Chainmaille By MBOI » Blog

Chunky Sterling Silver Roundmaille Bracelet

Andrew — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:58:47 +0000

We have been busy putting out orders and working on other projects so we haven’t been putting up many new projects; so I would like to proudly show you our latest piece, you may have seen this before but not is this ring size and gauge. This is a sterling silver roundmaille bracelet made using 18ga awg 4mm rings, this is the chunkiest one we’ve made to date. Most of our roundmaille pieces have been either 19ga or 20 ga, so making this piece in 18ga was nice. It feels substantial on the wrist as it has a little weight. This piece was made as a special order for one of our returning customers. The bracelet is actually 9″ long as is it made to fit a man 6′ 6″ tall, so I just used my own wrist to size it as I’m 6′ 3″ and figured I’d be close enough LOL . In the new year we are planning on revamping this website and adding a whole bunch of new products. We have been so busy with shows and life in general that we neglected updating this site as much as we could or should. Anyway hang in there to the new year and hopefully you will see some pretty cool changes to site and pieces of chainmaille to make you smile.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

Andrew & Kimberly

Chainmaille By MBOI

Chainmaille on the HAFshop

Makin the Best of It Revamped

Andrew — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:24:32 +0000

Just a quick update here, Kimberly owner and founder of Making the Best of it has spent several days working on revamping MBOI’s website! I don’t know how she has time to do these things with all the custom wedding invitation and toasting glass orders but she seems to squeeze it in somehow. Take a peak at the new design and drop us a note or leave a comment so we know what you think.

For those of you who do not know Makin’ the Best of It is also the creator of Chainmaille By MBOI. The MBOI stands for Makin’ the Best of it. We choose to separate the two sites as the work is so different, we found it hard to mix painting and chainmaille LOL. Although hopefully we will be able to tie them together somehow. I know Kimberly is still wracking here brain on figuring out that one. Kimberly and her husband Andrew are the forces behind MBOI, Kimberly is the creative force and Andrew is the brute force. In other words Kimberly keeps Andrew in line. To learn more about MBOI check out the about us page or drop us a note.

Chainmaille By MBOI Feature on Copper Wire Jewelers

Andrew — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:30:50 +0000

Pretty cool, we are featured on the 5th edition of the Copper Wire Jewelers. Thanks so much guys for taking the time and attention to write such a lovely online magazine and include us!

The write up gives a little history on Chainmaille By MBOI as well as goes into our work outside our chainmaille business into our support of handmade in general.

Chainmaille by MBOI first started as Makin’ the Best of It which is the parent company if you will, hence MBOI. We then got this wild and crazy idea to start a forum to support handmade, then the Handmade Artists’ Forum was born. After that we went totally out of our mind and started the Handmade Artists’ Shop, these sites as well as our own shops have become our passion. Through a lot of blood sweet and tears we continue to work our butts off the support handmade and continue to create new pieces for our own collections.

Hope you enjoy the article and thanks so much to Lois for publishing it for us!

Sold and Relisted the Celtic Collection is Available again!

Andrew — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:04:01 +0000

Been busy remaking all the pieces in our Celtic collection and finally we finished. Take a peak and get them while there hot! LOL

Seriously the Celtic pieces have been a big hit, hope you enjoy them.

Thanks,

Andrew and Kimberly

Chainmaille By MBOI

Chainmaille By MBOI Hits the Road!

Andrew — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:32:04 +0000

We’ll we have been selling online and crafts shows for years now, but we never really put our jewelry in any brick and mortar shops until now.

We started last year some time in a local shop Idiosyncrazies located on Bay Avenue in Point Pleasant, NJ and have now included Hollyhocks located on West Clay Street, Suite C in Mebane, NC. Sharon of Idiosyncrazies and Teresa of Hollyhocks have been just phenomenal to work with, I’m so pleased with the experience so far. So if your in New Jersey or in North Carolina stop by and see our work up close and personal, you might also find some other cool treasures!

Byzantine and Tryzatine Chainmaille Bracelets

Andrew — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:54:28 +0000

Well we’ve been busy trying to keep stock up. Sales have been good and stuff just keeps going out the door. We just re-made our Sterling and Copper Tryzantine Bracelet and our Sterling Silver and Copper Byzantine Bracelet. These lovely bracelets sold at our last show on Saturday, so off to cutting rings and weaving away. Anyway the pieces have been re-made are currently in our polisher getting all bright and shiny. So there is still time to pick these up for Christmas.

Enjoy,

Andrew

Celtic Collection

Andrew — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:58:14 +0000

Well we have been really busy lately and haven’t had time to keep up with stock. That’s a good problem to say the least, but I recently had some time to remake our Celtic Collection.

I first made our Celtic Star pendant in Sterling Silver.

Then it was time to go a little bigger and we made the Single Celtic Star Bracelet . I love this intricacy of this weave and how expensive it looks.

Finally my favorite in this series the Triple Celtic Bracelet the only difference is 2 more stars, but this bracelet is really an eye catcher.

As always all of our rings are hand coiled and cut by us and are woven together with the utmost care. Chainmaille By MBOI has been producing quality chainmaille for quite a few years now and prides itself in being the top in the industry.

Steampunk Rocks!

Andrew — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:59:12 +0000

Many of you know I’m a steampunk junky and run a feature on the Handmade Artists’ Forum called Daily Steampunk. Well this is one of my favorite Steampunk Artists, Grand Design who helps out often with Daily Steampunk on the forum. CJ is heavily involved in the handmade world and has an Etsy shop well as an Artfire shop. Grand Design also spends a lot of time supporting her handmade friends on her blog, she does a feature called the The Handmade Tweet where she showcases some of the most amazing and talented artists on the net! Take a minute and show CJ of Grand Design some love she is truly and asset to the handmade community! Can’t wait till she graces us with her presence on the new Handmade Artists’ Shop as well.

Kitzbitz and NaLa two talented artists.

Andrew — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:15:16 +0000

Just wanted to drop a quick note about a couple of very talented artists Kitzbitz Art Glass and Jewelry By NaLa.

Both of these talented artists are members of the Handmade Artists’ Forum and participate in supporting handmade.

NaLa does creative jewelry creations such as these Cafe Mocha Flower Earrings

Kitsbitz makes these beautiful Handmade Beads like these Mojito with Violet Roses Lampwork Bead Set

Make sure you stop by and check out their shops and show them so love!

Handcrafted Artists are Underated

Andrew — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:01:58 +0000

I’ve been looking around Etsy and various venues at the handmade vendors that are out there selling their wares, and find that most artists I like but there are some I don’t. That’s expected I’d say I always been critical with what I call beads on a string. Some of the jewelers are just that beads on a string, how boring, but not Megan of Casto Creations her work is beautiful. It makes the beads on a string people, well look like beads on a string. It must be her vision to make that transition from stringing beads to a masterpiece. I especially like this necklace as it’s bold and elegant in the same breath.

You can also visit her blog to at http://www.castocreationsjewelry.blogspot.com/

I’ve been amazed about the quality of artists that have joined the new Handmade Artists’ Forum as they truly are in love with their work. Stop by and take a look at their creations and also check out the new HAF Blog.