ChainChatter - Newsletter

August 2010
chainweavers.com

Summer is Winding Down …

What a summer this has been! We (Rick) did finally finish the new decking and we have the most glorious space now for sitting out on a lovely evening with a glass of wine… having that space to relax and reflect is balm for our souls! Rick did such a wonderful job and his attention to detail really shows…

So what did you do this summer? Vacation with family? ‘Staycation’ so family could visit you? Finish up projects outdoors in preparation for the coming winter? We’ve all been s-o-o-o busy, but it’s time to get things organized for staying indoors… and that means new maille projects too.

The new kit this month is our

Byzantine Rose Necklace

in Argentium and Yellow Gold filled rings. This is a lovely melding of graduated Byzantine with graduated Mobius flowers in varied sizes as the focal points. With two metals in 5 gauges and many ring sizes, the kit for this necklace will only be offered as shown. To keep the cost down, there are NO extra rings for the flowers, just what it takes, because honestly, what are you going to do with one extra ring in any of those sizes? The large center ‘flower’ is 12 gauge, so unless you are experienced with working large wire, or have strong wrists and great pliers, I don’t recommend this as a learning experience. It’s really spectacular in the silver/gold duo, but equally striking in a solid color, so if you prefer something else, I encourage you to buy the tutorial and put it together any way you want!

Also being introduced are SQUARE wire rings in the most popular gauges!!! There’s even an option to purchase JPL3 rings in 16g, 18g and 20g square wire – with our guarantee that you will get perfect JPL because the sizes have been tested and the rings are made on a mandrel that is sized between the two sizes most people try to make JPL work. Sometimes that perfect JPL just cannot work with a standard .25mm sized mandrel. If you’ve ever tried our JPL rings, then you already know what beautiful JPL you can make with our specially-sized rings! And if you haven’t, then you are missing out on truly gorgeous Jens Pind’s Linkage. Just remember that the AR formulae are not valid for square wire rings; it takes a bit of calculated guesswork along with testing.

You can find them in the Jumpring section. Any jumpring that is available in square wire will have the option for Square wire in the "Wire Shape" pulldown menu. To us, having wire shape as an option makes things much more simple for you to order. That way you don't have to scroll, and scroll AND scroll some more to get to the bottom of an insanely long page to find the rings that you need. If you want a gauge that isn't listed, just ask because there is a chance that we have it.

ChainWeavers is moving! We have grown so much this year, that we just can’t continue as a solely home-based business – we pretty much have NO home right now. ChainWeavers has taken over! As much as we love it, we need to be able to close the door at the end of the day, treat it as a business and go home and relax.

It's a 2 story building - the production & manufacturing area will utilize the downstairs area; upstairs will be ring, kit & product storage, packaging & shipping, research/development and everything else.

Thank you all for making this past year so successful! We appreciate your faith in us, and your patience when we have sent the wrong item or mis-measured rings. Mistakes DO happen, and we always make it right, but we are finding ways to improve our service and if you have any ideas which might help, we are always open to suggestion.

(To be honest, we're not going far - just to our carriage house (about 100 feet away) where we can dedicate the space to just ChainWeavers...)

Our Facebook following is growing daily and we appreciate those of you who comment and ask questions. You may always ask a question there and if we don’t know the answer, we’ll certainly try to find it for you. And please feel free to ask questions using our ‘Contact Us’ page on the website.

We hope you enjoy the end of summer with a family get-together Bar-B-Q over Labor Day or a camping trip or just a glass of wine on the deck watching the sunset (our personal choice!).

Happy weaving everybody!!!