One By One

Hi all,
E has finally figured out that I'm doing something at my desk when I'm in my room. As you can see the rings are both numerous and extremely tiny:


They come unopened (but pre-made, as I cut that corner...and about 3 steps worth about 4 hours of work!)


Today I figured out why I'd been denting my rings (despite taping my rounded pliers). Thank goodness for the internet. When I saw I should be using "chain mail" pliers I was relieved to see that I have them (shown above). You grab the sides of the rings and essentially wiggle them together to close:


I'm attempting a very "simple" weave, the European 4 in 1, but it's my first time doing it, and the rings were a poor decision. After closing four, you put them on to another ring (hence the 4 in 1) and close that, making a "5-let" :


Nice scale, right? When I started this morning I had about 50 rings semi-closed (wrong pliers, so I'd been attempting to close them by hand - not always successfully!) which I re-did, plus some 5-lets. However, I had this much done from before:


And after another 3 hours of re-closing and doing lots of rings in the other steps, I ended up with this so far:
Now, I will have to expand each side still, so it will be approximately doubled in width. Also, I'm estimating that it'll have to be about 17 inches long (though I'll split the bottom...). Not to mention attaching all the glass pearls and beads I've yet to order, and it's going to be a big project. Oh, I'm also making 4 of them...yeah. Oh well, I have a year and it's fun. I'll keep you posted...
Hope all is well,
Steph