Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop: Techniques and Projects for Weaving with Wire

Honestly, that would be Phong's but finally, here's a chain maille book devoted primarily to skills building instead of projects highlighting variations on a handful of techniques. My first book on chain maille was the classic "Great Wire Jewelry" by Irene From Peterson. Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop by Karen Karon seems to be the heir to Peterson's book. It's an anthology of chain maille weaves. There are some excellent books and DVDs on chain maille jewelry currently on the market and those into chain maille already have them. Chained by Rebeca Mojica is probably the best not only because of the photography and stunning projects but also the quality of information and instruction. However, Chained doesn't feature the European 4 in 1 or any of the Persian Weaves but it covers the Japanese 12 in 2 which isn't in Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop. Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop has few variations on the weaves.... it's devoted teaching a diverse number of classic weaves, not just 4 or 5 weaves before the author veers of on their own unique weaves. A good chain maille book will will go into the basics: wire guages, metal types, jump ring opening and closing and the math (yikes) of doing chain maille. Karon uses the following terms for inserting a new jump ring through the intersections created by previous jump rings: TE for through the eye and AE for around the eye are used when discussing the placement of rings using clear illustrations. She provides an in-depth discussion of the all important aspect ratio. . Now for the chains. It starts with the basic - the 1 in 1; 2 in 1; and the 2 in 2, What follows are the classics of chain maille: European 4 in 1 Byzantine/(aka Birdcage) Box (aka Queen Link, Inca Puno) Flower/rosette weave is taught is this chapter because it's used as a connector. Celtic (aka Parallel, Helm) Spiral/Double Spiral Jens Pind The Persian weaves: Full Persian (aka foxtail) The Half Persian 4 in 1 using a template to stabilize the rings while developing the pattern The Half Persian 3 in 1 The Half persian 3 in 1 sheet. No GSG (Great Southern Gathering)but it's similar to this weave. Round weaves Inverted or open round chain maille Roundmaille Turkish Round Dragonscale with instructions for an awesome dragonscale collar. The instructions are clearly illustrated using color coded jump rings. There are beautiful photographs of each weave. The final chapter give in-depth hints on using clasps and other findings and using the weaves to design jewelry. The back of the book has about 20 pages of aspect ratio and conversion charts. To those into chain maille or just getting started, add this to your library.

Incredible tutorial n great photo support. Highly recommended. Learning from this book was so easy. Best mailed instruction in written format. Enjoyable

Great book, priced great, easy to read and follow instructions. If youre looking to start making chain maille, YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

I got this a while back, but didn't use it till recently. I love it! This book starts at the beginning, and quickly, but not too quickly, progresses to more intermediate and then advanced weaves. What makes this book a good idea factory, for me, is that even though it is basically a straightforward how-to on different weaves, it also put them together in interesting ways. I found it very easy to follow & a great place to get new ideas and understand how to create them. I have been weaving wire (from scratch) for a little under two years, so I'm not a 'pro', but I'm not a beginner either. There are great reference charts at the back of the book i.e.; AR for nearly every gauge, AWG & SWG gauges, and metric to Imperial conversion charts, too, very helpful! Oh, and speaking of AR there is a basic discussion of this in the first chapter, as well. This book also appears to be laid out in such a way that one could easily remove the binding and put rings on it (to lay flat on your workspace), I don't know if this is intentional, but I noticed it almost right away (haven't done it yet, though, so I'll come back & tell you what happened when I do). Had this been ringed already, it easily would have gotten 5 stars. This book has been a great addition to my metalwork & jeweler's bookshelf. I'm looking forward to getting more from this author on my subject, since it was really hard to choose ("which author, which book?") from so many. In the end, Ms. Karon's book 'said' the most to me in this limited medium, and I am not disappointed! She has penned an excellent resource. Happy weaving!

Easy to understand. Many projects. Great info

I had been debating between this book and another, but I am so happy that I chose this one after reading many reviews of each. The book has the most comprehensive chain maille instructions using diagram/CGI rather than pictures, using different colors to show different rings. There are a few weaves that I still don't understand like Jen's Pind, but that's a complicated weave to understand for many people. The bast part about the book is that it contains instructions for the base weaves and with an understanding of wire and beading, the reader can easily add beads and various weave combinations. A lot of other chain maille books have very specific designs that don;t translate into other combinations. Not only does the book teach you the fundamentals of each weave family, but also contains extremely helpful tables that will eliminate a lot of math and will allow you to better gauge wire diameter (inner & outer) as well as Aspetic Ratio if you don't have enough information to complete the aspect ratio equation (especially if you know the wire gauge, but don't have calipers available. I would love to see another book just like this one with additional weaves from Karon. For unusual, artist-created weaves visit[...]and check out the library!

An awesome book. A must have

Easy to follow instructions and beautiful designs to try. Best book I have to learn chain maille.

英語ですが、分かりやすい写真とイラストでとても良いです。

fotografie eccellenti disegni di facile comprensione,anche se non su tutti i modelli;unico difetto non è tradotto in italiano ;da consigliere a chi fa oggetti per passione

The book is very nice, tutorials describing very well how to make many kind of chains, But ONLY with rings as a base. I think the book is good but I was looking for a book about wiring to finish earings or neckalces, so I sent it back.

Interesting book with colorful rings step-by-step instructions to follow with ease.