Commission Chains

I began 2019 with the unexpected expense of a new car. To help make up for my depleted bank account and offset the monthly car payments, I decided to accept a limited number of commissions. Along the way, some interesting barter proposals were made as well. I've enjoyed making these chains for people, though I still feel guilty accepting payment for them!

My first commission was for a necklace and bracelet set for my friend Elspeth. These are silver-plated copper, double-knit, six-loop chains. The necklace is 27" and the bracelet is 11".

My second commission was for a 10" silver-plated chain, to be worn suspended between the brooches of a Viking apron dress. This was one of the barter commissions--I got a set of handles from Elska for a Hedby bag in exchange, and I'm super excited to work on that project!

My third commission was a daunting one. Snorri wanted a 30" necklace, but the length wasn't the daunting part. He wanted this chain made of fine silver. I've never worked with fine silver before, though I have worked with Sterling. Fine silver, as you might imagine, is expensive, so I was paranoid about making a mistake the entire time I was weaving it! Fortunately, despite discovering that fine silver work-hardens REALLY fast, I completed the chain without errors. This was another barter commission--I received a dozen beautiful arrows from Snorri in exchange.

My fourth commission was for my friend Janna. She wanted a 16" silver-plated necklace. That was a nice, simple project. It was unique among these commissions in that I delivered in person, and got to see her put it on right away! There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing someone wear and enjoy something you've made.

I posted process photos of all of these commissions on Facebook as part of my 365 Days of A&S Challenge, and it seemed like each post led to another commission request! Now on the docket, I have a silver-plated necklace for my friend Christi, and two Sterling silver bracelets for Atlantia's Royal Baker. I can get to work on Christi's right away, but I had to order the wire for the bracelets.

Elspeth's Blackjack

(c) Etienne le Mons

My latest leatherwork project was a heraldic blackjack for my friend Elspeth. She really likes her arms as rendered by Etienne le Mons (right), so I printed them out to use as a template for the tooling.

I thought it would be a relatively easy project, as far as the tooling went. Certainly easier than the semy of crosses on my last project! I discovered, however, that getting those flowers to come out looking like anything other than nondescript blobs was quite a challenge (one I'm not sure I completely overcame, to be honest).

I did a lot of the tooling for this project during downtime at work, which generated quite a bit of interest from some of my coworkers. That was pretty cool.

Once the tooling was done, I drilled the holes and stitched the blackjack together. Then I warmed the leather to 185 degrees in my oven before coating the outside of the jack with beeswax.
Once the wax had cooled, I mixed up the EnviroTex Lite and poured it inside the mug. When all interior surfaces were covered, I set the mug aside to dry for 24 hours. After that, I sanded the lip and inside surfaces before pouring in the second coat. After another 24 hours, I repeated the process for the third and final coat.

When the last coat was dry, I once again placed the mug inside my oven, heated to 185 degrees. As the excess wax melted off, I used a pastry brush to touch up where it had absorbed unevenly. This proved very effective, and created a pleasant, uniform, dark brown tone for the mug.