This collection is full of great holiday gift ideas – particularly for the woman who enjoys jewelry with a modern Victorian flair.

After producing a beautiful Byzantine weave bracelet which I still wear quite often, I took a Persian Chainmaille class.  Unlike the user-friendly Byzantine weave, I could not seem to fully wrap my mind – and my suddenly awkward fingers – around the more challenging Persian weave.  I decided then that as much as I admire the look and craft of chainmaille, I will leave it to the experts – people like Kimberly and Andrew, the husband and wife creative team of Chainmaille at MBOI.

Kimberly and Andrew make it look easy, but they’re constantly pushing the boundaries of their craft and creating innovative designs.  They even coil and cut solid wire to create their own rings, precisely sawing and cutting the wire for perfect closures.  Working with an assortment of metals, including silver, copper, bronze, stainless steel, and aluminum, they create their chainmaille designs using a variety of weave patterns, and often weave several metals together to create subtle or dramatic contrasts. 

 My all-time favorite Chainmaille by MBOI design is the Sterling Silver Full Persian Necklace with Black Rose.  This dramatic statement piece features a Full Persian 6 in 1 pattern with a black rose lampwork focal bead.  The black rose is framed by two sterling silver wire-wrapped leaves.  This is the kind of necklace that anyone would be proud to wear, but I don’t think I’d ever want to put it away in a jewelry box at the end of the day.  Instead, I would have to display it as the piece of art that it is.

 In addition to being accomplished chainmaille artists, Kimberly and Andrew are also the creative team behind Makin’ the Best of It, where they sell painted glassware and home decor.  As if that didn’t keep them busy enough, they run the Handmade Artists Forum and shop, where they nurture and support the work of other handmade artists.

Kimberly and Andrew embody the spirit and the passion of the handmade community.  That’s why purchasing a piece of chainmaille jewelry from Chainmaille by MBOI or a delicate set of painted wine glasses from Makin’ the Best of It is more than just a business transaction – it’s an investment in a one-of-a-kind work of art and an acknowledgement of the craftsmanship and integrity of handmade art as a whole.

I’d like to extend a big thanks to Kimberly and Andrew for being such an inspiration to the rest of us.

When she’s not making jewelry and accessories for her Artfire shop, Shannamarie works as a costume technician, and calls herself “a total theatre geek.” She creates ”Victorian style jewelry with a modern flair,” and enjoys working with a variety of materials in unique patterns and compositions.  My favorite items in her shop include her colorful rings, especially her Bohemian Lucite flower rings.  They’re a perfect addition to a summer wardrobe – equally pretty with jeans or a sundress.  She’s running a 15% off “Christmas in July” sale now – don’t miss it!    

   

Silent Noon by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, –
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: —
So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love

Don’t forget, ultimately this weekend is not about barbecues and shopping – it’s about honoring our veterans and their families.  Do you know someone who has a loved one serving overseas?  Let them know that you’re thinking of them this weekend.

  Last week Speranza Jewelry donated a pair of amethyst and silver earrings for a raffle at the LBD  ”Martini Madness” event, held at the Loews Hotel in   Annapolis.   The photo of the raffle table below is courtesy of Cara McKenrick, the fabulous new director of the Annapolis chapter.  Cara hung the amythyst earrings from the martini glass seen on the left side of the photo – a very stylish presentation.  To learn more about the Little Black Dress Club, visit http://www.lbdclub.com/.

Annapolis LBD Club Martini Madness Raffle, Mar. 31, 2011