Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Fun New Material... Or Not

It has been over a year since my last post, but it's time for me to get back into it!

Look at the photo below. What do you think it is?




Yes, it is a VK chain. Look closely. What do you think it's made with?




Imagine a hook and a worm dangling at one end.... Yes, fishing line.

I'd heard of one woman using hemp to make VK, and ever since I've kept my eye open for unusual materials to experiment with. We had some fishing line hanging around the apartment, so the next step came naturally.

Some things that I thought would be interesting were the subtle color and translucence of the line. I also thought that maybe it would make for a chain that couldn't be squished, which is one drawback to standard wire.




However, as soon as I began making it on the dowel, it proved unruly. Keeping the first rows of loops from un-looping nearly gave me carpel tunnel. While it got easier after I established a few rows, you can see in the above photo that the resultant length of VK also didn't want to keep a straight shape.




I couldn't resist at least trying. I don't regret it in the least. But I certainly won't be making any jewelry with.