Chain Maille

[Madly Creating]

Hi!

I'm interested in learning more about this stuff (mostly to incorporate into dance costumes) and wondered if any of you could recommend good books/websites?

[MuranoSilver]

Here you go
http://www.mailleartisans.org/weaves/
Lots of different weaves for your delectation & delight!

Or to learn really easily you couls try Urban Maille (http://urbanmaille.com/ usa) who do kits
or Beadsisters (http://www.beadsisters.co.uk/ uk supplier, some kits)

Nic xx

[autumn rose]

I have just found this for you, I think its a q & a type forum

community.livejournal.com/chainmail Good luck with your new interest

[mizgeorge]

I'm a pretty active mailler - and happy to answer any questions you might have

[Glitterbug]

I really like chain maille but does it take ages to do as I'm not very patient and I like to do things that I can finish fairly quickly. That's why I can't do beading.

[Madly Creating]

First questions then - if I'm making something from purple wire, can I solder it? And - if I want to make a piece of maille that's a triangle shape, should I use 3 into 1 or something similar?

[Fired Silver]

George is a fantastic help I speak from experience!!

I buy my rings from www.thedragonflycompany.co.uk Lynne is really lovely.

Becci
xx

[Purpleglass]

Oh fab, thanks for posting the pattern websites, been trying to find some maille chains (and for some stupid reason didnt even think to ask on here! Doh!)

Bon

[mizgeorge]

First questions then - if I'm making something from purple wire, can I solder it? And - if I want to make a piece of maille that's a triangle shape, should I use 3 into 1 or something similar?

You can only really solder 'pure' metals. The whole point of maille, though, is that it doesn't need to be soldered.

For the shape, there are lots of weaves that can be made triangular, but the obvious place to start would probably be a euro 4-1.

[Madly Creating]

That's great news for me! Thanks. I'll click your scales when it lets me again

[RenataHarris]

Purple sounds nice, i saw some of that in hobbycraft!

[Madly Creating]

One more question before I get started - which is the best sort of wire? I'm not making fine jewellery at this point, so nothing too delicate - but there's a lot of choice and I'm confused (easily done!)

[mizgeorge]

I would always recommend starting with copper. It has very similar properties to sterling, is cheap and easily available, and helps ensure that you get used to not marking your rings right from the start.

www.wires.co.uk is a great source of wire if you're planning to cut your own rings, otherwise try www.thedragonflycompany.com for ready cut.

I would suggest 1mm wire in 3.5mm id and 6mm id as a couple of sizes that will let you practice a lot of different weaves.

[Madly Creating]

Have decided to try it out with the (cheap) wire I already have. OH help me wind it around a bit of dowel, and that worked really well - except the colour has come off BUT I can't find my snipper-thingies anywhere! :waah:

[mizgeorge]

OK. If you're planning to use flush cutters, you need to learn to cut, reverse, cut so you have clean ends to the wire. If you want to cut more than a few rings, I REALLY recommend getting a jeweller's saw - they only cost a few pounds on ebay and will save you a huge amount of time (and grief) in the long run!