Necklace waiting for a cab...

That's a great closeup tweet but I still couldn't do it.
What kind of clasp do you use on that?

You did a wonderful job on that chain.
Tami

tweetie you are kidding about the back right?

you must have the patience of a saint!

kim

jonje, do you mean to make or to buy?

Tweet...that's just way too cool.

One day, I plan on giving the chain maille a stab...but truthfully, if it were that easy, there'd be a hell of alot more of it out there. I nominate you Saint Tweet. (you'd have to have the patients of a saint.) Oppps. my spelling sucks!

Cher, Jonje, the rings are relatively inexpensive - about $11Cdn for 2 oz of that size of rings - I used maybe 1 3/4oz of the rings, the clasp, well that's a dozen for a few bucks - the time it took me to make that.... about a weeks worth of evenings, busted knuckles. The weave itself is fairly easy with nice pictures to guide me, but the rings have to be a certain size (very precise sizing) or it'll be too tight, or too loose - like i said i made this using rings that were only 1/64" smaller and it was too tight

if anyone wants to learn, there are lots of sites to try this, aluminum rings are inexpensive and good for practicing as are mixer beaters & craft wire for winding & cutting wire yourself ;D - the aluminum is nice and shiny when tumbled with rice - but you need a tumbler to do that - hmmm where would someone on this board get a tumbler hmmm...

I've bought some sterling silver rings, aluminum - colored aluminum, colored copper, neoprene & stainless steel - they're all nice and have different properties - I've tried different weaves too, some easier than others, some nicer than others, this one I like but the one I sent Sands is still a favorite

Cher, I purchase my rings, there's a site theringlord.com - they're in Canada but their prices are in US funds.

You can get the rings by the oz or by pound - saw cut which makes a nice // join (but a little more expensive) or nipped which is more of a /< cut

I got the aluminum rings in all colors - the first rings I got were 18gauge 3/16" rings I could do a few weaves with those - you can get kits to try from www.metaldesignz.com/ I like her (again in Canada) the rings specially the aluminum ones are all shiny - she tumbles them before and they have the saw cut rings which close nicer. For once I have no idea who sells rings in the States. UrbanMaille.com sells some but you can check out the prices, they're VERY expensive but they show you how to open & close the rings properly. The ring lord also has a forum where you can check out everyone's stuff & ask questions

Tools: 2 pairs of flatnose pliers without teeth for softer wires (I use bentnose) - one for each hand - bandaids are good, toothy pliers for thick stainless steel rings but if you have good hand muscles, you can hold them.

If you need more information let me know I have a few sites that have amazing instructions.

Yeah Cher get the aluminum ones, you can ask for let's say 0.5 lbs of mixed colors I think they can do that - aluminum is nice & easy to bend and it gives you a chance to get a feel for them - the necklace required lots of strength so I don't suggest those to start - Metaldesignz has kits to learn the weaves & beginner kits with all the pliers & stuff & lots of rings - they have kits with aluminum or enameled copper - some come with stainless steel for the "real" thing and some have "fixins" for earrings - easy beginner weaves... shaggy loops (make really nice earrings and my 11 year old daughter made some for her friends) byzantine requires a bit of figuring out but can be done with one size of rings - I like full persian but you need the right size to do that nicely

Aluminum is the way to go - get the colored ones you can make nice stuff - bracelets are fast & fun & can be sold for a few bucks

This is where it gets tricky... there's something called Aspect ratio (AR) - it's like the ring gauge divided by the inner diameter of the closed ring (something like that) I'm not real good with the AR stuff, which is why I usually ask if a certain gauge wire will do a certain weave if it's a certain size - like will 18g 1/8" copper wire make the half persian 4-1? There are sites that indicate what AR will do what weave or what sizes work for the weaves - then there,s springback - how a stiffer wire will "uncoil" and springback once wound - lots of variants - which is why I ask - sometimes I miss - like this particular chain I got OKs all over for the next size down and it didn,t work - springback was to blame

Not to discourage you because I know nothing of these things and have managed to make a few nice items. My first rings was about 1/4 pound of bright aluminum rings - in 18 gauge 3/16" - I made byzantine, HP 3-1 I think it does a very loose Jens Pind Linkage - but they make nice shaggy loops earrings or necklace or bracelet.

HP 4-1: I haven't tried - the worse is starting the weave, if you think of it, keep a small starting piece to weave off of each time.

There,s a guy named PHONG who has amazing tutorials - you can probably search out his site, he does the tuts out of computer generated images - very kool!

As for the chain I sent Sands, you can see it at stoneageindustries.com where he won the contest with the charoite pendant for his daughter