Latest revision as of 17:14, 17 December 2009

Workshop

This material was originally presented as a KwartzLab Workshop.

Date

Saturday November 28, 2009

Presenter

punkin

Description

The “stepping stone” weave is a chain mail pattern where a series of larger rings are surrounded on alternating sides by smaller rings. The effect resembles the zigzagging paths of a Japanese garden. This is an ornamental rope or chain pattern, which is suitable for jewelry (bracelet, necklace, watch fob), or as edging on a larger (chain or textile) fabric.

As with all chain mail, different effects can be achieved by altering the size (gauge or interior diameter) of all or some of the rings, or in adding or removing rings from the pattern. The stepping stone weave is fairly loose, giving you a lot of freedom to experiment.

The original Stepping Stones weave was created and named in 2008 by Sara Reading of Corvus Chainmaille.

Tools & Materials Required

Rings

The total number of rings needed depends, obviously, on how long a rope you want to make. The main pattern consists of two different sizes of rings: "medium rings" which form the primary chain, and "large rings", which the primary chain wraps around.

Each pattern segment uses the follow:

• 22 medium rings
• 2 large rings

Because this is a "fence post" pattern (each segment shares links with the previous segment), your first segment will need an additional 2 medium rings to complete the pattern. So a finished work which contains only 1 segment requires:

• 24 medium rings
• 2 large rings

while a finished work which contains 2 segments requires:

• 46 medium rings
• 4 large rings

and a finished work which contains 10 segments requires:

• 242 medium rings
• 20 large rings

At our workshop, and in the figures below, we use:

• 19swg rings with a 5/32" interior diameter ("medium")
• 16swg rings with a 3/8" interior diameter ("large")

In order to finish your rope as a bracelet or necklace, you will also need a clasp, and a couple of smaller jump rings to attach on either end. The size of the jump rings will be dictated by your clasp (they will need to be a thin enough gauge to fit through the hole on your clasp).

Tools

Pliers

You will need two pairs of pliers in order to manipulate the rings. Jewelery pliers are best, but if you have to use hardware pliers, look for small needle nose pliers, without teeth: teeth may damage the finish on your rings.

Felt Square

The rings we'll be working with are small; they bounce and roll like champs. Working on a felt surface can help keep rings from straying to far from your work space.

Instructions

The beginning of the pattern

1. Count out 26 “medium” rings. Close 18 of them, and open the remaining 8.
2. Put 4 closed rings on one of the open rings, and close it. Orient the connected rings to form a short chain of two rings connected to one ring connected to 2 rings, giving you a 2-1-2 pattern. figure 1
3. Loop the two rings on one end of the chain through another open ring. Add two more closed rings to the open ring, and close. You should now have a chain of 2-1-2-1-2. figure 2
4. Continue building your chain, until you have used all 26 rings. You should end up with a chain with 9 double-rings inter-joined with 8 single rings. This will form the spine for 2 connected “stepping stones”.figure 3
5. Count out 10 more “medium” rings. Open them all.
6. Beginning at the first double-ring on your chain, add (and close) 2 double-rings to each of the first 5 double-rings. Ensure that all of the double-rings you add lay on the same side of the chain. figure 4
7. Count out 10 more “medium” rings. Open them all.
8. Beginning at the middle double-ring on your chain (this will be the last double-ring that you added 2 rings to in step 6), add (and close) 2 double-rings to each of the last 5 double-rings, on the other side of the chain. The middle (5th) double-ring of your chain should now have a total of 4 loose rings through it, 2 on either side. figure 5
9. Count out 4 “large” rings. Open them all.
10. Thread one of your open large rings through all of the loose double-rings on one side of the chain -- 5 sets of double-rings total. This will cause half the length of chain to curve around the edge of the large ring. Close the large ring. figure 6
11. Repeat with a second large ring, so that you now have two rings threaded through the same section of chain. figure 7
12. Repeat steps 9 through 11, on the remaining length of chain. This segment should curve in the opposite direction, creating an “S” pattern with the inner chain. figure 8

Continuing the pattern

Either

• Complete the rest of your chain, and then go back and thread on each stepping stone, or
• Complete each stepping stone segment as you go.

When adding on to the pattern, remember the fence-post problem -- each new segment will use the previous segment’s last double-ring as the first double-ring in its chain.

For each additional segment, use:

• 12 “medium” rings for the chain (1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2), 8 closed and 4 open
• 10 “medium” rings to join the chain to the “stepping stone”, all open
• 2 “large” rings for the “stepping stone, all open

An adult-sized bracelet is typically 9 to 11 segments, depending on wrist size and how close you want the bracelet to fit.

Finishing the pattern

To turn your completed chain into a bracelet

1. Add at least one “small” ring to each end of the chain. You can use more than one, if you need to adjust the size of the bracelet by a small amount, or if you like the look of additional chain.
2. Attach the lobster claw to the last “small” ring on one end of the bracelet. It doesn’t matter which.