chainmail and more shopping
Last year I took a couple of chainmail classes at Pennsic. I brought home some unfinished projects and completed them, but I haven't done any more chainmail since. So I'm obviously still a beginner, but I think I've got the basics down pretty well. I sometimes wear my work, and people are fascinated by it.
I was thinking it would be nice to share what I've learned at Baitcon. I was going to ask in baitcon how much interest there was, and then I noticed the estimated delivery time on the site where I was going to buy the wire rings. There wasn't time to ask, so I just went ahead and ordered 10+ pounds of rings - 5 lbs of various sizes in stainless steel, 4.5 various lbs of bright aluminum (that's what the Pennsic classes used, because it's easy to work and shiny/pretty), 0.2 lbs of anodized aluminum (pretty colors, but expensive; they had only 3 colors in stock), and 0.65 lbs of EPDM rubber rings (also pretty colors, even more expensive). Then I noticed another 1-2 days added for them to get the order out. If I'm lucky, the package will be here in time for Baitcon. If not, I'll be left with a couple of pounds of aluminum rings that are a good size for teaching, but that I probably wouldn't use for any projects of my own. (There is faster shipping, but it's an additional $30!) [a comparison of metals]
The supplies you'd need for teaching are (1) rings, (2) tools, (3) instructions/handouts, and (4) visual aids/samples.
My chain-weaving tools previously consisted of 2 pairs of smooth-jawed chain-nose (what I'd always called needle-nosed) pliers (that I bought at Pennsic last year - Huzzah for The Pillaged Village and their extensive, inexpensive offerings). You want smooth jaws for working with (relatively-soft) aluminum, but I've decided I want to start using stainless steel for the things I'll be wearing, so I needed serrated pliers. (Here's hoping stainless won't be too much harder to work than aluminum....) Last night we went to a craft store that's having a sale on cheap tools. I ended up buying 10 pairs of pliers with different nose shapes and jaw types, and 2 wire cutters. (And then anniemal wanted to swap with some of her jewelry tools this morning, which was fine. She prefers tools that don't spring open, and one of the new pliers won't hold its spring.) With this surge of tools, the suitability of my new tackle box as a project case is already in question. We'll have to see how much space 10lbs of rings takes up, and how much of those rings I want to carry as working material. I was hoping the box would have room to take on new crafts/projects from this year's Pennsic....
A lot of these cheap tools are marginal for working with fine jewelry/beading wire, but they're OK for the coarser weaving of chainmail. It was interesting to see so many smaller tools, aimed for people with smaller hands (i.e. women), and even smaller tools that must be meant for children. (Introducing young children to crafting in the developed world, or to the labor market in the underdeveloped world?)
Suddenly I have enough tools to share with a few others for teaching. If package tracking shows that the rings will be here in time for Baitcon, I'll post in baitcon and invite interested people to bring small pliers too if they have them. The classes at Pennsic were mobbed; we ended up sharing tools in small groups, and more rings were made on the spot from wire.
I also got some neon-colored pipe cleaners. These make excellent visual aids for teaching weaving/knitting. They are big enough to be seen at a distance, can be formed into the desired shapes, and have contrasting colors so you can see the relationships of the wires.