Tried Something New Lately?

I have! A friend of mine recently showed me a bunch of jewelry she had made. All of it was gorgeous, but a couple of the bracelets really caught me eye. She said they were chain maille. Oooo - right then & there I was determined to learn how to do that! So I took a class, then I looked in books, now I am sharing with you just one of the types of designs you can create with chain maille (jump rings) - it's the Byzantine Knot. You can use this to make a bracelet or necklace, depending on how many jump rings you have and how much time you want to spend! I don't know exactly how many jump rings it took to create the bracelet that I made, but you need a good amount - I think 100 would be a good place to start. So, without further ado, here is how you, too, can make a Byzantine Knot bracelet (or necklace):

1. Start by opening 2 jump rings. Holding both open jump rings together, place four closed jump rings onto the open ones. Close the open jump rings. Your six-ring “chain” should look like this:

2. Wrap a piece of wire or clip a lobster clasp onto one end of your chain (through two rings). This will help keep them out of your way for step three.

 

3. Grasping the chain by the secured end, let the last two rings fall to either side of the middle rings as shown:

4. Next, spread the rings that are now on top to either side. When you do that, the first two rings that you let fall to either side will “pop up” slightly in the middle of the two rings you just spread apart.

5. Use a headpin or a thick needle to go through the two rings in the center of the spread-out ones (this is just so you can keep them together and accessible).

 

6. Your next step will be to thread two more jump rings through both of these now exposed rings.

You’ve completed your first knot! 

Next, attach two more jump rings to the ones you just attached in Step 6.

Repeat steps 3-7 until you’ve reached the length you want.

I found that it feels a lot like sewing – but there’s a lot of opening and closing of jump rings! I hope the instructions & photos are clear enough for you to do this on your own. It really is a beautiful pattern, and you can achieve different looks from different metals and different sized jump rings (I am attempting a bracelet with 4mm jump rings – very difficult!! Yikes!) Please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions! Have fun with your new project!