USN Ribbons Chainmaille Inlay - part 2

Back in November I discover IGP and decided to try my hands at an inlay of my own. So I came up with the idea to recreate the ribbons I earned while in the US Navy using anodized aluminum rings. You can read about the process involved in getting a picture into chainmaille format in my previous blog post here.

Things are coming along pretty quickly. At this point the ring count is 2,520 rings! In fact, I've hit a stopping point as I need to order more rings before I can go any further. One of the colors I need was out of stock when I placed my original order and I decided to not use rings I originally got for one section because the color just wasn't right. I'll be using anodized niobium rings as a replacement for these as I just couldn't find the ring size I needed in a color close enough to what I was looking for.
Here is a list of all my awards from top to bottom, left to right:
Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Meritouriuos Unit Commendation, Battle "E", Navy Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (in progress), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Ribbon (in progress), Expert Rifle (rings out of stock), Expert Pistol (rings out of stock)

So many rings, sooo much time.....

Back in June I blogged about my Koil Kutter and what a wonderful contraption it is. In my post I mentioned I was working on a purse and I'm pleased to announce that after sitting in a basket for a while it is finally finished! All said and done this purse has almost 5,000 rings! This purse is made using a very dense European 4-in-1 weave from 18ga bright aluminum rings. Some rings on the flap are stainless steel so that the flap has a little extra weight to keep it hanging shut.

This purse is currently available in my Etsy shop here. I can also make this purse in different sizes and metals as well as including an inlay design within the weave of the purse.

USN Ribbons Chainmaille Inlay

I've been quite impressed with all the chainmaille inlays I've seen on the various blogs/forums. So I decided to give it a shot myself and see how they turn out. Many thanks to zlosk for his Irregular Grid Painter program. I've only just begun to tinker with this program, but I've already had some incredible results. So far have 2 inlay projects that I've decided to work on.

The first one I've got pretty much as set, I just need to buy the rings and start assembling. I decided to put together a sheet of European 4-in-1 using anodized aluminum rings to make a representation of the ribbons I earned while in the US Navy. First I had to come up with a picture of all the ribbons I had (in their proper order of course). This was actually pretty easy as I found a web site that created a graphic after you checked boxes for your ribbons. This is what I got:The next thing I had to do was to simply the colors on a pixel level so IGP didn't take forever to process and to minimize the number of colors I'd need rings for. Some colors got changed based on the colors I had available to me, for example the navy blue of rifle and pistol marksman ribbons became black). This is what I got:Next I had to resize the image so I didn't end up with an inlay 1000's of rings wide. Once I resized I had to work with the colors on a pixels level again to smooth things out a bit. I also needed to rework the "E" on my Battle "E" ribbon which allowed me to add the E's on my rifle and pistol marksman ribbons as well. Things are a bit fuzzy when zoomed in, as expected, so I figured I'd plug in into IGP and see what happens. This is what I got:Things are a bit fuzzy when zoomed in, as expected, so I figured I'd plug in into IGP and see what happens. I input my file into IGP and selected the appropriate chainmaille pattern and approximate ring size and out it spits your graph:I will be using rings in 9 different colors and each ribbon will be made up of 350 rings. Using bright aluminum rings for the top corners this will put my ring count at 4200 rings!

Gold is a Girl's Next Best Friend

Here is my most recent chainmaille project, a simple yet amazingly stunning European 4-in-1 Bracelet made using gold-filled rings. Gold-filled wire/rings have a much thicker layer of actual gold compared to gold-plated material. Because of this there is little to no danger of the gold layer being chipped or worn down as can happen with plated jewelry. This makes the 2nd piece done using gold, and I'm looking forward to many more to share with you.

Etsy Treasury by TheBeadedHeart

I was featured in an Etsy Treasury! Thanks to Julie at TheBeadedHeart (also from BeadedHeartsVintage) for including my European 4-in-1 and Mobius Necklace in this collection with other great chainmaille pieces from other Etsy sellers.

Here is the link for this treasury: link

Check it out before it expires Tuesday Mar. 31 at 5:07PM

Custom Order - Stainless Steel Coif

Back on 2/17/09 I mentioned 2 custom orders. The first was a Byzantine bracelet and earring set. I've finally completed the 2nd order, a stainless steel coif. It is officially the largest and most time consuming endeavour yet, with just shy of 4,000 rings and weighing in at a little over 4.25lbs.
I'm seen here with the coif completed, but I added a mantle to complete the project. I'll be adding photos of the completed piece to my Flickr as soon as I get them taken. This is my first non-jewelry piece so things took a bit of trial and error, but I was really happy with how it turned out as was Chuck. Thanks Chuck for your order.

With the rings left over from this project I put together a European 6-in-1 bracelet, so be on the lookout for that soon as I get the clasps from my upcoming TRL order.

Etsy Treasury by BeadedHeartsVintage

I was featured in an Etsy Treasury! Thanks to Julie at BeadedHeartsVintage for including my European 4-in-1 earrings in this collection with other great chainmaille pieces from other Etsy sellers.

Here is the link for this treasury: link

Check it out before it expires Sunday Jan. 11 at 9:39PM

Update

About 2 weeks ago I posted about a set of earrings currently for sale on my Etsy shop. Well now I also have a matching bracelet available and wanted to share a picture with you all. Just like the earrings these are made with the same pattern of copper and brass rings using the European 4-in-1 chainmaille weave. The clasp for this bracelet is handmade from 18ga copper wire. I hope you all enjoy.