First Friday and Photo Shoot!

Hello!The first weekend in July will be a busy one this year! Not only are we in the 4th of July Parade held on the 5th of July. On the 3rd we will be participating in the First Friday Art Walk here in Bemidji MN.  Basically, different businesses in town will host local artists to show their work in a self-guided art tour throughout the town. You can look at the Watermark Art Center website for more information on all the different locations and who else will be featured. The Least of These Boutique will be hosting us along with another artist. (whose name we don't know yet) Be sure to check out their facebook page!

And! We did fun photo shoot the other day to show off some of our armor pieces so be sure to check it out in our NEW photo gallery!

Extra! Extra! read all about it!

Hello! We are very excited to announce that we will soon have jewelry in City Drug located International Falls. This will be the 3rd shop we have jewelry in, not including Etsy. Just a small selection of cross necklaces for now, but we are hoping they do well so that we can expand the available options later.

   We are also planning something new this year. Joining forces with our friend and fellow chainmailler Dan Krueger, we will be walking in the 4th of July parade here in Bemidji, MN. So, if you live in the area and want to wear some of our chainmaille and help us out message John on our facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/JohnsChains

Be sure to check out Dan's etsy page! https://www.etsy.com/shop/KreationsbyKruegers

Belts and Bronze

John has been busy preparing the silicon bronze rings for his grant project that he mentioned in his last post. To prepare the rings he uses pliers to partially open about half of the rings, and close the other half of the rings making the two ends flush. All together they will total to be around 60,000 rings for the Shirt, Coif and Mantle.  I have been working on something we haven't done before, women's belts. I am just starting off with a simple design to see if it is something that people are interested in.

  

Also! This weekend we are beginning preparations for Art in the Park coming up in the middle of July. Keep an eye out on our facebook page for updates!

#tbt (Throw Back Thursday)

Even Knights fall on hard times..circa 2007.

Region 2 Artist Grant

Finally back! The last month or so has been pretty hectic, on vacation, wedding showers, work, but I'm finally back on the crafting wagon! This February I applied for a $1,400 grant offered by our local arts council. My grant project proposal is to design and craft full combat grade bronze armor - made of a full length Hauberk and hood weighing 70lbs total. Well, much to my surprise, I was awarded the grant! So far with the grant money I've acquired a pretty neat piece of equipment called The Ringinator which allows me to saw cut all of my own Bright aluminum, bronze, copper, and brass. I can cut harder metal as well, but the time involved isn't as cost effective. Check out these pictures and videos (hosted on my facebook page) of the machine in action!

Be sure to like and follow my facebook page to keep up with my latest projects.

0:04 - Lubrication System

0:15 - Cutting 18 gauge bright aluminum

1:31 - Cutting 16 gauge bright aluminum