– I’ve decided to try coloured wire to make some coil rings. The color surface is a bit fragile but the colours are so beautiful and shiny that’s it’s a really tempting material to use. I used colourful wood beads as a focal point for the rings and the contrast between the materials – rough and smooth – works really well.
I also used this wire to make a chain maille bracelet in a variation of the japanese weave. It took days and was really hard work because the jump rings were tiny but the result is quite lovely. I tumbled the bracelet after it was done, to work harden the wire a bit more because I was afraid the smaller rings would open too easily and to get rid of some burrs they might still have. I feared the tumbler would remove some of the color coating but it didn’t.
Here’s a picture of the finished bracelet:
I’m considering buying the coloured wire in thicker gauges to make chain maille because I really love the way you can make patterns by using different color jump rings in a weave and it eliminates the need for beads as decoration.
