How Do I Choose the Right Jewelry? - Chain Types

The use of chain in jewelry design has always been an important element.  One of the most common uses of chain is as a foundation for holding a pendant.  From the single diamond to an intricately woven wire pendant, chain has graced the necks of many women and men throughout the ages.  In more recent years, chain has become more popular and has, as a result, taken on new dimensions.  Here are some samples of the types of chain available on the market.


Cable chain:  also known as link chain, this chain consists of the same size round or oval links. This is one of the most popular styles for displaying a pendant or gemstone.

Ball chain:  also known as bead chain, resembles round beads evenly spaced along a piece of chain with a small space in between each bead.


Rolo chain:  this chain consists of round links usually the same size and connected together.

Figaro chain:  this chain has flattened links of several sizes, laid out in a repeating pattern.  Usually the pattern is 2 or 3 short links then a longer link.

Curb chain:  also known as gourmette chain, this chain closely resembles cable chain, but the links are usually lying flat.

Chain comes in many metal finishes and colors.  Fine silver, sterling silver, gold and silver plate are the standbys. But newer types of metals and finishes are being used too.  As the price of silver and gold increased,  additional types of chain were created for use in jewelry making: silver filled, gold filled, nickel, aluminum, steel and rhodium.

The chain category also includes more elaborate chain types, often combining forms of chain with other elements. For example, cup chain  includes a crystal or pearl in a setting that has been attached to chain in the form of a link.
Silver silk capture chain consists of fine wire knitted around tiny ball chain, capturing the light that reflects off the ball chain and adding strength to the knitted wire.

iKandies Unique Custom Jewelry incorporates many different chain styles and colors into their custom jewelry pieces.  Below are two examples of how we do this.

 Hundreds of tiny copper plated leaves dangling from antique copper plated chain serve as the backdrop for pearls and Swarovski crystals in our Copper Pearly Waterfall Necklace.  


 In our Copper Leaf Necklace, large copper oval links joined together with smaller round links provide the chain base for a copper leaf and boro glass.

To see more ways that iKandies Unique Custom Jewelry uses chain in their necklaces, bracelets and earring designs, please visit our shop at Etsy or our website at www.ikandies.com.

iKandies Adds Licorice to our Jewelry

Licorice?  Well, our name is "iKandies"!  But we don't mean licorice candy.  We're talking about Licorice leather or what is better known as "Regaliz" leather.  This is pronounced "reg-AH-leez" and has been all the rage in Europe.

The Regaliz bracelet component system consists of genuine Greek leather 6mm by 10mm in size and found in a variety of colors. High quality beads, caps and clasps in zinc and pewter are electro plated with 99.9% sterling silver.  Ceramic large hole beads and rubber rings add color and style options to each bracelet.  The nature of these bracelets make them appealing to both men and women.

Seen first at the 2012 Bead and Button Show, iKandies began noticing more and more bead supply stores offering these components.  So we tried our hand at making a woman's and a man's bracelet and here's the results:

Men's Regaliz Leather Bracelet

Women's Regaliz Flat Leather Bracelet

The Regaliz system includes ceramic beads, rubber rings and other pieces to adorn and finish your leather bracelet creation. We decided to create sterling silver metal slides for the Men's bracelet.  The sterling pieces were textured, annealed and then formed into slides that would fit on the leather cord.   For the woman's bracelet, we textured, annealed and oxidized a copper component to attach to two strands of flat Italian leather.  A Swarovski flat back crystal was glued to the copper piece, creating an eye catching focal point for this bracelet. 

We were able to attain quite a bit of leather from our supplier, Primative Earth Beads, so we'll be making more of these luscious bracelets!  Check out our website for these and other fine pieces of jewelry.

Back From Bead Fest - It was a success!

We just got back and iKandies wanted to share our experience at our first Interweave Bead Fest.  While much smaller than the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, it was still a large venue with much to enjoy.  Our first stop Friday afternoon was the Bead Expo in the Great Philadelphia Expo Center.  Over 300 vendors were represented selling  gemstones, chain, glass, crystal, pearls, metals, findings, and everything in between. A shopper would need several days to make the rounds to all the vendors....

Where do I start?

... So we tried to visit as many of them as we could.   We brought home a few new items ...

Gemstones

Crystals

SilverSilk

New Tools

We also took a few classes and here's one of the bracelets we made, "Wild Woman Bangle" taught by Debora Mauser.  It combines pure copper with brass, sterling silver, Swarovski cyrstals, and found objects such as nuts and bolts.

Our overall experience was great and we really had fun learning new skills.

iKandies is blogging again!

Well, it's been a long time since I posted on iKandies Beads on the Block blog. Been working on our website and Etsy site, and boy, did they need a remake!  Our website, iKandies, has been reduced to just a few informational pages.  A sample of our jewelry designs that are for sale appear on the home page but traffic is being redirected to our Etsy site.  The iKandies site provides information about our company, our designers and our shop policies.  We also feature new designs we've added to the Etsy site. 
   Over 60 items are now available for sale on our Etsy site.  We've added newer, more descriptive photos of our designs.  We are featuring a sale at least once a month and are offering special coupons for first time buyers once they make a purchase. 

Abalone and Sterling Necklace

Fall Acrylic Necklace

Here's a sample of two of our newer listings:






We plan to add new items on a regular basis so please visit  iKandies and our Etsy shop today!