A tiny introduction into the world of chainmaille

Its pretty niche in the jewellery market i think but within its subject is a huge range of styles, designs and materials. I've only ever dipped my toes in so im in no way an expert.

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The design used here is called a Mobius Ball. Its a simple but beautiful weave.

Here you may not have noticed is actually the same weave just made with a lot less rings, you'll find a lot of the basic weaves can look hugely different depending on the size and number of jump rings you use.

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One thing i wanted to do when making chainmaille was to create the jump rings myself. Buying them in is fine but sometimes you dont have the right size or you run out half way through a project so being able to make your own is a useful skill to have. Heres how i make small batches for projects.

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To begin i took some electrical wire and, with wire strippers, took off all the plastic insulation to leave good clean metal.

Next i took the wire and wrapped it round a jump ring mandrel, choosing the diameter i require rings in. Now you dont have to have a ring mandrel for this, ive used pens, plastic tubes, copper pipe, anything that gives you the size ring you're after will do.

Once your done making these springy coil looking things you'll need to complete the final process which turns them into jump rings. Theres a couple of ways of doing this, I use a jewellers saw, and a very careful hand to cut into the side of the coil. A word of warning doing this, the blade can slip if you're careless like ive been in the past and can cause some nasty cuts into your fingers in really awkward places, be careful!

And finally you're left with a pile of jump rings, entirely made by your own hands!

The rings i created above for this tutorial i ended up using to make these two necklaces, both are made with a 'European Weave'

More of the Mobius Ball design here

These Gold earrings were made using very small jump rings with a popular 'Byzantine Weave'.

If you'd like to learn more about chain maille, this site is the place to go: http://www.mailleartisans.org/#. Its chock full of designs/weaves far beyond anything ive had a go at.

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If you're interested in purchasing any of my jewellery you can see what i have up for sale here: https://steemit.com/art/@robali123/jewelry-pieces-for-sale