I rarely post here and I am new to chain mail. I decided to do a box chain. I used a size six knitting needle as a mandrel. I'm not sure if I like how tight this is. Would it work with larger rings or should I try to finish it out and see what it looks like with a clasp. I'm afraid it might be too masculine. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Kristi

I'm comparing yours to the picture on the back of Spiderchain's DVD and it looks like your might be a teeny bit tighter.  The chain should be supple enough to drape comfortably around the wrist.  And the weave should be tight enough that the rings don't flop out of place.   

Sorry - I don't know what size a Size 6 knitting needle equates to, but the other consideration is the gauge of wire you are using.  The mm of the wire relative to the mm of the knitting needle = the aspect ratio.  That's the number that will really tell you for sure if you are on the right track.  It's O.K. to use knitting needles as mandrels but you will have better success if you create a little chart which shows you which knitting needles in combination with which sizes of wire will produce the appropriate rings for each weave you want to do.

According to the chart I have the size 6 is 4mm. Of course the needle I was using is an older one so it may be slightly smaller than todays size 6s. Thanks for responding. I have put it on hold while I contemplate it.

If the ID of your rings is a true 4mm (they might actually be a tteny bit bigger due to spring-back) and you are using 20g wire, you should be pretty close for this weave.   If you can post the measured ID of your rings and tell us what gauge wire you are using, we can run the calculation to see what Aspect Ratio you've got and that will tell you if you're wasting your time or if you should go ahead.  A quick way to "test" the ID of your rings is to try to slip a 4mm bead through the center of one.  That will tell you if you've got a slightly larger or smaller ID or if it's exactly 4mm.   

Jilla, I am using 18 gauge and it is slightly larger than 4mm based on the bead test. I decided to make two small sections and link them with a focal. Thanks for your help. Here's a pic of the end result.

Kristi

Dang!  That came out great!  Glad you stuck with it.  

Thank you so much.

I too am new to chain maille and haven't yet got to grips with aspect ratios and ID's but I've just made one of these using ordinary 6mm jump rings.  I don't know if it's any good or not, but it looks OK.  I also found the chain to be quite flexible so made some circular earrings too.  ( I hope these images aren't too big).

Ooops, they were huge.  Better go resize them, lol.

Your pieces are very nice. I really like the drape on the earrings. Great job!

Francesca

Here are a couple of my favorite sites for chainmaille . . .

http://derakon.chainmailstore.com/index.html

 http://cgmaille.com/tutorials.shtml

Hawkwolf 

weave chart 

good luck!!!