44 days until Christmas!

I hate to add to all the holiday noise that is already out there...but we just got 2 inches of snow and it's really hard not to be thinking about what is coming up next! This last year we have taken a break from doing any art shows. John and I have just been working on getting some new ideas, and making plans for doing more are shows than usual this coming year. So, to get back into the game we decided to be a part of Holidays by Hand. It is being held in the Bemidji Boys and Girls Club on the 6th of December. There were a lot of really good booths there last year (lots of fudge!) and I am sure there will be more this time around.

I'll be posting pictures of all the seasonal items we have been working on soon.

Heavier Metals

Oops! it's been a month.We have been busy making some new designs, and trying to get organized to do more art shows next year. (it's very exciting) John has been working on using more heavy metals in his pieces making them a little more expensive, but also higher quality. While I have been working on building more inventory for our smaller less expensive items. Before I unleash all the pictures we took I'll let John explain more of what he has been doing. -T

Hey, John here, I've been working on improving my skill-set by working on several new projects. As T said, I have been trying to include more base metals to make my work more substantial. Aluminum is lightweight, relatively cheap, and comes in very appealing colors, however I feel the beauty of steel, bronze, brass, copper, and titanium to be unmatched which is why I am expanding my collection to include a much wider variety of jewelry in these metals. I'm getting back to the core of the maille arts where bronze, iron, and steel were the primary armoring metals used. - J

As Promised....

Here are the pictures of John's stainless steel and bronze edged chainmaile shirt. (a.k.a Haubergeon) It weighs about 20 lbs. He is entering this shirt and a small bronze bracelet (which I did not get a picture of before he entered it) in the Watermark Art Center Member's show, here in Bemidji.

(building a base for the shirt display)

Renaissance Festival 2014

John completed his stainless steal shirt, it only took 29 hours.We had an awesome time at the Renaissance Festival, and we bought a few more things for our costumes next year! We watched a joust and the danger show. And the wine booth blew a horn and sang happy birthday to me. Also! I caught a mini marshmallow in my mouth that was shot at me on the first try. John took a couple tries and eventually caught one too. We got plenty of compliments on our chainmail and decided that we need to bring business cards next year!

This is us in the Kings dungeon. More detailed pictures of John's shirt will be posted later.

Road trip!

John and I just got back last night from Illinois. We went there just for the weekend to go to my cousins wedding! (spent most of it in the car) For their wedding present we decided to give them a set of candle holders, and a bottle of wine. Problem is we only had one candle holder made.So, on the car ride there John taught me how to make a candle holder. While he spent most of his free time working on his shirt for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. He has the front panel completed after 14 hours. Hopefully he can get it finished by this weekend!