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Our September 18th meeting - Chain Maille -- was well attended by over thirty people. Mardee Verdina and her helpers did a great job teaching the class. Even us chain maille novices "got it" and were well on our way by the end of the evening.

Thank you Mardee and thank you everyone!

For your reference, the materials used for the class were,

Kits - 18 gauge jump rings, Size 7 OD (outer diameter)

Raffle kits - 14 gauge jump rings, Size 9 OD (outer diameter)

There are many web tutorials on chain maille and chain maille jewelry. Do some searching and you'll find tons of tutorials and ideas. Have fun!

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The October 16th class will be a Beaded Snowflake. This is a very pretty project that looks more difficult than it is and you'll be in good shape for winter holiday gift giving. Supply list for snowflake

• Color A size Eight beads
• Color B size Eight beads
• Twelve bicone crystals, 6mm
• Fireline 10lb (difficult to find, will be available at the meeting)
• One beading needle, big eye if desired.
• Beading thread
• Scissors, mat, light, thread conditioner.

Tip: You can work with just one color bead, but I strongly suggest working with two colors while learning. Make sure your two colors contrast strongly, if you pick greenish-blue and bluish green, you might as well just work all in the same color.

This project does not use a ton of beads. I used two 3.5" long tubes of Eights and still had beads left over. It's worth your while to pay a little extra and get uniformly shaped beads with attractive finishes.

One of the attached pictures is of a snowflake worked in Size eleven beads. If you want to try Elevens, use 4mm crystals and 6lb Fireline. This is a more challenging way to learn, so please keep that in mind.

See you at the October meeting!