How to Make a Roman Chain Mail Bracelet
Roman chain mail jewelry is made in the same fashion as Roman chain mail armor, which Roman soldiers wore in battle. Adopted from the Celts, chain mail offered Roman soldiers such effective protection against sharp weapons -- such as swords and spears -- that by the middle ages, soldiers all over Europe used it.
There are still a few practical applications for chain mail, such as the manufacture of butchers' gloves. But the most popular use today for chain mail and its interlocking rings is for fashion. Artisans create bracelets from rings made of silver, brass or other metals, and sometimes nonmetal materials such as rubber.
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Things You'll Need
- Two sets of pliers (flat-nose or bent-nose)
- 100-300 metal jump rings (all the same size)
- One lobster claw clasp or spring ring clasp
Instructions
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Form the Bracelet's Length
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1
Use two sets of pliers to grasp a jump ring. The slit in the ring should be between the two pliers and face up. Open the jump ring slightly by pulling one of the pliers toward you and pushing the other away. The opening should only be large enough to enable you to slide other jump rings onto it.
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2
Slide four closed jump rings onto the open one. Use the two sets of pliers to close the open ring in the same manner it was opened. You may need to wiggle the two ends back and forth past one another until they close completely.
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3
Set the five rings on a work surface so that they look like a flower, with the ring you just closed in the center. Arrange the rings with two above the center and two below it. The two rings on the left should overlap the ones on the right.
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4
Open another jump ring. Add two closed rings to it.
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5
Put one open end of the jump ring up through the upper-right ring of the five-ring pattern. Put the other open end up through the lower-right ring and then close the jump ring. It should overlap the central ring of the first five rings.
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6
The rows of rings in chain mail overlap in alternating directions. Arrange the two attached rings so they are underneath the two rings you just linked to. You now have eight rings in three rows. The rings in two of the rows should overlap in the opposite direction of the rings in the middle row.
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7
Continue adding open rings with two closed rings attached until the chain -- with the clasp added on -- is at its desired length.
Widen the Bracelet
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8
Open a ring and add two closed rings to it. Put the open ring through the space where the two top rings furthest to the left overlap one another. Close the ring.
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9
Position the ring you just closed so that its left side lies on top of all the rings it is attached to, while its right side is underneath them. Arrange the two rings attached to it so that they are positioned above it on the work surface. The left one should overlap the right one.
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10
Open a ring and add only one closed ring to it. Slide one of the open ends up through the rightmost ring attached to the one you just added. Slide the other open end up through the next space where two rings overlap in the row below.
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11
Close the ring and position it so it overlaps the one to the left of it. Make sure the ring attached to it is positioned so that the one to the left is overlapping it.
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12
Continue adding open rings with single rings attached for the length of the bracelet. You will have five rows of rings that overlap their neighbors in alternating directions. Three rows will have the same number of rings, while the two rows in between will have one ring fewer.
Add the Clasp
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13
Open two jump rings. Link one through the rightmost rings of the top and central rows, then close it. Link the other one through the rightmost rings of the central and bottom rows and close it.
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14
Open a ring and slide the clasp onto it. Link this ring through the two rings you just added and close it.
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15
Repeat this process on the left end of the bracelet, except add the final ring without anything attached to it. This is the ring you will hook the clasp to when wearing the bracelet.
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1
Tips & Warnings
The number of jump rings you will need depends on the size and gauge of the rings you are using and exactly how long you make the bracelet. For 11-millimeter rings, you'll probably need about 120. For 6-millimeter rings, about 250.
Since you'll be repeatedly picking up and arranging the chain while you work, it can be helpful to use cork board or a stack of newspapers as your work surface and use push pins or straight pins to hold the left end of the chain in place.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
