Daisy Medallion Chainmaille Workshop Recap!

I had the pleasure of taking a chainmaille workshop this year at Bead Fest Philly.  I selected the Daisy Medallion Chainmaille class hosted by Michelle Brennan of HyperLynks.

Photo by HyperLynks

Can you blame me for choosing such a colorful and fun looking project?

Michelle with Medallion Eyes

I should start off and say that Michelle was a fantastic teacher.  She was patient, witty and funny.  These qualities are especially important with someone like myself in a class as I'm horribly impatient and have quite the sarcastic streak (I'm from Jersey, what do you expect?). 

Project Layout

Michelle came UBER prepared!  She provided everything we needed for the project including Xuron pliers, beading mat and all the rings (in a huge variety of color options).  I should note, I loved the pliers so much that I bought some after class was over. 

Diana & Sue

Oh and I managed to convince fellow contributor Sue Kennedy to take the workshop with me.  That made it extra fun...especially at 8:30 in the morning!

First Step

This was my first time working with rubber rings in a chainmaille project.  The first step was frustrating.  Many bad words escaped my mouth for about 15 minutes as I attempted to get the attachment above to work.  Thank goodness we had a class & teacher with a good sense of humor!  

Six Finished Pieces

The first three gave me angst but the final three weren't so bad once I got the hang of it.  

Adding Sections to the Large Ring

After we completed those little pieces, we had to start adding them to the large washer.  Michelle demonstrated this for us first.  She also included a print-out of VERY detailed instructions for us.  HyperLynks has some of the best instructions I've ever seen, in their kits.  

More Progress

You can see some of the project starting to come together now.  I got further than this but was so in the zone that I forgot to take more photos.  I haven't actually finished the pendant yet but it's on my to-do list.  

After the workshop was done, I wandered my way over to the HyperLynks booth.

Mark & the Walls of Goodies at HyperLynks booth

HyperLynks carries a great assortment of rings, kits and tools.  I picked up the Xuron pliers, rings and some kits while I was there.  

I certainly hope Michelle teaches at Bead Fest Philly 2016 because I'd take another workshop from her in a heartbeat.  

Thanks for a great time Michelle & HyperLynks!

Happy Beading!

~Diana P.

Suburban Girl Studio LLC

Explorations in Chainmaille: Scalemaille

Back at Bead Fest, I purchased a few chainmaille kits from HyperLynks.  There are so many weaves I want to learn and kits are the best way to do this.  HyperLynks carries a wide variety of kits and they all come with instructions, quality rings and findings.  You just need to supply the pliers.

They had a kit for a scalemaille bracelet and earrings (in an assortment of colors) and I knew I had to give it a whirl!  

The instructions were very clear and I was off and running in no time.  Now keep in mind, this is also rated as a beginner kit and once I got the hang of the pattern I whipped this piece up in an evening.  

I went a little crazy and didn't realize just how long I was making the bracelet.  Once I stopped, I noticed it was far too long for my tiny wrists.

I removed a section and finished the bracelet off with a lobster claw clasp.

The kit actually came with instructions for a more dangly pair of earrings but I decided to make earrings with the sections I removed from the bracelet.  

I highly recommend the kits from HyperLynks.  Next up, I'll be learning Helm's Weave.  Stay tuned for a blog post on that in the near future!

Happy Beading!

Diana P.

Suburban Girl Studio LLC