craftgrrl | Shooting Star Maille Choker (Reply)

I recently made a friend this necklace as a gift (so don't look, Holly, because I'll talk about the cost of making it).

This exact choker would value at about $35 (before taxes and shipping) based on material costs and time spent making it. It would have cost a lot more to make if I'd had to buy the star beads from a standard craft/bead store, but I happen to have access to a fabulous rock shop with great prices. Rememeber that there is often more than one kind of source for the same kind of supply!

The rings and fittings are made from stainless steel (for permanantly shiny-bright strength, and hypo-allergenic appeal), and the stars are (two different kinds of) blue stone. I am working on getting a welding iron for permanantly closing the rings in the future, since I cannot find any solder that satisfies me, but the weave is fairly sturdy as it is, being steel and all. I used a typical C-clasp in the back because I thought it blended with the rings a bit more than most clasps would, and added a short extention chain because I have a scrawny neck and she wouldn't necessarily end up with the necklace fitting her quite the same way.

Edit ~ Each of the "flowers" of woven rings is made up of 7 rings woven exactly the same way. I realized that in the photo the central ring seems to vanish in some segments, because of the angles and light.

It is part of a whole set of maille (aka chain mail) accessories which I designed for her on a shooting star theme. I don't have a picture of lovely her in the necklace yet, so for now I shall just throw in photos of myself wearing the necklace, from the front and the back, as well as a silly picture of the choker being worn as a belt by the piggy I also sent her (simply because it was so cute).