For me making jewelry mostly means wire wrapping and chain mail. I used to bead early on, but the beading bug completely left me at some point. So wire, mostly silver wire, is my real passion. I'm glad that during the last few years of absence this passion hasn't left me.
This time I'm back, with a few 'warm up' chain maille pieces that I did entirely hand-made (except the clasps). I cut the sterling silver wire into jump rings, which I've then used to create the jewelry below. All sterling silver.
In this post I'll showcase the necklace, a mix of byzantine 'spikes' with 2 in 2 chain. Initially I wanted to make it all the way through in byzantine, however the choker was becoming too heavy as it were. Now it has just the right weight without it being overwhelming. It measures 44 cm including the clasp (17.5"). Made from 19 ga (0.9mm) silver wire on 3.5 mandrels. About 3.8 or so AR if I remember correctly. The large rings are 1.5mm WD with 6mm ID with an AR of 4.
I know the 19ga wire size is not the most common one, but that's what I have in hard temper right now, so that's what I have to use for the moment. It's not so easy though to find too many chain maille weaves due to the rather limited amount of mandrels that I currently have combined with this particular wire size.
Anyway here is the necklace on display.
The second photo is not the most flattering one, but it shows the clasp, all sterling silver.
