Information

About Me

My name is Lorraine Menard. I'm a jewelry designer working primarily in chainmaille. I live in the state of Virginia with my husband Michael and our menagerie of cats.

If You Live in the Area

If you live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, then you can see and purchase some of my chainmaille jewelry at Wild Wings Nature Store in Newport News, Virginia. It's a great store to shop in, especially if you want to find gifts not everyone has.

What is Chainmaille?

Chainmaille is composed of metal rings linked together in a dizzying number of different ways called "weaves". It started as a way of weaving metal cloth for armor, and has also become a beautiful way to make chains for jewelry.

Materials

I make most of the rings used in my chainmaille jewelry myself. I coil wire around various sized metal rods called mandrels and then cut through one side of the coil with a very thin saw blade. The result is a pile of beautiful metal rings just waiting to be woven into jewelry. A well made, high quality chainmaille ring will have such a clean cut that the point at which the two ends meet becomes almost invisible when they are butted together. The metals I use to make most of my rings are sterling silver, 14k yellow gold-filled, copper, and anodized (colored) niobium. I also use a wide variety of glass and gemstone beads in my work. A lot of the beads I use are from my personal stash that I've had for years.

On the subject of gold-filled wire, please do not confuse this with gold plating. Unlike gold plated items, gold-filled wire has a very thick layer of gold bonded to a metal core and unless you gouge the wire (why would you do that?), you will not have any problems with it. Gold-filled wire is an excellent way to get your gold without paying too much of your hard earned cash to get it.

I will always give a detailed description of each piece of jewelry I offer for sale, and I will make the description as accurate as I possibly can. If you have any questions regarding a particular piece for sale, don't hesitate to contact me. 

Caring For Your Jewelry Purchase

After I complete each piece of chainmaille jewelry made of silver, gold-filled or copper, it gets tossed in a vibratory jewelry tumbler with some stainless steel shot, some water, and a squirt of soap until it shines, shines, shines. Not only does this make the jewelry pretty to look at, but it also hardens the wire rings and makes the piece stronger. In the unlikely event that you don't have a jewelry tumbler laying around (doesn't everyone?), you can easily polish up your chainmaille jewelry purchase any time you like with some baking soda, water, and an old, soft toothbrush. Or, in the case of sterling silver or copper, you can let the piece tarnish naturally. I have a watch band I made of sterling silver that I wear every day and I prefer its darker color to a shiny silver.

Jewelry made with anodized niobium should not be cleaned in the same manner as silver, gold-filled and copper. The process of coloring niobium does not involve dyes of any kind. The niobium is submerged in an electrolyte bath with current passing through it. The voltage setting is what determines what color the wire appears to be. This "color" is actually a layer of oxide that produces an effect called "light interference". Your eyes see a particular color based on how thick the oxide layer is and how light enters and exits that layer. (Thus ends the chemistry lecture.) This layer of oxide is very tough, but it can be scratched off with some effort. The best way to clean off any dirt or body oils that may accumulate on anodized niobium jewelry is to simply swish the piece around in some warm soapy water, rinse completely, and then let it dry.

Chainmaille Jewelry Weaves

This is a list of the chainmaille weaves I have used in making my jewelry.


Click here to go to the Chainmaille Jewelry Weaves page for more information on each of these weaves.