Edit: changing thread title from "Some Chainmaille I've made" to "the Chainmaille thread" because I want to see what all you folks are working on.
If you're into this kinda stuff, most of what I've made isn't really crazy. But it's all stuff I've made myself, and I like them.
First, my quest for the end-all be-all necktie. This bad boy goes with any shirt, will never get a crease if not hung up properly, never needs to be tied, can be cleaned in your dish washer, and is made out of aluminum and stainless steel rings in the dragon scale pattern. I did straight up purchase this as a kit from The Ring Lord. But seriously this doesn't take a lot of skill, just a lot of dedication. I'm roughly 3/4ths the way through at this point and have been working on it since like January I think. Maybe Feb. My one challenge is it hangs just a little lower than the collar on a nice shirt. I think I need to tighten the neck portion of it (which is just a place holder for now) but it's already quite difficult to clasp. It's not uncomfortably tight though, so if anyone knows of a tensioning claps (sort of like what some watches use, but much smaller maybe?) that can be used in conjunction with a regular lobster clasp to first latch then tighten, that'd be neat.
Roughly 4250 rings at this point. 20 SWG 3/16" ID stainless and 20 SWG 1/8" black anodized aluminum.
I also made a bracelet with o-rings out of dragonscale. This is a pretty common item to make. It's fun though. I also found out that it can be a fun place to put my whiskey glass. I used square wire equivalent of 16SWG 3/8" aluminum and a 1:3 ratio of orange and red 1/4" rubber o-rings.
Here is a candle holder I made for a family member for Christmas. Most people make these much smaller, think votive candle sized. I made this to fit a 4" jar that you can either put a whole 3-wick candle in or just use a spent jar to place a votive in, whatever works. I really enjoyed adding some scales to this, and it was a reason for me to incorporate a lot of different weaves including Euro 4 in 1, Euro 6 in 1, Japanese 6 in 1 (not pictured, floor of the inside), helm mail, captive inverted round and my first use of scales. Most of this is 5/16" 16SWG stainless, but I used a few different sizes for the helm, captive inverted round, and Japanese portions. I was inspired by similar things but this was made up as I went and a completely original design. I was in a rush to get it done for Christmas so I don't have any weights, ring counts, or good pictures, but it weighs something like 4 lbs and hangs about 2.5-3 feet long.
Lastly I've got a dice bag I made. I'm pretty sure this is one of the first things most beginners will make in the chainmaille world. At least anyone who isn't doing exclusively smaller gauge jewelry. So again, nothing too special. I did however figure out that you could do worm-bore/reinforced inverted round around the ends of a leather (or in this case para-cord) cord to create a cool little aglet on the end. In this instance I wanted to use color to match the die, so it's aluminum, but when I did this with stainless steel it had enough tension on the cord to start spreading the rings apart a millimeter or so. So... yeah, nothing is holding them on but tension, but I was amazed at how much tension I could get on them and still close the rings to continue the weave.
I'm also proud of drilling pretty much straight through the middle of a D10 without a drill press. I had to file the end a little bit to get started, then use a hand drill intended for modeling to go very slowly and be as straight as possible. I'd line it up with one edge so I knew I was perfect in at least one orientation, drill a few turns, then line up with the next edge and slowly keep working hoping the law of averages would guide me straight. I thought I was off center by the time I could see it peaking at the outside of the other side so I decided to drill in from the other side. Turns out I was wrong about what I thought was the drill bit showing through and was surprised when I literally hit the hole dead-on coming from the other side. I then used a power drill to slowly expand the size. I have yet to try this again, been pretty distracted by the necktie.
5/16" stainless 16SWG for everything but the colored rings on the aglets
If you're into this kinda stuff, most of what I've made isn't really crazy. But it's all stuff I've made myself, and I like them.
First, my quest for the end-all be-all necktie. This bad boy goes with any shirt, will never get a crease if not hung up properly, never needs to be tied, can be cleaned in your dish washer, and is made out of aluminum and stainless steel rings in the dragon scale pattern. I did straight up purchase this as a kit from The Ring Lord. But seriously this doesn't take a lot of skill, just a lot of dedication. I'm roughly 3/4ths the way through at this point and have been working on it since like January I think. Maybe Feb. My one challenge is it hangs just a little lower than the collar on a nice shirt. I think I need to tighten the neck portion of it (which is just a place holder for now) but it's already quite difficult to clasp. It's not uncomfortably tight though, so if anyone knows of a tensioning claps (sort of like what some watches use, but much smaller maybe?) that can be used in conjunction with a regular lobster clasp to first latch then tighten, that'd be neat.
Roughly 4250 rings at this point. 20 SWG 3/16" ID stainless and 20 SWG 1/8" black anodized aluminum.
I also made a bracelet with o-rings out of dragonscale. This is a pretty common item to make. It's fun though. I also found out that it can be a fun place to put my whiskey glass. I used square wire equivalent of 16SWG 3/8" aluminum and a 1:3 ratio of orange and red 1/4" rubber o-rings.
Here is a candle holder I made for a family member for Christmas. Most people make these much smaller, think votive candle sized. I made this to fit a 4" jar that you can either put a whole 3-wick candle in or just use a spent jar to place a votive in, whatever works. I really enjoyed adding some scales to this, and it was a reason for me to incorporate a lot of different weaves including Euro 4 in 1, Euro 6 in 1, Japanese 6 in 1 (not pictured, floor of the inside), helm mail, captive inverted round and my first use of scales. Most of this is 5/16" 16SWG stainless, but I used a few different sizes for the helm, captive inverted round, and Japanese portions. I was inspired by similar things but this was made up as I went and a completely original design. I was in a rush to get it done for Christmas so I don't have any weights, ring counts, or good pictures, but it weighs something like 4 lbs and hangs about 2.5-3 feet long.
Lastly I've got a dice bag I made. I'm pretty sure this is one of the first things most beginners will make in the chainmaille world. At least anyone who isn't doing exclusively smaller gauge jewelry. So again, nothing too special. I did however figure out that you could do worm-bore/reinforced inverted round around the ends of a leather (or in this case para-cord) cord to create a cool little aglet on the end. In this instance I wanted to use color to match the die, so it's aluminum, but when I did this with stainless steel it had enough tension on the cord to start spreading the rings apart a millimeter or so. So... yeah, nothing is holding them on but tension, but I was amazed at how much tension I could get on them and still close the rings to continue the weave.
I'm also proud of drilling pretty much straight through the middle of a D10 without a drill press. I had to file the end a little bit to get started, then use a hand drill intended for modeling to go very slowly and be as straight as possible. I'd line it up with one edge so I knew I was perfect in at least one orientation, drill a few turns, then line up with the next edge and slowly keep working hoping the law of averages would guide me straight. I thought I was off center by the time I could see it peaking at the outside of the other side so I decided to drill in from the other side. Turns out I was wrong about what I thought was the drill bit showing through and was surprised when I literally hit the hole dead-on coming from the other side. I then used a power drill to slowly expand the size. I have yet to try this again, been pretty distracted by the necktie.
5/16" stainless 16SWG for everything but the colored rings on the aglets
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