Chainmaille by Tora Jewelry

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Fixed my Photo Problem

For the past month or so I've been really struggling with my photos. Why? Because I couldn't find a decent tabletop tripod. Most of the ones I've tried are so cheap they break right away or doesn't stabilize my camera any better than I can on my own.

So after going through a few I asked my husband if he could make me one. He had the ingenious idea to use a broken gps mount. What makes this so great? It has a suction cup, so I can suction cup it to where I want. This has been really cool for getting aerial type shots, since I can stick it to the wall. It's also much easier to adjust the angle.

Here's some non blurry pictures I took with my nifty new tripod.

How Much Should I Pay for Chainmaille?

When I first wanted to learn chainmaille I went to the craft store and bought a $2 bag of jump rings and some $3 pliers and made a European 4 in 1 bracelet. I made a 7" long, 2" wide bracelet in half an hour. I thought it looked great, I planned on making more and selling them for $15. Then I started wearing it, first the bad closures scratched and kept opening. Then the cheap silver plate started wearing off and turning an ugly yellow color. So I started doing some research and talking to other maillers.

I learned about saw cut rings and good closures, my next European 4 in 1 bracelet took me about 3 hours to make, and the saw cut bright aluminum rings cost more than $2.  If I still charged $15 for this bracelet I'd be paying myself about $2 per hour. And after factoring in time for tumbling the bracelet to get any burrs off, re inspecting for good closures, time to take pictures, post the item online, packaging and shipping time and cost, plus transaction fees, well now I'm not really making anything.

So when you see a handmade chainmaille bracelet and want to know why it costs $60 ask the mailler how long it took to make and inspect the closures. If you read my last post you know how to tell a good closure from a bad. Chainmaille takes time to make, especially with good closures, and with anything handmade the time and skill of the artist is a large part of what you're paying for.