Chainmail Costumes

Renaissance Festival is still several months away, as well as Halloween, but it might be a good idea to get the jump on this craft early as it tends to take some time. Today, we'll be exploring how to make chainmail at home.

This project can range from a few week to several months depending on the goal end-product. Full chainmail suits obviously take longer than a headpiece. In addition, the chainmail "weaving" could be repurposed for use in jewelry making, which may only take a few days.

Step 1: Cut rings. If designing jewelry, precut rings can be purchased for a few dollars, but costumes require heavier rings. Metal coils can be purchased from your local hardware store and cut down the middle with bolt-cutters to create useable rings.





Step 2: Use two pliers to open a ring. Place four closed rings in the open circle and close your initial ring.







Step 3: Take your second ring and thread it through two of the four rings in step two. Add two additional rings and close your second ring. Repeat this process until you have a string the desire length. You will then begin the same process sideways. Every "center" ring should have four other rings running through it.




Step 4: Depending on the end product, you may need to make a long sheet of mail which can then be closed  by threading one ring through two rings on the left and two rings on the right.