(Originally in two posts:
chainmail and
chainmail diagrams)
chain mail (or
chain maille):
flexible armor made of joined
metal links.
I've only recently
discovered the
fun of making this
armor and making my own
links to do so.
With simply a
metal dowel, a large amount of
wire (perferrably
silver, in an 18 or 20
gauge),
pliers and
wire cutters, one can create things such as
gloves,
suits of armor, and even
jewelry.
The layout one uses for
designs is hard to get the hang of, and takes time to master. It is done by taking five
links, one
open and the others
closed. You put the four
closed links upon the one
open link, and close the one the rest are upon.
Once you have a large amount of these "
butterfly links", you can
connect them to create sheets of
chain maille. The procedure is perhaps a bit too
complicated to explain without
images, but I can attempt to do so.
You take two "
butterfly links", and a single
open link. You take two links from each "
butterfly link" and put them upon the single
open link, creating another "
butterfly link" in a way. You continue this
procedure, going in a line, and up and down from these
links (only ever having four
links extending from one).
Making a single sheet of
chain maille can take up to a year, if you're just learning. It is very difficult to start, as one can easilly become
confused with the
links.
My
suggestion would be to begin with simply a
row of "
butterfly links", before building in a
vertical direction. Or, perhaps start with the
vertical, and continue once you've become adept to the
horizontal.
Four-on-one:
_____ _____
/ \ / \
/ \ / \
| | | |
| _|_|_ |
\ // \\ /
\ // \\ /
---|- -|---
___|_ _|___
/ \\ // \
/ \\ // \
| ----- |
| | | |
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
----- ----
Vertical Chain:
_____ _____
/ \ / \
/ \ / \
| | | |
| _|_|_ |
\ // \\ /
\ // \\ /
---|- -|---
___|_ _|___
/ \\ // \
/ \\ // \
| ----- |
| _|__|_ |
\ // \\ /
\ // \\ /
----- ----
___|_ _|___
/ \\ // \
/ \\ // \
| ----- |
| _|__|_ |
\ // \\ /
\ // \\ /
----- ----
___|_ _|___
/ \\ // \
/ \\ // \
| ----- |
| | | |
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
----- ----
Two rows (the beginning of a sheet of maille):
_____ _____ _____
/ \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \
| | | | | |
| _|_|_ _|_|_ |
\ // \\ // \\ /
\ // \\ // \\ /
---|- -|-|- -|---
___|_ _|____ _|___
/ \\ // \\ // \
/ \\ // \\ // \
| ----- ----- |
| _|__|_ _|__|_ |
\ // \\ // \\ /
\ // \\ // \\ /
---|- -|-|- -|--
/ \\ // \\ // \
/ \\ // \\ // \
| ----- ----- |
| _|__|_ _|__|_ |
\ // \\ // \\ /
\ // \\ // \\ /
---|- -|-|- -|--
/ \\ // \\ // \
/ \\ // \\ // \
| ----- ----- |
| | | | | |
\ / \ / \ /
\ / \ / \ /
----- ----- ----