From the moment I picked up two pairs of pliers and started crafting my first chainmaille bracelet I was immediately hooked.

Most recent Kiva loan: https://www.kiva.org/lend/1017459
$25 to Isabela (of Grupo Las Inalcanzables) in Guatemala, a 29-year-old single mother of two, to buy yarn & thread for weaving traditional clothing that she sells to support herself and her children.

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I started selling on Etsy in 2007. After taking a break, I have reopened with renewed aspirations: to offer fine chainmaille jewelry in bronze and other alternative & more affordable metals such as anodized niobium (along with sterling silver, of course), and to help give back. Through my various shops on Etsy I have, as of January 2016, made over 290 Kiva.org loans totaling $7,500.

In chainmaille, small metal rings called “jump rings” are woven together, one by one. A ring is opened with pliers, worked into its proper place, and then closed. The final result is a chain or mesh in a weave that may be very simple or quite complex. Chainmaille is simultaneously intricate and delicate, yet strong and substantial. As a jewelry-making technique, chainmaille has seemingly endless possibilities. When crafted to perfection, a chainmaille bracelet is an amazing thing, mesmerizing as it bends and moves and molds itself to your wrist: it almost feels alive.

Chainmaille is a passion and a joy. Creating jewelry in traditional & new weaves and using these weaves as a starting point for my own designs, I strive to make jewelry that is as much a pleasure to wear as it is to behold.

I took time off to focus on my 20+ year career as a fine art book designer for museums and galleries, as well as trying my hand at several other forms of art and craft. In 2015, I found there was a palpable missing piece that is chainmaille and I again picked up my pliers and rings.

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• 10% of all sales will be loaned through Kiva.org. Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. I choose to lend to female artisans and entrepreneurs, particularly to those individuals in vulnerable or impoverished areas of the world who would otherwise be unable to secure the funding needed to pursue their dreams—to earn money to support their families, further their trades, make improvements to their homes, and send their children to school. Since loans must be made in increments of $25, I set aside 10% of each purchase until I have enough to make a loan. To see the loans made from sales of Crescent Maille (and my other crafting ventures before this), you can visit my lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/cMaille