Polishing the craft

I practiced the proper way to close jump rings without leaving a gap while making a box chain.  Bronze is a lovely material to work with, it's heavy and a warm gold colour.  The surprise is how different this piece looks in 1/4in rings compared to the same piece in 3/16in rings:

That's a difference in ring sizes of only one sixteenth of an inch in internal diameter.  One is compressed and locks up when it moves, the other looks like lace.  Probably the ideal ring size is halfway between the two, a ring with a 7/32 internal diameter.

I've slightly altered the design of my ThinkMat and come up with a Mark II where the six corner rings are metal, not rubber.  It jingles well and I've eliminated a possible point of failure.  I have black and red for sale right now, and I'll put up a green and blue hex soon.

A friend with a purple ThinkMat says it has already saved the lives of several unsuspecting people at her office.  I have mine acting as a protective shield to keep my programmers from dismantling the crystal skull 3D puzzle on my desk again.  If someone just happens to pop the top piece off and unscrew the bolt holding it together, the skull falls apart into 47 pieces, and has to be reassembled.