We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kayla Aka Lady Evil Metals. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kayla below.

Alright, Kayla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Whenever someone asks me how to start their chainmailling journey, my best advice is to simply start. In my experience, there is no better way to understand a craft than to dive in headfirst and trust that you’ll figure it out along the way. The only skill that I believe is truly crucial for mailling is patience; as long as you have that, everything else becomes achievable. The process may seem intimidating at first but, I promise that anyone is capable of learning if they are willing to invest the time and energy.

I learned everything that I know today from the chainmaille artists who came before me. There are so many helpful videos, tutorials, and community spaces online that I have been able to utilize to hone my skills. I will never say that I was born in the wrong era because I feel so fortunate to be able to have all of this invaluable information at my fingertips. From weaves to full-blown projects, everything you need to become a mailler is available to you.

That said, it’s important to start by studying the basics and gradually build your skill level from there. I encourage beginners to practice simple weaves to get comfortable with their pliers and develop muscle memory. Once you master the fundamentals, you’ll realize that there is always more to learn. This is what makes the craft truly special; every time I pick up my pliers, I discover something new.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Kayla, also known as Lady Evil Metals, and I am a chainmaille crafter and content creator. Over the past five years, I’ve mailled everything from jewelry, decor, clothing, and sculptural works. Recently, I have begun to embrace my passion for sharing the process of creating fun, large-scale projects on social media.

I began my mailling adventure in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Like many others, I focused on arts and crafts to soothe my pandemic anxieties. However, I was introduced to this art form two years prior when I bought a wallet chain at a punk flea market in Boston. It was the first of many chainmaille accessories I purchased and, once it began to fall apart, I decided to try making a replacement. I spent hours and hours researching the proper weaves, techniques, materials, and tools. And as soon as I picked up my pliers, I was immediately hooked. Before long, I found an incredible community of chainmaille lovers, medieval makers, and crazed crafters to journey alongside me.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I learned pretty quickly from posting online is not to take things too seriously. When it comes to crafty content creation, I think it’s important to allow space for yourself to play and experiment. Especially in this era of social media and living under a perpetual cyber microscope, it can be easy to fall into the trap of overanalyzing and, as a result, end up limiting yourself and your creativity. Sometimes the things that you make can be fun simply for the sake of being fun.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The greatest compliments I receive are when people tell me that I inspired them to learn how to craft chainmaille pieces themselves. Being a part of someone’s creative journey is a beautiful gift, and knowing that I played a small role in encouraging them to invest in learning a new skill is something that I cherish. The mailling community is an extremely remarkable group that I am honored to be a part of and I’m proud to have the opportunity of welcoming other members into the fold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ladyevilmetals.bigcartel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladyevilmetals
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ladyevilmetals
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ladyevilmetals