GBK's 2013 NYFW Luxury Lounge

Getting Ready For GBK's 2013 New York Fashion Week Luxury Lounge

So many rings!

I love when I receive my supplies.  It is like Christmas in July!  My latest creative endeavor includes the use of over 18,000 rings of metal and rubber awesomeness.  Needless to say, I will be a very busy bee these next couple of weeks.

Just Keep Weaving...Just Keep Weaving...

These rings will be transformed into gorgeous chainmaille bracelets.  These bracelets will be carefully handwoven by me using bright aluminum and white non-latex rubber rings.  I am very excited to announce that they will be included in the GBK 2013 New York Fashion Week Luxury Lounge.  

Stay on Target

So far, there have been many hours of love spent weaving already on this amazing project.  As you can see, I am not quite done crafting all of the chainmaille bracelets yet.  So there will be many more hours of chainmailling to go.  Did I mention that I love what I do?

Stacked Chainmaille Bracelets

White Stretch Chainmaille Bracelet - Alyce n Maille

Above is what the finished chainmaille bracelet will look like.  Once I am done, I will begin gorgeously packaging these bracelets to send off to NY.  I hope everyone that receives one loves it as much as I loved making it.  I guess I will have to just wait and see.  In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do.  Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!

I want to send a huge thank you to The Artisan Group for sharing this wonderful opportunity with me for my work to be included in GBK's 2013 NYFW Luxury Lounge.

Through the Looking Glass - Who is Alyce n Maille

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, 
"and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Emerald Green Glass Caterpillar Bracelet

I think this is the scariest post I will ever have to write.  How does one describe oneself without sounding too pretentious or like a complete goofball?  I am not quite sure how to do that but I will try to do my best.

I guess I will start with a quick touch on who I am in my home life.  My name is Jen.  I am the "Alyce" in Alyce n Maille.  I am a married mom of many.  I say "many" because I count my furry and feathery babies too.  To be specific though, I have 3 amazing boys.  You could say 4 if you count my husband.  Anyone who can put up with my randomness is pretty amazing as well.  As for babies of a different kind, I have two dogs, two cats and two birds.  It is a full house, and if you have boys, you know how lively everyday life can be.  There is never a dull moment in this house.  Being the only female though can definitely be a challenge at times, but I wouldn't change a thing.  Professionally, I am a graphic artist and have been doing graphics for approximately 13 years.  I have a BA in Graphic Design and love anything pertaining to the arts.

For me personally, I like to absorb as much as I can from different sources.  I think it helps feed creativity.  That is how I found my passion for chainmaille.  Besides being beautiful, I think what drew me to it was that it is something that has been around for centuries.  You can look back and see it in various forms ranging from intricate armor to delicate jewelry.  The first piece of chainmaille jewelry that I actually saw was created using the dragonscale weave.  It was multicolored and I thought it was stunning.  After that, I had to learn how to make it.  I researched all over the internet about chainmaille.  It opened me up to a whole new world of artisans.  I found even more cool and unique ways to create chainmaille jewelry.  That was it.  I was hooked.  So I started making some pieces for myself.  Soon I had some interest from family and friends.  After selling some pieces by word of mouth, I decided to take the next step.  Being a graphic artist, I couldn't just go at it so simply.  I needed to come up with a shop name that fit my personality and what I want to sell.  Some say that I have a very active imagination.  I like to say that I am very "open".  Words, pictures and just about anything can trigger songs, thoughts and images in my brain.  That is the randomness I was talking about earlier.  In terms of chainmaille though, every piece has its own "Wonderland" story in my head.  Hence this is where the name "Alyce n Maille" was born.  So I setup a website and opened Alyce n Maille on Etsy in December of 2012.  It was the beginning of my new online adventure.  Maybe I will have to write about that in another post.  :)

Thank you for checking out my blog.

♥ Jen