15 August 2009

A unique maille bracelet.

Ran into this thing over at Schizoid Mouse's blog. A maille bracelet using lockwashers.

There will be more updates later today, I'm sure. Hang tight.

Have fun,
--Charon

Chainmail Inlay.

Found this over at Sprite Stitch and wanted to share.

Yoshi Inlay by Heyley.

I know, small post, but it's worth it.

These are another awesome example of the kinds of things that can be done. Similar to cross-stitch patterning, inlays are coloured rings in a weave, layed out exactly like pixels. There's software available for chainmail artists that covert digital images into patterns. The most complete and functional I've found so far is IGP by Zlosk. Lots of info on the subject available on his site, as well as some sample patterns. It hasn't been updated in some time, but I havn't really noticed any problems with it either. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

In a previous entry I listed a shirt with an eagle inlay. Now this way if you want to do something similar, you won't drive yourself completely spare figuring out where to put the rings. Just set your work over a printed sheet of your IGP pattern, and it's like a paint by numbers, without numbers, or paint...

Man I need sleep.

Have fun
--Charon

13 August 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

Not a terribly exciting one, I don't have any major plans, which is the idea. I make it a point to make my birthday the lazyest day of my year. I'll be stripping some salvage copper wire, watching videos, and enjoying a cake with fudge icing.

I did however, promise armour. I didn't think about how long it would take to get permission to host images myself, so I'll link to gallery images for some of my favourite pieces. And let their creators speak for themselves.

Maille glove by ~Mical~ with some amazing seamwork for fitting.
A Coif by David Austin, trimmed in bronze.
Olaf's two-tone Coif.
JoanieBeth with more headgear.... and I want the arsenal behind it while we're at it.
Cinnibar posted this wicked vest his wife wears. Never let it be said aluminum has no place. That shine stunning.
The famous Lorenzo Trinity maille vest.
AdrianHills with a very classic looking hauberk and eagle inlay.
Adrian also posted a Byrnie from the Musse de l'Armee in Paris.

Think you're up for making something like that? I know I am after seeing all these.

Have fun,

--Charon

12 August 2009

Some awesome handmade chainmail jewelry.

It's a slow day for me. Getting used to the new dremel and cutting stainless rings, building an improvised coil cutting guide. Sounds impressive, but it's not much more than a block of wood with a hole drilled in it and a slot for the blade. Took a look around the blogroll and found this over at the Handmade Artists Forum which I thought was definitely worth showing off.



Photo belongs to MGChains.

Tomorrow, I think I'll make it a point to pick out some armour. I know everyone's been waiting.

Have fun

--Charon

11 August 2009

Chainmail at the market.

Today, I went up to a famer's market I've been frequenting almost weekly, it's a small venue, but there's always been a couple crafters there, including a fellow mailler. I sit, talk, absorb the experience, make contact with people, and generally have a good time while promoting the art itself. Out of respect for Glendon I try to avoid talking about my work with his customers.

I'd have a table there, but the market season only has two months left around here, and I don't really feel like I have enough completed and ready to sell to make it worth my time at the moment. However, it's only a 10$ registration for the entire season of May through October.

If you're a crafter of any sort, and in an area where farmers' markets are a regular event, especially when they're hosted at parks or something similar on a weekly basis. Find out if they accept vendors of handcrafted goods. It's not expensive, you don't have to show every day the entire season, it's probably local so you won't need a hotel, and you'll see people on a regular basis, and get to know them.

I had planned today, to feature a host of photographs of awesome little handmade things and plenty of maille by Glendon. Instead, I found... that they were unusually not present at all. Disappointing in a sense, but I got a Dremel out of the whole trip as a birthday gift. Diamond wheel and stainless, anyone? ;>

Back on topic, check around. State.gov or chamber of commerce websites might have lists of local farmers markets in your area, it's not a massive craft fair or a gaming con, but it's a good place to hand your name out just the same.

Have fun,
--Charon

10 August 2009

Maille Arts: Terminology and Abbreviations.

I thought I'd take today and make it easy. Since it's monday, and noone wants to work too hard on Monday, I'll talk about some basic terms, abbreviations, and things of that sort.

Terms:

Aspect Ratio: The proportion of Wire Size to ring Inner Diameter. Abbreviated as AR.

Wire Size: Refers to the diameter of the wire from which your rings are made. There are multiple ways to express this. Examples using Gagues are usually shortened to G or GA. 20ga would be read as Twenty Gague. There are also multiple standards for wire gauge systems. Far more than the scope of this post could explain. It's easiest to figure that a wire gague number of 20 or greater refers to the American Wire Gague system, and all numbers less than 20 are in Standard Wire Gauge. Wire sizes may also be expressed in fractional inches as 1/16, decimal inches as .062, or metric as 1.6mm. For the math-minded you've already calculated that these three examples refer refer to the same size wire. Personally, I still find metric to be the easiest and most commonly understood amoung maillers. Wire Size composes the first half of Ring Stats.

Inner Diameter: The measure of the inside of a ring. Usually expressed for simplicity as the size mandrel the around which it was coiled. Again they can appear in fractional or decimal inches, or metric. Abbreviated as ID and composes the second half of Ring Stats. For perfect accuracy, ID may be measured after a ring is cut and closed because several factors may have a small inpact on the final result. Generally though, it isn't super important and listing your mandrel size as ID is just as acceptable.

Ring Stats: Or just Stats. The shorthand listing of your rings' wire size and Inner Diameter. 16ga 1/4ID or, 1.6mm 6.4mmID are both valid examples.

Closure: Closures are the point where the wire ends of individual rings meet. Usually pointed out by other maillers looking at your work. "Fix that closure halfway along the second row." ;> Good closures won't scratch the wearer and look like you take your time and pay attention to your work.

Eye: The space where two rings overlap, shaped like the outline of an eyelid. Rings that create eyes may or may not be connected to one another, most weaves are defined by the connections and their involvment with eyes. A ring may be connected through eye or TE, and around eye or AE. While some debate still exists on particular weaves it's generally accepted that the European and Persian families are defined by how they use eyes. A European weave has only TE connections, a Persian weave uses both TE and AE.

European: In maille, this refers to a family of weaves that originated in Europe, and is distinguished by it's decending rows of rings lying in alternating directions. Shorthand for European weaves look like "E 4-1, E 6-1, E 8-2". They're read as European four-in-one, six-in-one, eight-in-two. Meaning that each ring will be connected to Four or Six others. In the case of X-2 it means that a pair of rings performing the same function in the exact same location, are connected to eight others, these eight are also pairs.

(((((((
)))))) A common ascii to demonstrate the rows
((((((( in European maille. Each row should hang horizontally across the body.

Japanese: Also called Oriental. A family of weaves from Asia where large rings are connected to one another by smaller rings in simple chains in rows, then connected to one another by small rings to form colums. The large rings will lie flat against the body, while the small rings stand vertically. Shorthand for Japanese weaves appears as "J 3-1, J 4-1, J 6-1, J 12-2" and reads the same as the European shorthand.

0-0-0-0
|   |   |   |  
0-0-0-0
Common ascii depicting J 4-1. The 0s are the large rings, where the
horizontal and vertical lines are meant to depict the edges of small rings.
These ascii art will appear frequently in maille related message boards.

Kinged: Fancy way of stating a weave is constructed using pairs of rings. E 8-2 is also called Kingsmaille, and lends the term kinged to other weaves.

Roundmaille: A segment of maille who's edges have been connected back to one another to form a round chain. My description of this really isn't suitable in my opinion, you can see an example of Roundmaille, here.

Persian: A family of weaves that use both through eye and around eye connections to create a length of chain where the rows of rings are generally described as stacked. It's difficult to visualise. There are both Full Persan and Half-Persian forms. Abbreviations are similar to the other families. FP 6-1 for Full Persian six-in-one. HP 3-1 would be read as Half Persian three-in-one.


This, has run on far longer than I figured it would. So I think I'll take a break for a while, and let you do the same. I know this might not have been the most fun post you've ever read, but learning is good. ;>

Have fun--
Charon