Dilettante (part 1) - chain maille

As I said before, I am rather a dilettante when it comes to beads. Over the weekend, I managed to take in four - yes, four - different kinds of beadwork, as well as a trip to the dressmaker, posh lunch, a mega workout and two books (God is Not Great for my brain and Sourcery for my funny bone).

So, what exactly did I play with?

First up was chain maille. I've done some bits with Byzantine weave in the past, but this weekend I went to town on European 4-in-1, and came up with a very pretty bracelet (if I do say so myself).

After struggling to master the main weave, the embellishment was a nice relaxing change. I slid size 6 tris beads left over from a previous project onto small individual jump rings, and then scattered them around the large jump rings of the main wave for some colour.

If you are interested, Instructables has great tutorials for Byzantine and European 4-in-1 weaves, including how to make your own jump rings. Alternatively, check out Lark Books' Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry for instructions and projects.