Shiny things LLC

[Brunhidden]

ive been spending quite a while practicing making chainmaile, and was hoping to have some dirrection to this hobby

suggestions on what i could try, if theres a way to make money or produce gifts would be appreciated

currently i mostly make necklaces like this


materials- primarily electric fence wire. 'high visibility, wont corrode, safe for all livestock'. also lightweight

tools- a stick, cutters. i produce all rings by hand, and bend them together by hand


id like to progress with this, feedback, ideas, ect would all be appreciated. more pictures as i develop more

any questions or ideas?

[Gabi]

Oooh, nice!

I have a friend who does this kind of things too, maybe he could give you some ideas. This is his dA. http://darkhestur.deviantart.com/

[WhiteFox]

Oh, man... I used to do so much chainmail. Not as much these days, but still. Used to hawk my wares with a friend at a farmers market, usually made at least enough to cover rent for the table and bit of lunch.

What do you cut with? Looks like pinch cuts. I use a jewellers saw, it goes pretty quick when you use 'em properly: I got to be at least as fast with them as a pair of side-cutters, maybe faster, 'cuz the when the rings fall off they stay on the sawblade, and you don't have to stop and put down each one as you cut them. With pinch cuts, the links will slip through each other and the mail literally falls apart, which is annoying. If you cut at a diagonal, with a saw or side cutters, the ring closes more snugly since the wedge cut ends overlap just a bit, while for saw cut links it eliminates the gap created by the width of the saw.

I might recommend a pair of beading pliers and some nice beads: a few baubles here and there seem to go over pretty well with customers. Copper goes really nicely with tigers eye or agate beads, or steel with hematite beads: coil a ring, cut it so there's some slack wire sticking out, add the bead to the slack, then coil the end with the beading pliers for a bar bell sort of shape. If doing european or japanese 4-in-1 or 6-in-1 sheets, you can put the barbell on either side of a ring so the bead sits in the middle of the it. Very classy. X3

Also: learn how to make your own hook/eye clasps... it'll save you a fortune, trust me, plus you can make them using the same wire as the piece, which is a nice touch. I usually start with a piece of wire folded in half, then bend the folded end into a hook and coil the cut end into a ring. For byzantine or box chain pieces, make and use doubled up link, like a split key ring, using a slightly larger diameter than the rest of the chain, so it's easier to find the right loop to hook when putting it on. X3

My best sellers were generally bracelets for 10$-15$: byzantine, Persian 3- or 6-in-one, or box chain. My friend made little earrings of diamond shaped patches of 4-in1, or 2-3 units of byz for like 3$-5$ a pair. A band of persian sheet 3 in-1 looks really nice, too). I usually had a necklace/pendant and/or headpiece on the table for like 40$, mostly for show. (they know they want it, but if 40$ is too much they can opt for a bracelet instead). X3

If you figure out byzantine, I might show you some of the nifty little tricks I figured out that use it.

Persian 3 or 6-in-one is tricky to start, 'cuz it's always a pain to remember how the first couple links go together, but after that it's really easy stuff. I had a friend who would save the last couple links of any persian bracelet he made just so he wouldn't have to start a new chain from scratch.

I usually went to http://theringlord.com/ for specialty materials, tho I got most of what I needed at the hardware store. I got some sterling silver wire from RingLord, it's really pretty. A few pounds of 20ga stainless steel too, it's good stuff... harder to cut than galvanized steel, and a bit more slick, more prone to slipping out of the pliers, but stays so shiny. Copper is nice, but either you use uncoated, and it tarnishes, or you use plastic coated fencing wire and the pliers mar the surface. I found some silver wire, copper fill, at a beading shop... it's good stuff, though not quite as lovely as the sterling silver from ringlord (pure silver, aka fine silver, tends to tarnish easily, so I stay away from it).

I would highly recommend looking up speed weaving techniques: basically, you minimize the number of times you open and close links by closing several at once and only opening one or two to attach them to the piece you're working on: not only does it save time, but the fewer times you open/close a link, the less warped it gets and the weave will lay more nicely. Also: I found things went more quickly if I closed a small pile of rings then added them to the weave, instead of closing one or two, adding them to the weave, then closing the next one or two at a time. I think at my best i could make a 7 in. byzantine bracelet out of ~7mm diameter links in about twenty minutes.

Also: I might suggest making patch of euro 4-in-1, maybe a bit larger than your hand, and every now and then just drape it over your arm/hand and slide it around: it's such a lovely sensation. Especially when you get the ring diameter to wire guage ratio just right, not too loose, not too snug.

PS: plz, plz, please, for the love of everything metal, do not use huge links to make a larger piece of chainmail faster: 2 inch diameter rings in 18 ga. wire does not look good for any weave. ty X3

Edit: See  http://www.fdjtool.com/custom.aspx?id=117 for pretty much everything you need to know about jewellers saws. X3

Edit the 2nd: another use for the jewellers saw: cutting out shapes in sheet metal to use as a pendant for chainmail necklaces.

[Brunhidden]

wow, jackpot reply

i use side cutters for the most part. i tried to use a small hacksaw but i couldn't quite figure out how to use it effectively, i know its a prefferred method but i just havent learned how yet. in the event i need to cut steel i have a small bolt cutters (steel is less preferred, i made a sturdy belt out of it, possibly a more durable shirt later). the angled attempt works when i get it, but for the most part the bulk of the links are fine as they are because i bend them by hand, and can get them quite close fitting; the only point they are really prone to part in a necklace is right at the end, and ive taken to using a small drop of superglue right there because of the stress point. ill have to check out how they work, and make sure i have the right supplies and knowlege

my attempts at byzantine and persian have thusfar not gone well yet, i know its one of the more popular weaves but somehow it looks odd to me and i cant quite make the pattern smoothly. as far as i can tell to avoid the 'tough to start' you just make one, and keep making it longer indefinitely, cut off a hunk when you need it

primarily i use aluminum wire, more specifically spools of electric fencing wire- "lightweight, high visibility, wont corrode, safe for all livestock". so far it works pretty good, its not really that strong but its very lightweight and looks good. stuff like actual precious metals i will wait with till i 'level up' quite a bit, but i have been trying to find good sources for colored wire as ive gotten some requests for, items made of red, black, and purple- the colored wires ive found so far are oddly weaker, and usually of smaller diameters in very short lengths

not shown, i actually invented a clever little device to aide in making sheets- now i just have to figure out what to use small sheets for. i do have a collar i made for myself out of a sheet, its disturbingly comfortable. i reffer to this device as an 'advanced stick-stick', im surprised nobody else seems to have mentioned one, closest i saw for the same purpose was a door sized slab of wood with a lot of bent nails sticking out of it

one of the 'wha to do' ideas would be trying to do something like this

i was also thinking of juggling balls or hackey sacks, but have no idea if anyone would actually want those

[WhiteFox]

That bunny looks like he's entirely done with running from anything. X3

Hanging a bunch of rings on a stick or length of wire for the first row of a sheet of 4 in 1? yeah, that's a handy trick. In theory it can work for starting chains like box and byz but not so much in practice. you can sort of make box  chain by doing three looong rows of 4-in-1, then stitching the two edges together with a fourth row to "zipper" them together, but other chain weaves don't really let you do this, so it's best to get used how to do it "properly."

Persian 3in1 micromail can make nice finger rings, 'cuz it lies more flat than box or byz does.

Once you can do box chain, byzantine isn't much harder to figure out. The only real difference is which pairs of links are folded back when adding new rings... I could sketch up a few tutorial walkthrough diagrams if that would help. Maybe break out my ol' 3D animation software and make some gifs... or just demonstrate it and have someone take some pictures... I could do a photoset for jeweler sawing too,  if it would help (I really am a big proponent of saw cut rings for copper or aluminum: sorry if I keep pushing 'em). X3

Uncoated aluminum will turn some peoples skin blue, much like how uncoated copper will turn skin green for some... just something to be aware of, especially for bracelets or necklaces. Coated copper, like most 18 ga fencing wire I use, isn't a problem tho. I usually avoid Aluminum 'cuz it turns dark grey pretty quickly, but I know knitters who use so-called "bright aluminum," That's pretty good stuff, not sure what they put in it. I usually stick with my stainless steel when I want the shiny shiny. X3

Also: do you have a bench pin for that saw? It's a must.

If cutting heavy gauge wire often, most knitters I know will trim down the blades of their cutters/shears with a bench grinder to give them more leverage... I did that to a pair of aviation shears when I was working with 14 ga galvanized steel, it saved me a lot of hand ache (Plus the cut down shears don't deform the link as much). Speaking of the leverage of tools, I keep an eye out for side cutters with longer handles if possible, preferably 7 inch ones, nine in is kinda awkward to handle.

Spring loaded pliers are also highly recommended, 'cuz they're much easier to handle. I don't see spring loaded side cutters very often tho, the only pair of those I have are like three inch handles, they're only good for cutting 22 ga copper or aluminum. Aviation shears usually have spring tho, which is nice. They're no good for small links 'cuz they'll deform the link unless you modify them to not close too far. (You can use adjustable vise grips to squeeze the link back down, adjusting the jaws to close to the exact size the ring should be... you can do this with pliers, but you gotta be careful how much you squeeze the link).

Chains are especially nice with a mix of metals: Copper and steel especially. If you're feeling audacious, you can sort of make "pixel-art" images with sheet 4-in-1, tho it's kinda tricky cuz 4-in-1 doesn't quite have square proportions... I think there was a site that would convert bitmap images into chainmail patterns, I forget, tho. Been a while. Brass wire usually only comes in finer gauges, and it's stronger than aluminum/copper, so it takes more effort to coil and cut (I wore out two pairs of cutters for one project in brass), but it does look pretty and doesn't tarnish nearly as much as other metals. Plus, sometimes you need stronger wire. I'd make steel bands of 4-in-4 with brass trim along the edges, it looked pretty classy... I figured out a trick for that too, I should get a pic of it, it's hard to describe.

If you can do sheet 4 in 1 like that bunny hauberk, I might suggest dice bags for tabletop gamers: those usually go over pretty well (I made one for myself), tho getting paid worth your time isn't easy... they need a relatively tight weave, which can take longer to make. I made one for myself, but people don't usually wanna pay 25-30 bucks for a dice bag... usually. Friends of mine have had game shops put their chain dice bags on display, but I've never done that myself so I don't know how the business arrangements for such a deal actually work. I've seen cell phone cases too, but for that you need to know the exact dimensions of the phone/screen/buttons/etc. Still: make one for your own phone/mp3 player,  it makes a great conversation piece.

That's another pro-tip, actually; wear some of your merch when you're hawking your wares at a table or something. X3

Oh: I prefer wind coils by hand, but a lot of weavers I know will make a wooden jig that braces the mandril and feeds the wire onto it, and wind using a power drill... gotta be careful doing this, but it can save a lot of hand ache and goes a lot faster than hand winding.

If you use larger diameter rings, you can drill a hole in the mandril and stick the wire through it when you coil... this saves the hassle of clamping the wire to the mandril with a pair of vise grips or whatnot, but wastes like an inch or two of wire cuz you have to cut the bit of wire that goes through the hole to get the coil off the mandril. Still, handy, and an inch or two of wire is like nothing compared to an 8 inch coil. X3

[WhiteFox]

I realized I don't seem to have any pics of my chainmail pieces posted anywhere, so I threw together a post on tumblr: http://whitefoxart.tumblr.com/post/127359024155/and-now-for-something-completely-different-these
Except for the braided ring, all these pieces are made of byzantine, or something derived from it.

(Sorry to keep going on about Byz, but it really is my favorite chain weave, and it has so many applications... The pattern I use for the dual strand sliver band and hand flower are basically a refinement of "ladder weave," as seen here: http://cupricdrako.webs.com/TRIPLE_B.JPG ). X3

Finally dug up the site for one of my old chain-mailler buddies: http://cupricdrako.webs.com/ He's been making/selling stuff for years, lotta good ideas/inspiration for merch on his site. (First time I met him, when we shook hands, I pulled/wrenched his hand around to get a better look at the chainmail watchband on his wrist). X3

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

Ah, chainmaille... I remember when I was young and enthusiastic to try that...
Personally I think that "crystals" look really good with maille (they don't have to be Swarovski or anything though...) And I don't exactly consider it cheating to use a wigjig to make matching-metal pendants ;P
Coloured wires can be found on the internet, just make sure that they're mailler-approved. The trouble with some generic coloured metals is that they either have a plastic coating (as WhiteFox mentioned with the copper wire) or they have a metal coating on another metal, which tends to chip off when made into rings (what's the point of these wires, you ask? I really don't know).

[WhiteFox]

Ah, chainmaille... I remember when I was young and enthusiastic to try that...
Personally I think that "crystals" look really good with maille (they don't have to be Swarovski or anything though...) And I don't exactly consider it cheating to use a wigjig to make matching-metal pendants ;P
Coloured wires can be found on the internet, just make sure that they're mailler-approved. The trouble with some generic coloured metals is that they either have a plastic coating (as WhiteFox mentioned with the copper wire) or they have a metal coating on another metal, which tends to chip off when made into rings (what's the point of these wires, you ask? I really don't know).

For colors, my friends typically use anodized aluminum wire from ringlord... it flakes if handled too roughly, but it's good stuff, from what I've heard. I never used much of it myself, since I preferred the all natural look of copper, steel, and brass, but Anodized Aluminum was better to work with than color plastic coated beading wire. AAluminum is usually pretty okay as long as you use beading pliers, or pliers without teeth.

I used annealed steel wire, black, for a few pieces, but the coating rubs off after a bit of regular wear.

I avoid Bright aluminum, too, which is basically aluminum dipped in acid to get it really clean... it doesn't stay bright for very long, particularly in contact with skin.