Featured Artist – Libra Gear Chainmaille Jewelry

Hi I’m Kate from St. Louis, MO. I am a jewelry designer. I also dabble with weaving (card and inkle).

I have always liked the look of chainmaille and finally learned to make it on my own about 12 years ago. Then I put the skill away and promptly forgot about it. In 2002 I was looking for something to get involved in. Chainmaille immediately popped into my head, but i didn’t want to make clothing anymore. I wanted to take it a step further and make something functional and pretty for everyday use. So I taught myself some basic chain weaves, and bought my first supplies. It has evolved over the years into what you see today. I hand weave each chain with two pairs of pliers and the occasional tweak of the old vice grips (everybody likes a girl with vice grips, right?). I love what I make and what I do.

I strive to come up with unique designs or at least what I think are unique designs. Mostly I am inspired by the beads I choose, although color inspires me as well as people and the fashions they wear.

My pieces are mostly one of a kind, although some of the pieces that don’t have beads are repeated. The materials I use come from all over the world. I choose the beads carefully and usually (in the case of the focals) only buy one or two of any given one at a time. The beads range in material from natural stone to glass to vintage Lucite. I also will use wood, bone, horn, and just about anything that looks cool.

As far as my metals go, my main metal was and still is stainless steel, and for the longest time that is all i used. I branched out into aluminum last year when I started making Pride jewelry. The other metals that I use are titanium, niobium, sterling silver, copper, brass, and bronze. There are a few other metals available like gold, some other kinds of steel, etc. I’m happy to take requests for custom items.

Check out my Artfire shop.
Supplies available in my Etsy shop.

Tags: aluminum, beads, chain, chainmaille, clothing, glass, Handmade, jewelry, metals, stainless steel, stone, supplies, weave

Posted in Handmade Harbor