelry and it’s what I love to do most. For me it’s a lot like knitting - I can sit in front of the television and just make it for hours. Since one of my favorite local stores closed down I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to teach and I miss it a lot, so I decided to try a series of videos to share what I know.

Why are they free? There’s so much excellent free content on the web, including plenty of jewelry making videos, that I don’t want to compete in that way. I’d rather share my own style of teaching and not worry about the business stuff.

Once I get through some of the basic weaves and techniques, I intend to develop more that include designing complete pieces. Some will talk about creating complete projects, while others might just be conversations about designing in general using examples that aren’t always possible to explain in regular article format. Even if chain making is not your thing, you may find it interesting to see the work in progress, just as you’ve seen in my Designing Jewelry category on this blog.

In order to support the basic series of jewelry making, I’ll include some other techniques on the way, like wire wrapping, crimping and so on. Whether you can’t wait to pick up your first pair of pliers, or have been beading for years, I hope there will be something for everyone.

Get started in the video archives and learn to use jump rings to make your first two bracelets.

See the video and get the ingredient list.

See the free video archives.

I’m so flattered to be shown on such a great blog. Thanks Tammy!

See the post here and don’t forget to leave your comments.

Once you get the trick of this weave, it’s simple and fast to make, and can be modified and added to lots of different jewelry designs.

Get the ingredients list, tools and design notes here.

Enjoy! I’d love to hear what you think.

Are there any techniques you’d love to see? Let me know by leaving a comment here or reach me here.

More to come soon!

Can’t wait? The archives are here.