Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Dubs.
Hi Alexandra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My interest in chainmail started when I was really young and my sister took me to renaissance faires. My sister also made chainmail as a hobby and this got me super interested in it. I always loved chainmail, but I didn’t try making it until my sophomore year in college. Once I tried it, I couldn’t stop making it. The first piece of chainmail I made was a bracelet, and the first piece I sold was a dice bag. After selling the dice bag, I decided I really wanted to see if I could make this a business. Now, almost three years later, I go to different comic cons and events as RPGMaille selling RPG-related chainmail. I will also be at both Suncoast Renaissance Festival in November and December, and Brevard Renaissance Fair in January and February. I hope to branch out to more renaissance faires and festivals in the future. I also take custom orders and sell my chainmail on Etsy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been the smoothest. When I decided to start my business, I was two years into a computer engineering degree. Since I wasn’t sure if the business would work out, I did not want to stop pursuing my degree. This left very little time for me to devote to my business. During the school year, I would not be able to attend many events and often didn’t have time to put anything new up on my Etsy shop. This definitely made it hard to grow, but I just graduated and now get to dedicate all of my time to the business and making it succeed.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have only been making chainmail for three years, but in those three years, I have learned so much to launch my career. During the summers I work as an apprentice for another chainmailler where I make products and materials for his business. This has given me the opportunity to learn from one of the best while also growing my business. As an apprentice, I made myself stainless steel scale mail armor that took about 100 hrs. to make. This is definitely what I am most proud of. I got all of it done in the course of about 2 months which I never expected to be able to do on top of working and keeping up with the business. What sets me apart from others is the niche that I focus on. Many chainmaillers focus on jewelry or armor, but I mainly focus on accessories that can be used in roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons as well as accessories that can be used for LARP. This includes dice bags, dice boxes, dice keychains, dragons, potions, DNA, and other various accessories.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
That I have only been doing chainmail for about 3 years and that I recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. Most people that don’t already know me from school don’t expect me to be a computer engineer doing chainmail.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/rpgmaille
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rpgmaille/
Image Credits
Alexandra Dubs
