Still reading through this thread, so apologies if I duplicate any info.
Very nice looking chain, GiH! Some other things you might try if you're doing this as a jewelry/costuming thing, is placing a colored bead on one edge of the center link -- with a slightly smaller ring size, the neighboring rings themselves will tend to keep the bead in position when worn -- or electroplating the wire (for example, with copper) to provide color contrast without a HUGE outlay of cash.
I've got issues with ADD, and working with my hands tends to keep me mostly sane, so I did a good bit of chainmail in college. You can use a wood or steel dowel to make smaller rings. The guy who taught me used a bent steel bar, slightly thicker than a pencil, so you could put the straight end between your feet to steady it, and "crank" the bent end around to wind the wire on, directly off the spool. It made links that were roughly as big around as a AA battery, which made for a nice tight weave, and with this method it was easy to crank out a thousand rings in an hour or so. (Be warned though, it'll eventually give you huge biceps from the cranking and thick forearms from the cutting
)
As to weight, my college buddy had a sleeveless hauberk & coif made with 12- or 10-gauge wire, which is shoulders to mid-thigh for the hauberk and top of head to point of shoulders for the coif. The hauberk weighed about 70 lbs, and the coif weighed about 20. It also had to be worn with a thick cloth pad underneath to prevent pinching, hair pulling, and pressure sores/chafing, which added another 10-15 lbs. Of course, his was also designed for use in combat, so it was thicker and tighter than cosmetic chain.
Galvanized wire or aluminum DOES avoid the issue of rust, but they both oxidize, and galvanized wire especially leaves a blackish/grey residue on your skin if you sweat against the oxidized metal.
Final edit: My college buddy made a couple of chainmail bikinis for one of the local "dancers." She said it tripled her tips the first night she wore it, but damn near killed her with all the pinching. SO, she bought a couple of rabbit skins, turned 'em fur-side-in and lightly sewed the leather-side to the rings. The last I'd heard was the tips were still astronomical, and the soft/tickly fur was
greatly appreciated by the wearer.
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Topic: Girlinhat: Adequate Metal Crafter (Read 19226 times)