Chainmail Accessories for the Númenórean Wannabe

Last week, I had covid for the first time! To commemorate this experience (or, more likely, as a result of the very weird headspace I occupied because of the covid), I jumped into an unexpected and, luckily, perfectly engrossing new craft. My brother and I were just talking about labeling certain life experiences as “side quests,” and this fits that title in randomness and aesthetic: chainmail accessories ⛓⛓⛓⛓

It all began with some inspiration from one of Mud Witch’s instagram stories (is it socially illegal to post a screenshot of a story? Let’s find out) of a crafting class offering. The chains looked very cool to me - industrial but dainty (as Titus would say, pretty but tough, like a diamond, or beef jerky in a ballgown) and evocative of one of my main emotional support film franchises, Fast and Furious. JK Lord of the Rings LOL. I’ve also been back on a Zelda BOTW spree - four years in, I’ve learned how to dodge attacks and I feel invincible. So, chainmail is appropriate extracurricular attire for me these days.

I began looking into the different kinds of chainmail - the weave, I guess you’d say? After cursory searching, I decided to settle deeper into my illness funk with a little self-sabotage. I picked a random (and I realize now, somewhat difficult) weave, the literally tiniest jump rings I own, and a semi-lit seat at the desk in our basement, and decided I would sledgehammer my way to success. Reader, I was wildly unsuccessful for 45 minutes that were timeless, ageless, miserable, and otherwise indescribable.

The next day, after a little more research and some humbling of myself, I got back at it with bigger jump rings (6 mm to be exact) and a simpler pattern. I looked back at the inspo pic and guessed that the one with the pretty flower charms was a European 4-in-1. This was a much clearer starting point because it was a bit more flat and easier for me to conceptualize (the blog instructions were also very clear).

After getting the hang of 4-in-1, I decided to go for the 6-in-1 because I liked the way it held its shape a little more concretely. The result: this shiny fishtail-ish keychain ending with one of my polymer carrot beads. It felt natural to mix chainmail with garden vegetables - what would Farmer Maggot do, now that the Shire has gotten a taste of war?

Chainmail is weird and so much fun to play around with. It’s strange how slinky and flowy it is, given that it’s just a bunch of circles. It really drapes and flows over whatever you put it on. It’s very hard to put down once I pick it up.

Feeling confident, I switched to slightly smaller stainless steel jump rings (5 mm), settled under one of my quilts, and hit play on a season of Antiques Roadshow (I just started watching it and I am very into it. PBS got its hooks in me at a young age - good for them). It was definitely easy to get into the groove of joining the loops together - the layout of the pattern is pretty simple and easy to do without having to lay it down or suspend it or whatever. 200 rings later, I had one bracelet which I finished off with a toggle clasp and tiny Cranky Moon charm.

To reiterate my previous point - I love how this bracelet moves and feels. It feels like silk and flips around like a mermaid’s tail, and I feel like I’m an elementary school child learning about similes. It’s cold at first but warms up when you wear it, and although it might trap and cruelly rip out the occasional arm hair, it makes me feel a little bit like Link or Frodo. I can rest assured that one sliver of my body could pretty easily withstand a slashing sword attack. Rock on!

I was feeling jazzed about this creation, so I decided to try taking some vids / pix of it with intentional lighting. I put on LOTR in the background to set the mood, which inspired me to use whatever lighting necessary to make my skin look like Frodo after being afflicted by the attack-du-jour of any given film.

There was a quick realization for me of how capturing a bracelet in a visually engaging way is so different from capturing the things I tend to take pictures or videos of. I was like, how do I make my hand movements not boring, but not offputtingly weird? One big thing I realized was to move my hands more slowly than usual - I became aware of how visually frazzling it was to try to track an object on my wrist while my hands moved the way they usually do.

Here’s my tiny video end result of the photoshoot and a somewhat significant amount of time rewatching clips and snipping out the nicest pieces that fit “narratively” together. Watching it now, I think it’s a bit choppy, but HEY, you live, you learn, you have a random tiny bruise on your hand that you don’t see until after an hour of taking videos, and life goes on:

~Notes for the future~:

If/when I do it again, I’d like to learn more about the kinds of closures people tend to use with chainmail links. The toggle clasp I used feels too skinny and out of proportion with the chain. It’s functional, but maybe not the most spiritually accurate piece of hardware.

I’d also like to try out a half-Persian pattern. I watched this video and it makes the process very clear.

The covid has officially been put to rest, but the love of random chainmail accessories lives on.