What I have been up to. . .

What I have done. . . 

So I know I have not posted anything for some time now. Life and a few other reasons have prohibited me from doing so. 

ANYWHO. . . here is my latest update!

Finished commissions:

PICTURE TIME!

I have done quite a bit of work! Here we see multiple chain maille bags. Some new full persian copper bracelets. There is also a Half Persian 4 in 1 copper and brass 32" Knights chain. 

What's new?

Well I now make my own rings! . . . (wait for it). . . 

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Ok all serious now. 

Now that I make my own rings I am able to do some AMAZING weaves sooner then I would normally. This also allows me to actually make some stock!

New card reader?!

I have a card reader! YES! (fist pumps) Now I can actually accept most major credit cards. . . lets see where that picture is. . . 

Now that I have a card reader I will have to have a lil disclaimer stating that I will not use card numbers for any use but the transaction that you get a receipt for. Punishable by law of course.

What I have done since the commissions:

Here are more pictures of some of my latest work. Here we will see some Byzantine, Full Persian mini chains (can be made into earrings, charms, and such)

Yes that is a penguin in chain maille armor. What now!!!

On a side note, thanks to a friend, I now have a white seal plushie that I plan to put in armor and make a chain maille saddle for him to clip on at times. Then I want to get a lil Halbred, a Shield, and a Helmet.

Sexy I know!


Well that is all for me right now!

Remember to check out Majestic Maille on facebook!

Whats New. . . Portland Wizardworld Comic Con O.o

Comic Con

I have got the go ahead from the managers from the Wizard World Comic Con that is coming to Portlandfor the FIRST TIME! Great balls of FIRE this is HUGE! 

Here the link to their website
Wizard World Portland Comic Con Website

This is a big event for me! I have so far 2 other firends of mine putting in the money for the booth! They will help me sell and talk to people since those that know me, knows that I am not that great on this.

Together the three of us have come up with a lot of good ideas for what to make and what colors to use. I am always open to new ideas and would love feedback!

What would you like to see color wise?

I am planning about $300 of supplies! Now I am going to be getting a ton of mixed sets of rings of different sizes so I can make many many different things!

The booth ispaid for already but I could use help paying for the materials! For those that wish to assist with the materials, let me know! I have some good ideas on paying you back for the assist as well as some products that you will get for free depending on your donation. Think of it like a kickstarter without being directly on kickstarter.

Something new~!

I will be doing something new. A Candy Cande Cord with a flower to make a complete bracelet.

Overlapping Scale Flower with a Candy Cane Cord Bracelet back

Front of the Flower CCC Bracelet

Overlapping Scale Flower

The flowers are relitively quick to make which is GREAT! I will be making some more of the Candy Cane Cord (CCC) in different colors!

Well let me know what you think! I will be posting pictures of the event and such!

What is on the Table 10DEC2012

So I am back with another "What is on the Table" article! Today I will be going over what I have completed over the last week, what I am working on, AND future works!

What has been finished:

So here are a few commissions I have finished this past week! 

Flower Power on a clip commission:

First one that was finished was a Christmas Present for my friends 3 nieces. This commission was for 6 dual colored Flower Hairclips! He was able to get all 6 for $30! What great value! Now let us seem some pic (or it never happened right ~_^ )

These came out GREAT! Took me about 2 hours to complete (these where my first ones EVER!) but I think they look great! 

As you can see they are in sets of 2, we have from left to right a Pink and Blue set, a Blue and Purple set, and lastly a Pink and Purple set. Each one has a hairclip attached (was tricky trying to figure out the best way for the hairclip. . . )

The Dragon scale commission:

The second one that I finished for one Orion Miller. Now this commission was for 2 sets of Dual Dragon Tear Earrings, and 2 Necklaces with a special scale combination AND a celtic star (I came up with the design and everything!)

Once again lets go to the pics!

The Dual Dragon Tears

Celtic Stars

The entire commission

18" and 24" Euro 4 in 1 Celtic Star Scale Necklaces (need better name. . . )

Now the Dual Dragon Tear Earrings are something of my own design (some one else might of done it but I have yet to find one named like mine) They are 2 scales normally of different colors that are connected by a 2 in 2, 5 link chain with the small scale colors being a 2 ring Mobius Flower (It is a personal touch really, I am a sucker for Dragonscale and Mobius. . . what can I say. . . )

The stars are actually the connecting point for the toggle clasps for the necklaces, so the necklaces are suppose to hang either right above the cleavage, or right between, and instead of connecting it in the back, it is done right there in the front! 

Now the earrings did not take all that long (about 15-20 minutes in total) but the necklaces. . . those took a bit. Since I have never seen one of these (they are my own personal design so of course I have not seen them) before, I had a few interesting issues come up. Thankfully I was able to "smooth" these out and voila, commission complete!

Side Project #1:

A side Project i have been working on are some earrings to throw onto my Etsy store as well as a way to have easy access to some product on hand.

Here are some pics:

3 sets of Shaggy Loops (I call then Dog Ears)

A bunch of my second favorite earrings the Mobius Flowers! 

Now you have already seen my Dual Dragon Tears so I dont think I need to show them off again but I am going to finish the Red and black one I have in my box so that I have an example of it (just need the time)

Now the Mobius and the Shaggy Loops (Dog Ears hence forth) are made from a 16g 5/32" anodized aluminium rings! 

I like to think that I did a few good color combinations (what do you guys think?)

Now my earring prices HAVE to be updated, on the other page but the prices for these are for the Mobius, $6 per pair. The Dog Ears are $8 per pair, and the Dual Dragon Tears are $10! 

Well lets move on shall we?

Current Commissions:

So now I have only 1 commission that I am working on (Yes Cody this is yours). I am working on 5 large Dual Scale Flowers (here lets take a look at what they will look like)

Dual Scales Both large

Dual Alternate Scales (one large one small)

These are both pains to do. The integeral issue with scale flowers is that everything is based on what size rings you use (I do not have a big enough selection). Now they are being finished (slowly) and they will be done on time but they are time consuming and a bit painful but I love them so. . . . 

Free work:

I have a Copper Full Persian Bracelet that I am working on, just waiting for the material to ship in since I do not have any copper on me to do this in. . . will have to be REAL careful since it scratches REAL EASY LIKE!

Upcoming Commissions:

Now I only have one but it is for a Pink and White Full Persian Necklace with a T hanging fron the front and then a heart and then a J so it will be; 

FP;T;heart:J;FP 

(FP is full persian) 

That is it for me. If you have any ideas comments, concerns. Just let me know I am always craving feedback!

Remember to share my blog with your buddies! Get the word out!

Pricing breakdown

How I price:

Ok some of you are wondering why I have the prices I do. Well this is simple really. I use the prices I do based on a simplistic equation. This equation has what I consider my hourly wage to be ($10 an hour for the time being) cost of materials, and a 40% profit margin.

A lot of you saw the 40% and are freaking out! Why so high! you ask. Also simple. I am a new business, I need to get my name out there, I need to attend events so that I can sell more product, and I need to acquire more materials.

Now 40% is actually on the low end of most peoples pricing guides that do this for a living. I have seen 55% and up as the norm here.

Also some of you are thinking that I am getting more money then what my items and products are worth. So let me ask you a question and this concerns why I have a wage and a profit to my equation.

If I chose to do a different job that paid me $10 an hour instead of chainmaille then that would be my wage right? That is what the job considered my time worth to them. Same is true for this job. $10 an hour is what my time is worth to be doing this. The profit is as I stated to help expand my business!

Plans for my business:

Now for those of you who are looking at this and thinking that I may be a bit ambitious. . . well you are RIGHT! Lets start off at the current situation shall we.

For those that do not know I am a Homeless 23 year old in Portland Or. Now do not take this as a way to garner sympathy, I do not say this for that. Rather I would like you to see more of what I am trying to accomplish.

Currently I am working towards making over $300 a month in profit for at lest 2 consecutive months,  so that I can get a place to live. When you do the math the profit of $300 means that I have sold upwards of $1200 which should cover rent with roommates, and increasing my business.

I am also working on setting up several consignments and such with some very high end names in the Portland area.

Within a year I plan on hitting some major events in Portland and Washington. These include Ren Fairs, SCA events, and many many Cons.

I plan in the next 2 years to hit 2 MAJOR events in the US. 1 of them is a Ren Fair in Texas. There I am looking at sending roughly $12,000 worth of product and coming back with 2-3 times that (Not all of it will sell. . . ) The second event will be PENNSIC which is a HUGE SCA event (roughly 10,000 people at a slow PENNSIC) Here I will be taking as much product as I did to the Ren Fair in Texas and I plan on having a blast. I will also be bringing 2 of my models with me if the Texas Ren Fair pays off and it will be an all expenses paid trip for them.

Now a lot of you are wondering "Why the frack is he telling us this!" Well I believe that if you know my goals and what i am trying to accomplish, as well as from where I am coming from you will want to be apart of this and get your own Majestic Maille Custom piece done. This is no marketing ad or anything like that.

This is a simple show of how far I want to go with this. I have the ambition, the capability, the tools, the imagination, and the will to learn.