Friday Findings: Corvus Chainmaille

Friday Findings: Corvus Chainmaille

For my Friday Findings column, I like to write about unique and interesting finds that I discover during my previous week’s travel across the Internet. Although I don’t always choose to write about a jewelry artist on Friday, this week I happened upon the perfect necklace and artist to feature. She is among one of the first few artists who were brave enough to join my HANDMADE JEWELRY: SATURDAY SPARKLE group on Flickr, and I was immediately attracted to her designs because they were rooted in a tradition that heralds back to the Antiquities and Middle Ages. And, like most jewelry findings, most of the pieces in her jewelry line are entirely handcrafted from metal. Now that is a Finding!


Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sara Reading of Corvus Chainmaille based in South Petherton, Somerset, UK. Sara has been designing maille armor and costuming for serious historical re-enactment groups since 1988. She later expanded her collection in 2002 to include maille jewelry. As Sara said, “I was making armor and began thinking; this would look good in smaller rings!” Well, Sara wasn’t joking. Her small-ring jewelry is both impressive and stunning, as you can see from her sterling silver Elfweave Necklace pictured below.


Even more impressive, is that Sara has also invented three maille weaves of her own – now that’s creativity! Her weaves are named: Tas’s Chain, Aura Weave, and Ash’s Byzantine.

Since I am a bead-stringer with only a cursory knowledge of mailling, I asked Sara what would be her best piece of advice to someone who was interested in learning to maille. She answered, “Make and cut your own rings. It’s cheaper, not too difficult, and you will have better cuts.” After trying to count the number of rings I’d have to cut to attempt this necklace, my hands and wrists got tired. A necklace like her Elfweave has more than 900 rings and took approximately 10-12 hours to create, which means that one of Sara’s jewelry-making virtues is patience.

Sara strongly believes in compassionate farming and is an advocate of raising our food properly. She finds inspiration for her designs by trading ideas with other maillers as an active member on the DeviantMetal, Ring Lord, and M.A.I.L forums. I’d like to thank Sara Reading at Covrus Chainmaille for allowing us to share her work with you today on Friday Findings. You may contact Sara directly at redcrow@datalineit.co.uk. You can also learn more about Corvus Chainmaille by visiting her online at:

Flickr:

www.flickr.com/photos/edcrow

Deviant Metal:

http://deviantmetal.com/forum/index.php

Maille Artisans:

http://www.mailleartisans.org/members/memberdisplay.cgi?key=4033

The Ring Lord:

http://www.theringlord.org/forum/member.php?find=lastposter&f=24

ANOTHER FINDING FOR THOSE IN THE CHICAGO AREA: Chain Maille Jewelry Classes. I found the following link on the Internet when I started writing today’s post. It looks like they offer a really great class list, so check it out: http://www.bluebuddhaboutique.com/classes/