Chain reaction

Hello everyone, as promised I am back to share with you my recent chain making project from my silversmithing class last term. Before I do that I just wanted to share a little bit of cheerfulness as here is my daffodil yesterday.

Yes two more flowers in bloom ...and some sunshine ;0). My hyacinth is also unfolding and that glorious smell is infiltrating my kitchen. The sunshine is deceptive though as it has been freezing cold since the weekend and we did get a dusting of snow on Monday. Yesterday barely got above freezing point all day.

It's so lovely to have these growing on my kitchen side and even better to see the sun shining.

So back to chain making....for this project we were shown a great technique using square wire. Square wire is really great to work with as you can get some really interesting effects with it rather than using the more commonly used round wire.

We first had to saw off 5 cm lengths of square wire and then measured them carefully as we were going to add a "twist" to the centre of each piece.

These measurements were marked on the wire. The wire was held in a vice and 6 half turns using parallel pliers made the pattern you can see here.

I then filed the ends of the wire pieces and flattened them slightly so that I could form them into the curved ends as shown. To do this I used my round nosed pliers. These curves are used to join each piece via a jump ring. To keep them secure I also soldered them.

Here they all are with their rounded ends. To join each component together we next had to make some jump rings. These are always fun to do....

I wound round wire into a coil using a hand drill. A mandrel had been put into the jaws of the drill and this ensures equal sized round jump rings.

The coil of wire is removed and stuck to a piece of masking tape. This holds the coil steady for sawing.
Then it was a case of hand sawing through the coil, all the jump rings then fall off when the tape is removed.

Here are some of the jump rings before I tidied them up with some light filing. It was then a case putting each component together to form the chain.

I also used one of the twisted links to fashion a clasp shown in the 2nd photo on the right below.
Are you ready for a ta dah moment................
OK but this is so hard to photograph

It is a lovely long chain and much prettier in the flesh.  I showed this to my darling daughter and yes she liked it and yes she has given it a very happy home ;0) At my class now we have started making other types of chain including chain maille. These are looking really good but OMGoodness they so fiddly. It will take a few weeks to come together but I will show and tell at some point.

Today's challenge card is one I made to cheer up a very dear friend of my Mum's who is sadly not well at the moment and in hospital for another month.  I understand that it brightened up her day and that makes me very pleased.

The stamp is Tiddly Inks, Love Grows. She is such a cutie. The card base is this most unusual tea pot which I found in good old Wilkinson's. They have a great craft section in my local store. She is coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils.
The die cut is a newbie for me, Spellbinders floral ovals which I love, love, love.
I also punched some MS butterflies and a Magnolia sentiment. The bling jewel on the lid is another winnings from the very generous Tracy of Dies to Die from.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Tiddly Inks Anything Goes
Papercrafting Journey Anything Goes
My Mum's Craft Shop Anything Goes #1
Natalie and Amy My favourite things
Crafts and Me Something new #116  I have never made an embossed floral die cut. I only got my Big Shot for Christmas and I am enjoying playing with it. It has been quite tricky to get the embossing correct, I had several wasted ovals!
Inky Chicks Anything Goes #1
Stamping Sensations Friendship
Forever Friends Fortnightly challenge #53 favourite embellishment my favourite embelli here is that lovely spotty button in the centre which I added a ribbon to.
Bunny Zoe's Crafts  Anything goes
Creative Inspirations #197 one for the girls

We have a special weekend coming up as it is my Hb's birthday on Sunday. We have tickets to see Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre in London on Friday and then on Sunday the family are coming over for a birthday lunch to help us celebrate. The only thing that could put a damper on all this is that we are forecast some heavy snow here on Friday night and Saturday. Fingers crossed that it will not affect us too much. Enjoy the weekend when we get there and thanks so much for all your visits and the lovely comments you leave me here. Keep warm.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x