Blue Buddha Boutique -- Chainmaille Links and Resources

We're hiring! Part-time inventory assistant position now available.

Here are plenty of websites to keep you busy. Whether you want to make chainmaille yourself, or prefer to admire what other artists have done, you should find something of interest below. Happy surfing!

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Instructions - Reference - Suppliers - Forums - Artists

Chainmaille Weave Instructions

Websites

M.A.I.L. (Maille Artisans International League) – Images for hundreds of chain mail weaves, and the largest tutorial collection on the Internet.

Derakon's Library – Clear 3-D renderings for dozens of maille weaves, plus an introduction to soldering and some loop-in-loop work.

Maile of the Dreamseeker – Hard-to-find instructions for projects such as candle holders and wrapped pendants.

Phong's Chainmaille Tutorials – Impressively cool CGI tutorials for many weaves. Site by Jeffrey Olin.

Blue Buddha Boutique – Due to popular demand, I'm now selling kits and instructions. This section was launched in April 2006, and I will continue to add kits for a variety of projects.

Books

Chain Mail Jewelry, Terry Taylor and Dylon Whyte – This 144 page, full-color book features 30 projects at all skill levels. The photos, illustrations and instructions are remarkably clear. Purchase this book in the Supplies section.

Art of Chainmail, Dylon Whyte – This colorful book is great if you want to make a chainmaille shirt. Very easy to understand instructions, and the illustrations are incredibly clear. Even if you don't want to make armor, this is a great place to learn the basic European weaves. The author plans on making a series of these books. Purchase this book in Supplies.

Chain Making Link by Link, Jeanne Jerousek–McAninch – A newer book. There aren't as many illustrations as I'd like, but some students have found this book to be extremely useful. Purchase through Rio Grande.

Reference, Calculators/Converters and other helpful sites

Zlosk's Website – Known to many in the maille world as the Aspect Ratio King, Zlosk is also creator of a great inlay program, the IGP (Irregular Grid Painter). It's a fast and accurate way to convert an image into a maille pattern so you can make an inlay using colored rings.

Mailleworks Graph Paper – Another way to plan an inlay is to use colored pencils on a maille graph. Designed by Maillemaster, more than 30 patterns are available for download.

Venom's Pit – Several useful charts are here, including Recommended Ring Size and the invaluable Gauge Conversion chart.

Science Made Simple Conversions – Ah, no more having to convert inches to millimeters by hand. This site does it for you, and has a jillion other conversion tools as well.

Eni's Jewelry Price Calculator for Excel (US$5) – Pricing handcrafted pieces can be nerve wracking, and many jewelers undervalue their work. This nifty calculator helps take the headache out of pricing. Read more about pricing and taxes.

Jump Ring and Jewelry Suppliers

Locally - Chicago

Briolette Beads & More – Tens of thousands of Blue Buddha Boutique jump rings for you to browse and purchase. In addition, a wide variety of beads (including Swarovski crystals) and findings.
7322 Madison St
Forest Park IL 60130
708.366.8318

Caravan Beads – Buy jump rings or spice up your maille with beads. This store has one of the largest and best selections of beads in the city. In addition to beads of all sorts, they have a variety of findings, bead kits, jump rings, books and even sterling silver chains by the foot.
3361 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago IL 60657
773.248.9555

Ayla's Original Bead Bazaar – An amazing selection of beads, including Furnace Glass and Philippine Metal Strands. Also the only local place I know of that has soldered-closed gold-fill jump rings (perfect for finishing off those gold-fill pieces), plus a wide selection of gold-fill jump rings.
1511 Sherman Ave
Evanston, IL 60201
847.328.4040

Internet/Catalog

Blue Buddha Boutique – We specialize in providing crafters with high-quality rings in smaller quantities (Most orders are for 1,000-5,000 rings). We stock saw-cut rings in sterling silver, anodized aluminum, bright aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass and bronze. Tools, findings, and DIY kits are also available.

Spiderchain – This is where all my sterling rings come from. Beautiful, silky and smooth rings in more than 70 sizes. You can also purchase gold-fill and anodized niobium rings from Spider. She prices her silver by the ounce, and you save a substantial amount of money by ordering 100 oz at a time (you can mix and match sizes; so long as you order in ounce batches, you still qualify for the price breaks).

The Ring Lord – More than 500 rings available! Just about any size you'd ever want to work with, and in so many different metals. If your rings are in stock, expect them to ship quite fast. Mostly machine-cut rings, but he has started offering saw-cut rings for most metals. Tools are also available (I highly recommend the Knipex brand if you're going to be working with larger gauge stainless).

Rio Grande or call 800.545.6566 for a catalog, as their catalogs are not available online. A variety of tolols and findings, and more beads than I know what to do with. They have several catalogs, including Tools & Equipment, Gems & Findings and Display & Packaging.

Fire Mountain Gems or 800.355.2137 to order a catalog. Talk about more beads than I know what to do with! FMG has some of the best, and their prices are very good.

Rings 'n' Things or 800.366.2156 to or order a catalog. Want to add a pendant to your necklace? This is the place. Hundreds of charms and other items. I believe they have a $50 minimum (if your order is less, you'll have to pay a small-order fee).

Chainmaille and Jewelry Forums

M.A.I.L. – Maille Artisans International League is an international group of artisans dedicated to the advancement of maille art. Their aim is to create new techniques, weaves, and patterns, expanding the knowledge of both novice and master, and to increase public awareness of the art and industry of maille.

The Ring Lord Chainmail Forum – Another popular forum in the maille world. In addition to traditional forum rooms such as Gallery and Discussion, there is also a Customer Service section for Ring Lord customers.

Wet Canvas! Wearable Art – A great forum for wearable art creators of all type. WC! is a huge community, with forums on many art media as well as forums devoted to the business and technological aspects of art.

Creative Wire Jewelry – A forum for wire arts of all kind, including wire wrapping and of course, chainmaille.

Artist Websites

Chicago Area

Rapt in Maille – Melissa Banks is a fellow jeweler who specializes in stainless steel chainmail and exhibits her work throughout the Midwest. Stunning designs.

Cat Chow – Cat Chow is a nationally renowned artist who makes wearable art from nontraditional fabrics and materials. She has designed several dresses using chainmaille techniques.

National and International

Silverweaver – Spider excels at the art of maille. Her sterling and gold-fill creations have inspired me since the day I first picked up my pliers.

Chain Mail Basket – Dave Austin is a widely respected maille veteran. He is particularly known for his unbelievable maille sculptures. Check out the chess set!

Mailleworks – You haven't seen micromaille until you've seen Maillemaster's work. His pens (yes, maille pens!) are simply amazing.

Wire Art and Jewelry by Chuck Doyle – Incredible inlays. His chainmail mosaic portraits use thousands upon thousands of rings in many different colors. From afar, they look more like paintings than metal creations.

Ravenspearl Creations – I stumbled upon this site the other day and was blown away by some of her jewelry designs and artwork (most especially the dragonscale halter top. The artist has only been doing maille for a short time (!), and I am eager to see her come up with even more amazing pieces.

Davidchain Jewelry – Author of Handcrafting Chain and Bead Jewelry, Scott David Plumlee has been making chain for more than a decade and teaching since 2001. I've taken a class, so I can attest to his excellent teaching skills! Enjoy the lovely designs on his site.

Not Just Maille Jewelry

Lotus Lazuli - Sacred Geometry Jewelry Art – If you like the geometrical structures of chainmaille, you will appreciate Gretchen McPherson's work. Fascinating designs. I could stare at the Platonic and Archimedean Solids all day.

Gems by Jewell – Formerly from Chicago, Jewell recently moved to New York and has opened her own jewelry business, creating fabulous designs from sterling silver, genuine semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals.

Chapman Metals – Sarah Chapman is a local metalsmith and one of my inspirations to follow my dreams of being a jewelry artist. Not only is she a talented artist, but she is a great teacher as well. I recommend any of her classes.

Other Artful Media

Paintings by Charles Moesch – My jaw drops whenever I see one of Charles' pieces. This hyper realist artist uses oil on canvas, and I am in absolute awe with what he can do in this medium. Purchase his work at Aesthetic Eye Gallery in Chicago.

Art by Sean Hopp – Sean's paintings appeal to the dark side of my personality. His recent work is a study of an imaginary group of saints and their internal demons. Delightfully creepy, sometimes whimsical, but always very, very cool. He is also with Aesthetic Eye Gallery.

CraftRevolution.com - Redefining the World of Craft – Online indie shopping at its best, and a great resource for crafters.

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Instructions - Reference - Suppliers - Forums - Artists

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to ...
...Craig Brozefsky of Circuit Riders for creating a website that has a user-friendly interface and is incredibly easy to maintain.
...Noel Jacob of Shadow Tactics for taking my vision of the Blue Buddha Boutique logo out of my head and onto paper.
...Jackie Sloane of Sloane Communications, Inc. for helping me clarify my business values and create successful, joyful and meaningful relationships with both clients and vendors.
Thank you!