Chain maille chains

Whew, it's amazing how time flies when you are concentrating on something.  I started playing with rings this morning around ten and I was shocked to realise that I had managed to work through to three.  No wonder my back is currently grumbling at me!

But I've had fun.  I've made chain samplers of a few different sorts of chains- two from the 'Basics of Chain Maille' book and two from a really useful website, http://cgmaille.com/tutorials.shtml.  Oh, and one from me not getting the hang of a Full Persian chain for a rather long time.  Below also demonstrates how much you can expect to produce from three packets of $2 shop jump rings.  I had bought three packs- two of the smaller size with 80 rings/pack (one black, one gold) and one of the larger size and 60/pack in gold.  The rings below (plus the motif I made in the previous post) used up all but 5 gold rings.  While you could make a bracelet or a necklace from these rings, it would not be very economical.  The wire is rather soft however, which does make it a bit easier to practice with since you don't need as much force to open and close the rings.

The short chain lengths also give me a cunning plan to ponder as a way of fixing the zipper pull on my bag.  Hmm, time to plot...