This Story is a Stretch

And that subject line was a particularly bad pun. But this issue is all about my stretchy bracelets, and I couldn't help it. I've added new stretchy bracelet designs to the website, taken a ton of new photos, updated the entire stretchy bracelets section, and created a coupon especially for newsletter subscribers.

A fun thing I like to do with my chainmail weaves is to incorporate rubber rings into the weave. I love how bright and beautiful all the rubber colors are. But the main benefit of these rubber rings is that they make the bracelets stretchy and eliminate the need for a clasp. I can also assemble these bracelets fairly quickly since the rubber rings are already closed and don't need any more work. I therefore sell the stretchy bracelets at a significant discount to their non-stretchy counterparts. The rubber is latex-free so it's great for sensitive skins!

Above is a rare look at my rings out of the lightbox. I was very low on stretchy bracelets after my last show and it was time to make a whole lot more! The messy picture above is my starting point for these. I get the rubber rings from the same place (The Ring Lord) as the aluminum rings. The rubber colors are made to match the colors of the metal rings they have, and I think they go together quite nicely. Below, photographed in lightbox glory, is one of the completed bracelets that the mess turned into.

When I construct any chainmail, one of the first steps is usually closing a ton of rings. Chainmail rings are made by winding metal wire around a rod and cutting down the coil, either by wire snippers or saw. This creates loose rings they are neither open nor closed. The metal ring on the left shows this. The metal ring on the right is one I've closed. The rubber rings, on the other hand, are manufactured closed and stay that way. The purple rubber ring below is ready to use.

So now that I have a bunch of closed rubber rings and opened metal rings ready to use, what can I make with them? Below are my current selection of stretchy weaves!

The first stretchy bracelets I made back in 2017 used the Shenanigans weave. The way I construct the weave in its all metal variant is by first closing all of the large rings and then opening and weaving the small rings through. So it was simple to just substitute rubber rings for the large rings to start. Because the rubber rings in this weave are very large compared to the metal rings, the Stretchy Shenanigans bracelets are the most stretchy of the stretchy bracelets!

Shortly following the Stretchy Shenanigans weave were the Stretchy Half Persian bracelets. These are slightly tighter than the Shenanigans because the smaller rubber rings aren't quite as stretchy. The standard size I make has 36 each of the metal and rubber rings. Divisible of 12 are my favorite ring counts to use because they work great for patterns of 2, 3, 4, and 6. And 6-color rainbow patterns look great in stretchy bracelets.

In 2018 I added the Byzantine weave to my line of stretchy bracelets. I was a little hesitant to do this weave in stretchy style because the standard size came in at 11 units, one shy of my favored 12 count! Adding one more just made the bracelets too large for the average wrist size. But as shown above, I was still able to make a 6-color rainbow work with each color being slightly less than 2 units.

Also in 2018, I added Stretchy Box Chain bracelets. These are probably my most popular stretchy bracelet, and I'm not surprised. They are very detailed and have a total ring count of 192 rings. And yes, that number is also divisible 12!

The next to join the line-up of stretchy bracelets were the Stretchy Meeple bracelets. I used the Byzee Bees to Butterflies weave, which is a Byzantine weave variant, and stuck a meeple on it! I love playing board games and vending at board gaming conventions. So I just had to make some meeple jewelry. Although I did cringe a little while drilling holes in the little hands and feet of each one.

These were my selection of stretchy bracelets for several years until I added a couple more varieties in 2024. The first was Stretchy Helm Chain. This weave is my personal favorite in the non-stretchy format so I was excited to try to make it all stretchy. There are however a couple important changes I had to make in this weave's stretchy version. The first is that I used a thicker gauge for the tiny center rings in order to increase durability for the tugging that happens with stretchy bracelets. The second change was that I had to reverse which rings I close first in the assembly of this weave. I wanted the outer rings to be the rubber ones and those are usually the rings I open when making this weave. So making Stretchy Helm Chain feels like making backwards Helm Chain to me.

The last stretchy bracelet to join the rooster is Stretchy Sweetpea. But, just like the Stretchy Byzantine, this weave required an odd number of units for the average wrist size. It didn't look great for 2-color striped patterns, but with a count of 15, it works great for 3-color stripe patterns! In the construction of this weave, the rubber rings and metal rings always have to be at cross-sections with each other. Because the rubber rings can't open, they always need a metal ring to hold them together.

Last and also least... are the Half Persian Stretchy Rings. They are only "least" because they are literally much smaller than the bracelets. I added these a few years ago when a customer requested a ring-size of the Stretchy Half Persian bracelets. I used smaller rings and less of them to make these nice little rings. They've been a big hit at my shows, and I'm happy to finally have them available online now too.

In just a few days I'll be in Washington, DC for AwesomeCon! The floorplan of this year's show is different from the previous years, but I'll still be in Artist's Alley. Come and find me at table C52 if you're attending the show. And as always, check out my Shows page to see my full convention schedule.

• Apr 4-6, Washington, DC: AwesomeCon

• Apr 19, Boston, MA: Wicked Comic Con

• Apr 25-27, Milford, MA: Rising Phoenix Game Con

• Jun 18-22, Columbus, OH: Origins Game Fair

• Jun 27-29, Indianapolis, IN: PopCon Indy

• Nov 7-9, Providence, RI: Rhode Island Comic Con