Newsletter - January 20, 2008

The Jewelry Crafter

A newsletter for the home jeweler

This newsletter will be published every 2 weeks, and will include hints and tips for your jewelry business. Any feedback or comments about the topics presented here are always appreciated. Click here to e-mail us.

If you have an idea for an upcoming article, or would like to submit an article for the newsletter, please contact us. Anyone who submits an article will receive a permanent link to their website in a special section of our link pages.

Chain Maille

by

Mary Harvey

If you’ve ever seen The Lord of the Rings, Excalibur, or any other movie that has a medieval theme, you’ve probably seen the metal ring armor that the characters wear. This armor is called Chain maille (also known as chainmail, chain mail, chainmaille, maille, etc). Although chain maille isn’t used much for armor anymore, it has found a new niche in the modern world.

The art of chain maille has been passed along and updated over the generations. Today, it is still used for practical purposes - fine ringed chain maille is used to make protective gloves and clothing for different industries. Chain maille weaves have also found a following with historical reenactment groups and jewelry makers. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the jewelry aspect of chain maille.

There are basically three main families of chain maille : European, Japanese, and Persian. Each style is unique in it’s design, but they are all comprised of linking rings together to form a pattern.

 European weaves are the most well known. This type of weave is comprised of alternating rings fitted together to form a pattern sheet. Some types of European weaves are European 4-in-1 or Dragonscale.

Japanese, is a more geometric pattern, and tend to be made of larger rings connected by smaller rings. Some Japanese weaves are Japanese 3-in-1 or 8-in-2.

The Persian weaves are lesser known in the historical world, but they are some of the most beautiful. An example of a Persian weave would be a snake chain (or half-Persian).

There is a fourth family of weaves, called “hybrids”, which are a combination of styles to form a new pattern. Some of these weaves are very interesting, and can be used for jewelry.

Learning chainmaille can be quite easy. All you need are two pairs of pliers, some jump rings and a tutorial. If you do an internet search, there are many sites that offer tutorials or patterns. One site that shows you many of the weaves available is http://www.mailleartisans.org. It has tons of great pictures and information for the beginning mailler, and has visual representations of all of the major weave families..

Chain maille jewelry has been, and continues to be, a hot seller. For a small investment (for the rings), you can learn a whole new type of jewelry making that is not only beautiful, but rewarding and fun, too.

In the next issue, we will discuss where to get jump rings, how to cut your own, and which patterns are best for the beginner.