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[Girlinhat]

I love that bracelet!  The central black rings give it such a "spinal" look that you don't get with ordinary euro!  I'll have to see how that looks in BA and Bronze, maybe add a bit of Galvy if it fits.

I want to use some Byz Web as well, ideally to make an "overcoat" style of long vest.  Like, drapes over the shoulders and cascades down to the knees, to be worn with a dress.  Or attach it to a belt and hem off the top, to wear as an accent to a skirt (I have a few silk wrap skirts that would look gorgeous with that).  It'd have to be aluminum, of course, and need to be fairly large, thick rings to hold the byz shape while still being large enough to properly web and not take forever to make.

The scarf, I'm considering E6-1 (because I think 4-1 is too simple) with some of these 1" rings.  Wish I had some 3/4" rods, maybe I could pick up more PVC for that...  Trouble is, my electric drill barely fits a 1/2" so anything larger is definately wound by hand.  Either way, I believe the point is moot.  My galvy belt attempt at 16g 1/2" E10-1 showed me that galvy is some damned heavy stuff, even if it was a rather large belt overall.  Thinner galvy might work for a scarf, but I'll probably end up using my 18g 1/4" rings I ordered and doing some swayed pattern with the bronze.

Also, Dwarf-maille would be absurd.  It'd have to be something exotic and unbalanced, yet stable.  An asymmetrical weave that can be made very tight to keep a rigid shape.  Flexibility probably isn't a high priority.

[Sheb]

Dwarf mail is made by making a chainmail, melting it and pouring it into a platemail mold.

[Girlinhat]

Nah, dwarfmaille is made by finding a goblin wearing plate, and then stabbing him until his plate becomes mail.

[forsaken1111]

I thought dwarfmaille was made from the woven beards of your ancestors.

[CatalystParadox]

Here are some pictures of Dragonscale, in case you are thinking of attempting it (Work your way up, its one of the harder ones I have done, and... I've done a lot of weird and complex weaves) Using the full URLS so my comments will be included:
1, 2, 3

I love the Byz long vest idea.  I've been thinking of making a mantle/shawl sort of thing in that style myself.  For something like that you really want hexagonal expansion rather than triangular, though, and that means higher AR or at least larger connector rings.  Actually, your 3/4" ID 16ga galvy might be perfect.

For the scarf, you might want to try E3-1 if you want something other than 4-1 (and I agree - i never make 4-1 just because, well... machines can do it.)  6-1 is often my default in such situations, but I think it would be poor for a scarf - the extra overlap means no matter what AR you build it at it will always be significantly less flexible than a 4-1 weave.

Sadly I can't seem to find a link for euro 3-1 right now, but this one for 5-1 http://www.mailleartisans.org/articles/articledisplay.cgi?key=8638 should explain the concept well enough - and is easily adapted to 3-1.  The weave takes longer to stabilize than others, but gives a nice, loose, atypical pattern.  A feat of minimalism.  You'll probably want to attach just a row or three of 4-1 to the edges of the scarf, or otherwise "stitch" them up to keep them from looking frayed or unravelled, if you do it with this style.

Also, looks like someone has invented dwarf maille.  But I am not satisfied - its just not dwarfy enough.

[CatalystParadox]

Aha!  Found my own patch of the stuff and uploaded pictures.  Here's Euro 3-1, for your edification:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108135635923890127095/Maille?authkey=Gv1sRgCPqm6tOkj9Xgew#5640959506581453394
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D9uFsOoxWa8/Tki33OT6FOI/AAAAAAAABkk/vFK7f26Dr7U/s1152/2011-08-15_01-59-01_257.jpg

It's a tricksy one, but I grew fond of it after initially struggling.  The key is to lay it flat and disturb it as little as possible until you have reasonably sizeable portion done.  Else the connections are so minimal that it is easy to lose the shape of it entirely as you are first starting.

[Neyvn]

Challenge you to do some "King's Mail" Thats, if memory serves correct, 8 Rings to one ring...

http://artofchainmail.com/patterns/european/kings1in8.html

[CatalystParadox]

I've seen 8-1 called kingsmaille but typically that's not the weave it refers to.  Girlinhat has already been doing 10-1, anyway.

What I usually think of as Kingsmaille (and the maille community seems to largely agree with me on this) is actually 8-in-2.  All it is is Euro 4-1 with two rings, stacked one atop the other, in place of every single ring.  Like so:



A fun variant is when you loop the two through each other to create little florets.

[Neyvn]

I've seen 8-1 called kingsmaille but typically that's not the weave it refers to.  Girlinhat has already been doing 10-1, anyway.

What I usually think of as Kingsmaille (and the maille community seems to largely agree with me on this) is actually 8-in-2.  All it is is Euro 4-1 with two rings, stacked one atop the other, in place of every single ring.  Like so:

(Imagesnip)

A fun variant is when you loop the two through each other to create little florets.

Yeah thats it...

[Scaraban]

>.>
<.<
Watching...

[Berserkenstein]

I always thought this pattern looked awesome for maille.

and this for jewelry.

I'm issuing a mandate for the latter in the form of an electrum bracelet!

[kisame12794]

I have done EU4-1, EU6-1, EU2-8, EU10-1, EU12-2, and am working on elfweave atm. Another good tutorial site ic CGmaille.com, it shows step by step instructions on a variety of different weaves.

[CatalystParadox]

Thanks for remembering that site, Kisame.  It has the best tutorials I've seen, for a lot of my favorite weaves.  I became friends with the guy who created it, when I was more active with chainmail.

What you have there, berserkenstein, is Japanese 6-in-2 (which is a variant I haven't seen before, but makes sense) and Full Persian 6-1, which makes a LOVELY thick chain.  I like the way 6/1 japanese weaves look also, but (and it sounds like girlinhat shares this) I quickly get bored with simpler weaves, and japanese tends to be even simpler than european.  The Euro/Japanese distinction arises from style of connection - in a euro weave the rings lay at a diagonal, alternating by rows which edge is upward.  In Japanese weaves, there are rings that lay flat, with a variable number of vertical (often slightly smaller) rings connecting them to adjacent flat rings.  As the vertical rings are always only connected to 2 rings, its actually something of a misnomer to call the weaves "4-1" or "6-1" or "12-2" since this only applies to a small number of the rings involved.

Are there folks watching who want to start doing this themselves?  I can give you a lot of pointers for how to start cheaply, how to wind and cut rings yourself, and the like, for those interested.  It's easiest if you have access to some tools/wood already, but there isn't much to it really except a local hardware store, some pliers, cutters, a few small pieces of wood and/or PVC pipe, and a drill.

[Girlinhat]

I mentioned startup cost earlier in the thread.  Costs less than $25 to gather all the materials except the drill (hopefully you have one of those laying about) and that's including about 200 feet of wire.  Just do yourself a favor and get toothless pliers.  The teeth scratch and mar the rings, which ruins perfectly good jewelry.

I'm also liking that second picture there, under the Japanese 6-2.  That looks very similar to box weave, but with a bit more overlap.  I think that's called foxtail sometimes, because of the V shape of the rows, but I could be wrong about that.  Basically, a box weave is a byzantine weave without the spacers, and that weave in the picture is a box weave pushed closer together.  It looks a bit sturdier, I may try and make a dog leash out of that or something.  I've been wanting to make a leash for some reason

In other news, I've recently realized that my family goes through a lot of catfood cans, throwing away perfectly good can lids.  These are the pop-top kind, so I'll be using these to try and make scalemail.  I'm just not sure what piece I'll actually make.  A rag-tag vest?  A sheet to hang on the wall?  I dunno!

Also, here's this earring that I made with 20g 1/4" enameled copper.  I've made a similar one using 1/8" that's much smaller, but my camera will never zoom in that close.  And on the topic of copper, will enameled copper turn skin green the same as regular copper, or will the plastic coating protect it?

[CatalystParadox]

Can tabs make excellent scalemale!  I should return to my junk-scale armor some day.  I like the earring a lot, sort of a byzant-esque design, right?  It works well for an earring like that.  The plastic coating on enameled copper should protect skin, so long as the copper beneath doesn't actually make contact, yes.

Another way of thinking of box chain is that it is Euro 4-1, 4 rings wide, connected at the edges.  Make a strip of E4-1 with a width of 3 and then stitch the two sides with one more row.

As for starting up, I should have emphasized, I was more offering to share some simple designs for tools to assist in coiling and cutting rings easily - though I am admittedly still not totally happy with my cutting methods.  Like you, my efforts toward a suitable dremel-cutting solution have only resulted in messy cuts and burning hot wire coils - though I did create a device to keep the rings from flying everywhere at least. Coiling, though, can be made incredibly easy.  Just be sure to use a variable speed drill!  It's possible with a one-speed, but much more difficult, and much more likely you'll hurt yourself/ruin the coil.  I've given my hands some nasty cuts with 20ga titanium wire or 16ga hardened stainless.

As a result, the method I mainly use for cutting (at least on harder materials) is score (with bolt cutters) and break.  Mini Wire Snips are perfect for the breaking - on a tight coil you score the wire with the cutters then use these to seperate the ring and it snaps off very clean.  They are also terrific for softer metals in light gauges - I use them for all my micromaille needs.

Of course, for any serious jewelry its a must to use a jewelers saw.  I get impatient with the things, though, so I tend to avoid jewelry for that reason alone.