More about the Chainmaille Lesson to Myself and Tool Shots

I forgot to mention that my mission after creating the jump rings from a specific length of silver, I want to see how many inches of box link chain (in that size link) seven feet of silver gives me. By doing that, in the future I will be able to calculate how much silver I need to do a piece from start to finish. That was the lesson I was referring to yesterday. How many feet of silver per inch of finished chain.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes but I'm trying to wait for my new jewelry pliers on the way. I ordered my first pair of "Wubbers" which are new and are advertised as non marring, and also very good for chainmaille weaving. My old faithfuls are getting worn out and I plan to start getting better quality tools. Here's a shot of my present tool box with some of my tools. I included a shot of my combined anvil/jewelry vise too. A very handy tool that is always kept handy.

Chainmaille Lessons, to me and Some Garden Shots

I discovered how to weave chainmaille from a book called "Making Silver Chains" by Glen F. Waszek, which was a Christmas gift from a loving supporter of my craft. The book shows the weaves but calls them by different names than used in the chainmaille community. The chain he calls "Idiot's Delight" is actually two different styles of chainmaille, "Box Link" (I think) and Byzantine link which I know for sure. I'm working on a silver box link chain using 3mm ID jump rings which I cut from 20 gage sterling silver with a jewelr's saw. The box in the photo shows how many 3mm inside diameter jump rings I got from (saw) cutting and coiling about 7 feet of 20 gage silver. I love sterling silver and want to progress to mostly sterling in my chainmaille. It's so worth it in my opinion.

Another quick tangent. I've been looking after my gardens, tying tomatoes. They're finally growing quite well. I saw my first little beefsteak one and showed shots of it and my black plum paste, an heirloom cultivar that I got as a plant one year from my friend and neighbour, and now grow from seed every year. A vigorous plant that actually self seeds here and bears fruit!! A tomato that grows literally like a weed. The fruit is dark purple shot with red and is sweet and meaty. Prolific producers too. I love them!

Latest Garden Shots and Warning About Exotic Mints

It's been kind of cool here but quite sunny and my cool loving plants are doing quite well. I have some shots here of my Dianthus, Pansies, and a plant that looks quite cute but in fact is one of the most aggressive plants I have ever introduced to my garden.

The plant is known as Banana Mint. Yes Banana. It does have a strong banana-mint aroma and flavor and has the potential for interesting teas and jellies. I was intrigued and planted some in one of my gardens because it is only supposed to be hardy to zone 5 and we are zone 2b, a much colder climate so even knowing the invasive nature of our local mints, I planted it. Big mistake. This mint doesn't follow the rules and spread to 5 of my gardens. Just the other day I put down black landscape fabric in a last ditch attempt to remove it. Weeding just encourages it. Where I took the photo is where I have allowed it to grow. It even chokes out quack grass and one day I do plan to try it in jelly.

The moral of the story, mint can't read so even if the written material says it's safe, don't believe it, even in Winnipeg, for anyone here that might read this. When pulling it, the only good thing is that it must be the most heavenly scented invasive plant I have ever introduced, but for every spreading root pulled, three or more sprout in it's place!

After taking a soil science course I was even more against using any kind of poisons in my soil, or even chemical fertlizers so I hope my organic solution will work. By blocking the light the main nutrient will be unavailable to the plants so I hope they die off gracefully and don't cause a problem known as "nitrogen fixation" when decaying plant matter uses up the nitrogen in the soil. I will record my results. Now here's some photos.
The landscape fabric on my three part tomato garden in not quite as ugly in real life as in the photos and I left it bare to help warm up the soil during the day as our nights have still been in the single digits. That's why in my opinion my garden still looks pretty sparse to me. I do have little tomatoes though.

Another Dream Come True

From the first time I saw an encased floral lampwork bead I've been in love with glass and the things that can be done with it. I desperately wanted to make glass beads myself and took a class to learn the basics. Once I found out all the ramifications of proper ventilation, kiln annealing which is absolutely necessary for lasting beads, and the electrical requirements for running a kiln I decided that as long as I live where I am now it just wasn't possible, so I turned to wire to satisfy my desire to create wearable art with the dream of combining high end quality lampwork,( from an accomplished lampwork artist, or artists) with sterling silver and crystals to make truly original wearable art.
Here are a couple of shots of my first designer necklace using lampwork beads, sterling silver and crystals. This is my own piece but is an example of the type of work I plan to add to my shop. I found a talented reputable lampwork artist who has been into it for years and who's unique designs and use of color satisfy the need for color in my shop and add the artistic touch to my creations that I've wanted from the first.

Bedding Plants I Grew From Seed

In April I started several different types of seeds and here is a series of shots showing the progression. I finally planted out most of them last Tuesday and Wednesday (June 2 and 3rd). Its been cold and rainy here so they haven't grown much yet, but I prepared for a rotten cold spring by concentrating on cold tolerant plants when I bought the rest of my bedding plants. Besides the flowers shown here, I planted pansies, marigolds, nicotania, violas, and alyssum, which all tolerate cold and my front garden, where I plant most of my flowers is doing quite well. Once I take outside shots I'll post them along with updates on how my plants are doing.

More Jewelry Shots

Here are the shots of the earrings that went with one of the necklaces. The necklace in the top photo was one of the vintage pieces that I didn't include in my last post, which was in the collection I sold last week.

First an Update on My Jewelry

I am still making jewelry from vintage beads and crystals and here are some shots of my latest creations that I sold to a local shop here in Winnipeg called Chi Chi which has been buying my upcycled vintage pieces for over a year now. The multicolored piece with the lampwork beads was a custom creation along with the matching earrings. There is nothing I enjoy more that turning old jewelry which was made from beautiful components into new works that will last a lifetime and more.