Chainmail for Pippin--recap of the week's work

When I got an email from the people at Pippin to order a new chainmail tunic for their new lead actor, I was happy to take on the project.  Making chainmail for a Tony-award-winning show is one of the highlights of my career. 

So after sending the invoice, I ordered 22,000 rings and got started.

Starting a huge project is daunting, especially when you're working with that many rings.  There were enough rings to fill more than a 14" x 11" x 3.25" bin. 

From working on the chainmail wedding dress, I learned that the only want to get through a huge project was by making lots of little squares and then linking them together.  As soon as the rings arrived in the mail, I got working.  After 2 days, I had made 45 little squares.

After day 3, I had linked 70 squares:

After day 4, I had linked together 95 squares:

 Posting lots of little squares doesn't really give a sense of scope of the piece, so I made another 25 squares and started linking them together into sheets.  (The pliers are for scale.)

Tonight or tomorrow I'll start linking all the sheets together and work on the shaping.  It's amazing how a piece like this comes together.

Vanessa

Handmade aluminum jewelry
Aluminum chainmail jewelry