Metal pants

One thing that's troubled me for a while is how I can take what I do to most of my clothing and apply it to a pair of pants. Jackets are easy to modify. So are gloves and boots. But pants? That's tricky.
But I found a way. I got a pair of side-laced leather jeans (which were pretty sweet to begin with), and put a swatch of chainmail under the laces. The result? This:
Initially, I just removed the laces and replaced them with the chainmail, but that made it look too much like a bright silver racing stripe. Not exactly what I'm going for. Putting the laces back in broke it up a little bit more, with a most pleasing result.
I haven't weighed the pants yet, but I estimate they're somewhere about 6-7 pounds.
I don't plan on putting a stock of these up on the store, since I have to buy the pants myself first. However, if anyone wants a pair, I'd be willing to do a commission.

Custom belts!

I recently made this belt as a commission for a member of a forum I'm part of. It's 43" long, and features Baphomet encircled by tiny skulls on the buckle.
He had these words to say upon receiving it:
"The belt is here. The belt fits well. The belt is now controlling me. Seriously, the second I cinched the belt closed, I felt the eerie dark power emanate down my crotch into my nether regions, imbuing my junk with a mystical ability to totally kick ass. IT. IS. FUCKING. METAL."

Not bad, eh?

~Alex, The Metal Artisan

A mighty work!

A few weeks ago, I produced what I consider to be my journeyman project: A chainmail shirt. I had been working on it for about eight months, but the vast majority of the work was done between January and April. Altogether, I'd estimate it at about 40-50 man hours of labor.
The end result is naught but one thing: beauty.


This photo has a bit more glare than I'd like, but it gives a decent front overview of the shirt.



This back shot highlights what I consider to be the Pièce de résistance of the shirt: the scale mail shoulders. Each contains about two hundred scales, and is fastened to the shirt all along the edges to prevent them from flopping around.


Both the side laces and the belt serve the same dual function: firstly, they tighten the shirt around the body so as that less of the weight rests of the shoulders. Given the weight of chainmail, it makes for a tremendous difference in comfort depending on whether the belt is fasthened and the laces are tightened or not.
Secondly, it makes the shirt look more interesting and be something other than endless expanses of gray steel. My main inspiration for these additions were old-school motorycle jackets, and their plethora of fasteners and tighteners to keep wind out. I figured it should work for keeping weight off as well; and I was correct.



Well I couldn't very well not take a picture like this, could I?



After all that hard work, there's nothing quite like a refreshing bowl of cornflakes.

Introduction: Metal and Leather

Alex here, signing in.
I have two principle crafts: chainmail, and clothing modification. By clothing modification, I specifically mean via the addition of studs, spikes, and other accouterments a la the 1970's punk scene.
Both of these crafts stemmed from the same basic passion: I really, really like heavy metal. There's nothing quite like the melodious meedley-meedly of a good guitar solo to set the soul at ease. About a year and a half ago, I was inspired with the notion of not only metal as music, but metal as a full blown visual aesthetic.
It began with a jacket; I wanted to get a biker style jacket and spike it out until it looked absolutely Beyond Thunderdome. But then I thought to myself, "hey, I need a good belt to go with this. " A belt made of chainmail. And so it began. And so it continued, until I looked like this.


The gloves have since been covered in chainmail as well.
Anyways, this goal of looking like a heavy metal album cover designed by He-Man villains has developed into an ever-expanding pursuit of craftsmanship. I've recently taken up leatherworking, and plan on learning metalworking and blacksmithy at some point in the coming months.
I've got a Deviantart gallery up here.
Most of what I've made has been recorded there in varying degrees of agreeable lighting.

Gini and Will: Maille 4 Saille

Hello! Gini and Will here. We're doing a joint posts because Will is busy with homework and exams. We each do several kinds of crafts, but today's post is about chainmaille!

This is what Gini is working on today:


It is going to be a bracelet to match these earrings:

We make several kinds of earrings including these:
Will made the ones on the left, Gini made the ones with dice.

We make all of our own rings from stainless steel wire, and we colour some of the rings with a blowtorch.

In addition to jewelry we have made other cool things like Will's yen keychains:
Which he made with 5 and 50 yen pieces from Japan.
We also both make dice bags:

This like this and more we will be selling in the future Etsy shop.

Maybe later Gini will post about knitting/crocheting, or Will will post about sewing.
That's all for today!