So here is the first of my "workbench" devs. I find the process of the work artists do so important, and DA has no real way to capture that. So my plan is to take small pictures along the way to try and catch that process element. I'll be making use of the update function to do this.

These are intended to be quick and dirty, but with meaningful photos. The numbers refer to annotations written here. Of course, any input on how to improve this idea are welcome. I'll be playing around with this quite a bit I think.

Please, share your thoughts on this.
-------------------------------
Chainmaille Project! I plan to make a full suit, from head to toe (a hauberk).

1. My old chainmaille project. It was awesome...until I realized my ring size was enormous. Start Over.

2. The old stuff versus the new hotness. You can see the size difference in the rings, the smaller ones are 5/16" inner diameter, and 14 gauge.

3. You can see I've made quite a bit already, Euro 4 in 1 pattern. Very easy to do, very time consuming.

4. I make my own rings, cheaper than buying them. Of course, also adds to the work time. I'm just using butted rings. Riveted or welded links aren't needed since it won't be "battle ready". Also don't have the patience to rivet or weld them these days.

5. The tools I use. Very basic and cheap, but very slow methods.
A) wire, 14 gauge for making rings.
B) the rings
C) my 5/16" mandrel for winding rings
D) basic pliers
E) locking pliers/vise grips. also used as the handle of my mandrel
F) wire cutters to cut my rings out.

6. It all goes in my kit bag, just a canvas tool bag. Very portable. My girlfriend calls it my man-purse. But it's manly yes? Yes.

Update 11/21/10
7. Winding mandrel with lock pliers for a handle. The mandrel is just a steel rod the diameter of the rings with a hole drilled in the end big enough to fit the wire. The hole gives you an easy starting point to work from. The rod comes bigger, but I've cut it down so it's portable.

8. Stick the wire in the hole and start winding.

9. Try to leave no spaces in the coil.

10. You can start to see the coil form.

11. The whole jig in action.

12. Get pretty close to the lock pliers before you snip. You can also put the end of the mandrel in a drill and use a longer mandrel for fast work, but this method allows me to carry everything I need to work on it anywhere.

13. Once you're at the end, snip the wire.

14. Go back and snip the beginning of the coil to free it from the mandrel.

15. You're left with a flexible coil and can start cutting off rings.

16. Line your cutters up with the end of the coil to cut a complete ring.

17. Woot! A ring! Now you just need to cut thousands more.....

18. This method gives what is called a pinch cut, butted end ring. Pinch cut because the cutters leave a pointed end to the ring, not a flush/flat end. Butted end because the end "butt" together with no overlap (although I do overlap the pointed ends). Butted mail is technically the weakest type (versus riveted or welded) but again, this is not "battle ready".

to be continued....