Link It! Colorful Chain Mail Jewelry with Rubber O-Rings

It's a brand-new way of making jewelry, USing colorful new ma· terials to create lnnovatave textures and lntncate designs. Modern chain maJI designs for jewelry call tor rings that are more comfortable to woar-stlvor. stemless steel. rubber, or noopreno. I began working with aluminum and rubber nngs, rephcat ng the tradttional weaves. Then I started expenmenting with more and more rubber rings. How many could 11nclude In one piece? How could 1 connect them all? The answer was surpnstngly simple wtth jump nngs. of course! That settled, I was on my way.

When people see the Jewelry I've made on this style, the question I'm asked most often Is simply this: "Where did you coma up with this stuff?" My answer is that this type of jewelry denves from a httle tmagtnat•on and many hours of trial and error.

An art teacher for the past 20 years, I've teamed from students there is no single nght way to create. All the rules In art can, will, should. and must be brokenl "Look beyond the obvious, .. I tell my students. "Don't sottlo for your first or even your second idea Keep thnktng, looktng, and experimenting to make your creatton untque.

By manipulattng the geometric shape or a rubber nng, I designed what I cotned "the three basic ele ments." One basiC elemef'lt was tnangular. which stumped me. What kind of jewelry ts triangular? Then I remembered introducing my printmaking students to the works of M.C. Escher. and 1 knew 1 could tessellate any tnangle Into a rectangle

As I experimented, I combtned the basic elements into groups called u n•ts. From there. it was an easy matter to cold-connect units into a chain. Patterns emerged. Beginning w tth simple deSigns. the basic elements evolved to become the foundations for the colorful and varied bracelets. necklaces, and earrings. you'll fmd in this book.