What We’re Weaving With: Enameled Copper

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One of the best things about chainmaille is the wide variety of metals you can weave with. Often, when maillers are looking for colored rings, they reach for the AA – but we like to switch it up a bit! CC14-EC-Loops

We recently started carrying a new size of enameled copper jump rings that are the size equivalent to our CC14 base metal rings. During our weekly employee mailling time, Weaving Wednesdays, B3 team member Jen made an enameled copper version of one of our favorite earring designs, Illusion Loops. (You can download the free PDF instructions for Illusion Loops Earrings here.)

Each metal has its pros and cons, but enameled copper rings are some of the brightest and most colorful you’ll find. We love ’em! Just note that enameled copper is quite soft, so these rings work best doubled or in dense weaves with little chance of a ring getting caught on something and pulled open.

We have just have a few colors of these rings right now, but will be introducing more soon. Tell us in the comments or email us at [email protected]: What colors of enameled copper would you like us to carry in this size? 

Happy weaving!

Chainmaille Tips and Tricks Videos: Ask Rebeca & How to Fasten a Toggle

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Rebeca gets asked a lot of questions about chainmaille. A LOT. And for good reason. She’s a pro! These questions come in through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and via email ([email protected]). Do you have a burning question about weaving? Inspiration and design? Tricky weaves? Using tools or different kinds of rings? Her favorite food? Rebeca is ready to field your questions about chainmaille, crafting, running a business and even her hair color…submit yours today!

Without further ado, here is the first episode of Ask Rebeca. What are the best pliers for making chainmaille?

Now, this video is not necessarily a formal Ask Rebeca episode, but we hear this question often. People tend to fiddle and get frustrated with the toggle clasps we love so much, so Rebeca shot this quick how-to video showing an easy way to fasten and unfasten a toggle clasp. Easy peasy!

Chainmaille T-shirts: Help select a design!

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Screen shot 2014-05-07 at 3.46.51 PMWe’ve long had customers request B3 t-shirts and upon discovering this very cool platform called Teespring, we decided it would be a fun thing to do for spring.  Instead of making just a B3 shirt though, we had our team brainstorm fun chainmaille-centric design ideas that we think you’ll get a kick out of.  Complete the survey to vote for your favorite out of 3 possible designs.  We will make the design that gets the most votes available through Teespring later this month.


Pictures are included in the survey of course but you may also wish to click on the images below to zoom in and see more details.

I-Heart-Maille     Maille-Nerd     Weave-It

It’s Chainmaille Contest Time: Show Us Your Hodgepodge or Surprize Creations!

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We’re not sure if it comes as a shock to anyone but us, but our Hodge Podge and Chainmaille Surprize sale packets are really popular. So much so that it made us wonder, “What do customers DO with all this?!” 

SALE-ALUM-HGEPGE-bigAre you making spectacular creations? Are you playing around and testing weaves? Do you just like sorting metals and sizes? Whatever the reason, we though this would be a fun excuse for a contest!

If you’re not familiar with these sale mixes, here’s the deal: Hodge Podge mixes are bags of base metal rings in various sizes; Chainmaille Surprize are bags of rings in various sizes, metals, colors and components. Because of the vast size/weight differences, it is difficult to know exactly how many rings are in each pack, but the total number should be between 200-500, with most packs having about 350 rings.

 

 

 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:



Make a project which primarily uses B3 Hodge Podge or Chainmaille Surprize rings. Please see the complete rules and details below for more information about qualifications.


Take a picture of your project and email a photo of it to [email protected]. Please provide your name and an email address we can use to contact you in case anything goes wrong with your submission—or if you are the winner of the contest!

Submissions will be closed at midnight, Wednesday, May 21, 2014, and are limited to 2 entry pieces per person.

 

The winner – voted on by the B3 team – will win a $50 B3 Gift Certificate and will feature YOUR project in a special blog post and possibly even future B3 ads to inspire fellow chainmaillers all over the world.



Complete contest rules and details: Submissions are limited to 2 per person and must use Blue Buddha Boutique Hodge Podge or Chainmaille Surprize rings as determined by Blue Buddha Boutique. Pieces do not have to be specially created for the contest but should be no more than 12 months old. Current employees and interns of Blue Buddha Boutique are not eligible for this contest. Contest entries are voted on by Blue Buddha Boutique to determine a winner. Submissions may be disqualified at the discretion of Blue Buddha Boutique if they are deemed inappropriate in any way. If a winner does not claim their prize within 15 days of notification, the second place winner will be awarded the prize.

Sale on Bulk Wire for Making Chainmaille

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Copper and Jewelry Brass Wire

As we continue to “clean house” and organize our space, we realized we have some excess wire that could use a good home. This is perfect for someone who makes their own jump rings or does other wire work.

The wire is on our sale page by the pound, but we are offering a better price if someone buys up everything we have in a single metal/gauge. So…if you’re trying to stock up on wire, this is a super deal. :-)

copper wire and jewelry brass wire on spoolsHere’s what we’ve got:

Copper 18 gauge – approx 65 lb @ $9.50/lb ($617.50)

Copper 16 gauge – approx 87 lb @ $8.50/lb ($739.50)

Jewelry Brass 16ga – approx 104 lb @ $9.50/lb ($988.00)

The copper is alloy C110, hard temper.
Jewelry brass is alloy C226, 1/2 hard temper.

A couple of important points about this wire sale:

1 – As this is a special sale price, these items do NOT qualify for the free shipping promo. We can quote you shipping based on your location, or you can have the items sent via your UPS or FedEx account number. If you’re local, by all means, you can come pick it up and save on shipping!

2 – As you can see in the photo, we have a few different size spools available. So if you don’t want the entire amount at once, we can sell you a single spool for a slightly higher per pound price (yet a lower price than the current listing on our sale page). Let us know what you’re interested in and we’ll give you an accurate count of how many pounds each of our available spools has.

  • Copper 18ga @ $9.75/lb
  • Copper 16ga @ $9/lb
  • Jewelry Brass 16ga @ $10/lb

3 – These items are non-returnable. Please make sure you really want the wire before purchasing! (You can always purchase 1 lb from the regular jump ring sale page to see if it meets your needs.)

To order:

Please email [email protected] or call us at 866.602.7464 to find out the current amount of wire available for the size you are interested in. The quantities listed above are approximate and are subject to change as people place regular orders and deplete the stock.