Sew you want to be an artist...

Yep as promised we have a project to show this week...

Do you feel like the choir isn't quite tough enough for you?

 Want to sneak a little 'heavy' metal into church?

Are you just a fan of shiny things?

Well then this project is for you

The chainmaille hymn book!

Ok, technically it is the chainmaille hymn book cover....

And yes there are still some modifications to go. But the first one is up, running and standing on it's own.

This first run is 16 gauge 1/4 inch aluminum rings sewn onto a denim backing. The book is held in with 2" elastic and some pockets at the end.

The pockets are actually proving to be problematic, both in getting the book in and in securing the sides of the chainmaille (that's why the ends look a little wonky)

The top and bottom do ok, but the sides with the pockets are a sewing problem... Of course anyone familiar with good blue jeans knows the riveting solution to the problem... rivets! (Ok, did you really think I was going to play a whole blog post straight?) I'm planning on replacing the pockets on the mark two with brass strip (abt 3/4 - 1 inch pieces) bent into a U and riveted to the end of the maille and the cloth backing this will make the ends look cleaner, hold the chainmaille better in that direction and add another color element. They also create a pocket that doesn't have some of the problems the cloth ones do (like tending to get sewed shut when you try to attach the maille).

The rings are aluminum so it's lighter than you might think and you can get a decent grip on it. Of course if you want to you could do brass, bronze, or stainless (you can also use anodized aluminum in pretty colors (Just in case you want to convince someone you got your hymn book from the Tardis...))

In other news both Lisa and I are writing away. I've got both blogs running. My novella is driving me nuts but coming along. More about my writing in two weeks... Lisa is still working on the dissertation and will be doing three conference presentations next month (and more goodies in the works).

Any one thinking that's all the mischief around here has probably forgotten what tomorrow is (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...Irish heritage... and Patrick for a first name... I'm just saying...).

But that is another story... (hey any chance to make a Conan reference...)

Seriously that's it for today. See you next week (unless Lisa forgets again...don't worry  Lisa actually wrote that.)