(Real armour-made-from-interlocking-rings is called Mail(e)). Chain-mail is a Victorian bastardised term but everyone uses it!)

"Chain Mail"

The most common and easiest style of Maile for use in LRP is the big and small ring method. The most common garment is a sort of T-shirt.

Materials

Tools

The method is simple.

Quick tip; When twisting the rings, don't get the whole ring in the jaws of the pliers. Get the ends of the pliers by the ends of the ring. Leave almost a third of the ring clear between the two sets of pliers. This will give the ring 'more space to bend' which will make the ring easier to bend (only an issue for the first few hundred rings, before you become Charles Atlas!!) and will reduce the likelihood of the ring shearing while you are manipulating it, due to stresses, etc.

The commonest pattern is the square form, where the 12mm rings form a square grid. My procedure to (slightly) aleviate boredom and despair is to link 9 x 12mm rings (with 8 x 6mm) in a string and then roll these round to form a 3 x 3 'patch' (using another 4 x 6mm). Form two of these into a 6 x 3 path and two of these into a 6 x 6. Continue like this until you have a piece big enough to hide behind. Then do it again for the back!!

Actually, I would advise first making up a sort of mini poncho of patches, to go on your shoulders and hang down onto the chest and shoulder blades. This will allow you to guestimate how wide to make the front and back. Extend this to form a chain tabard and then fill in the sides. Run patches in a belt from front to back so you can see how the fitting will go.

Hang patches down your arm from the shoulder. Stop at the elbow and run a belt of patches around the arm and fill back as is comfortable.

Wear over a garment with a hood or a good collar. A belt will support some of the weight at your waist.

Coif

As above but join the big rings in 'triangles', not 'squares'. Chose a centre ring and fasten 6 rings around it in a 'hex' pattern. Fasten 12 rings around these. Proceed exponentially until you have a 'doiley' which covers the top of your head. Fasten square patches to this around 4 of the 6 edges, so they hang down the side of your head. Continue down to shoulder level. Extend at over the nape of the neck for balance and style. Hang some chain around the neck at the front.

Ring Mail

There is a thing often called Ring-Mail where metal rings are sewn onto a fur or leather backing. As stated elsewhere, I don't sew by hand. At all!. Here is a variantion on a theme. It looks ok, is quite speedy to assemble and can be thonged onto various carrier garments.

Materials

Tools

The method is simple.

A square pattern can be used, but the hex/triangle pattern looks nicer.