Chain Galore (Jon H)

My wife and I have been struggling to focus on our work this week, possibly due to the fact that we just returned from vacation. This turned around for the better yesterday. I have been a bit stressed about having a decent amount of inventory for ThrontonFest, but after yesterday, I don't know why I was worried.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." [Matt. 6:34]

I completed some bracelets I had crafted with the idea that I would make them in the local school colors. Since the cost of sterling silver has skyrocketed lately, it's not cost effective to make some nice dainty women's necklaces or bracelets. These I made with anodized colored aluminum and brite aluminum:

These will be one of the more abundant chaincrafted stock that we'll carry and will be selling for $10 each. I figure the high school kids will want to wear them.

I made this necklace and my wife kindly informed me it's not a dainty women's necklace:

                  "Heavy is good, heavy is reliable..."

I tried this to see how interesting it is that the copper and brass spiral around in an undending fashion. Sadly it wasn't as great as I thought of it in my head. Not so much the spiraling effect, but that when you put in on it bunches up and curls constantly because it's trying to unwind itself. I ended up undoing the spiral effect and I feel better about it having an owner that wouldn't have to deal with the bunching problem.

Things are coming along smoothly. I have two Knight's Chains to make for my really good friends Mary and Daniel, who run Crossbow and Bolt. They are receiving their Knighthood in archery within Adrian Empire. Before that though, I have this to tackle and it's almost half-way done:

It's good to be busy! Take care and God bless!

The short road to a public festival

ThorntonFest is coming up on May 21st and we're working hard to get a decent stock of crafts to sell. Today my wife and I prayed for greater focus in completing our tasks on hand and after our bible study, I returned to finishing a chainmaille bag I had begun. This was what it looked like:

The soda can's identity was kept secret for its own safety.

It somehow struck me funny that the "soda can" had a chain headdress on it. After amusing myself about this and realizing I will probably be the only one who sees this as funny, I got to the task of completing the chain bag. A few hours later and...

Voila! Done and done. It holds soda cans, bottles, dice, rocks, small children (not really), marbles, or any small objects you might need to throw at people (we do not condone ANY violence). Considering how many pieces I would like to have for our upcoming craft show, it is very gratifying to have this done and off my plate. Praise you Lord for keeping my hands strong and my mind focused!

Happy Resurrection Day! (Jon H)

What a week and a half leading to the day of the resurrection of our Lord! My wife and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to my cousin George and his wife Ashley's wedding. Before leaving we asked the Lord to bless our trip and to see His glory and presence in an area of the USA that we have never traveled to. So while we drove through snow, nickel-sized hail, and lightning, my wife read some crafting books and got the idea for these:

She crafted these because a friend of ours is having twin girls within the next couple weeks and we're sending these to her. We pray for her to have no complications with child birth and are happy because she has been blessed to have children with her husband after many years.

It's crunch time! We're beginning to create inventory for the upcoming ThorntonFest in Denver, Colorado.We would like anyone in our area to come meet us in person. If not, visit us at www.henningcrafts.com to see our full inventory and prices, we also have items at www.henningcrafts.etsy.com, and we are also at Facebook. Thanks and to God be the glory!

The Early Beginnings - (Jon H)

My wife and I enjoy life tremendously. It has its ups and downs, but we look up to Christ in all things so that the downs become a perspective to the idea that our lives are actually pretty far from truly being down or in a rut. I come from a CNC machining background, my wife from a CPA background. What we greatly enjoy is crafting, and the items we craft we give thanks to the Lord that we have the hands to make them and the minds to create them in almost any fashion the buyer sees fit. Our only limitation really is the tools we have at our disposal. I keep trying to convince my wife we need an embroidery machine to expand on our clothing potential, but she reads me perfectly and sees that, although there's potential for embroidering business income, that really what I want is a machine with a computer that I can program and run. Ah well, someday we'll get that machine.
What we enjoy creating for our customers are handcrafted cards for the holidays or for any special occasion or holiday. We also make simple renaissance attire for the person interested in starting in their local medieval group(s), and we also make chainmaille shirts and jewelery for medieval or modern day dress. We would implore that our readers visit the following links to see what we create. Thanks and good day!

www.henningcrafts.com , www.henningcrafts.etsy.com