Karen KaronChain 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 1Byzantine/(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 SpiralJens PindThe Persian weaves:Full Persian (aka foxtail)The Half Persian 4 in 1 using a template to stabilize the rings while developing the patternThe Half Persian 3 in 1The Half persian 3 in 1 sheet. No GSG (Great Southern Gathering)but it's similar to this weave.Round weavesInverted or open round chain mailleRoundmailleTurkish RoundDragonscale 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.

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!

The instructions are clear and straightforward and while one can initially ignore aspect ratio because the book is structured so well by explaining which commonly available aluminum or silver jump rings are needed for different weaves, eventually aspect ratio makes more sense after working through different weaves.

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!

I loved all the different patterns

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。

初心者ですが、作品内容も素晴らしいですがそれ以上にわかりやすく制作意欲を刺激されました。使いやすい道具とか写真を見ただけで作り方が理解できます。参考にしてぜひ作ってみたいと思いました。

For a beginner at chain mail jewellery and the success I have had since using some of the projects and knowledge contained in this book, I am most impressed with this book and highly recommend this for anybody who is new to this style. It starts out with an introduction and all the basics you need to know to get started from tools, items that will help make the job easier, jump rings and various methods on opening, closing them and common problems found by incorrect technique when closing rings. It them goes through a number of styles and ways of linking jump rings which progress from a very basic chain of single jump rings linked one into another gradually becoming more complicated to the dragonscale weave pattern at the very end which looks stunning even in it's simple sheet form and has a spectacular statement collar combining at least three different types of chain mail pattern including the dragonscale weave. This progression makes sense as while the simple patterns may almost be a little demeaning, they are good to start with as in order to be successful at chain mail you really need to get the basics of opening and closing jump rings neatly and fully first and as in the project pieces there are ways of dressing up even the simplest of chains. Having said that with patterns such as the Byzantine in this book, it is very easy for a beginner to make an impressive looking piece and so this encouraging, in fact I began on Byzantine for my first project and the confidence boost I had from creating that was great.The instructions are clear with illustrations and different colours are used to help identify different rings from each other and it is clear enough for me to have along side the piece I am learning. As with any new technique, it is best to take your time and go through the instructions as laid out and then as you have the pattern more committed to memory then you can have a look at the speed weaving tips for the pattern you are working on so you can make the process a little quicker.The book doesn't really put you off any more complex ones, in fact on the dragonscale it does say if you want to try it is sometimes worth getting stuck right in, but with patterns like the Persian weaves that sections does get you to start out on the single row weaves before going onto making a sheet out of these weaves. My only quibble is that it would have been nice to see more examples of how to use chain mail to make earrings however the book does provide you with the means to go off and do a bit of creative thinking on how to apply what you have learned.I love the photographs as they are very inspiring and with some of the projects which incorporate beads or coloured rings they are great on that aspect if you need any inspiration or ideas on how to do this.At the end of the book there are instructions on how to finish pieces off, how best to attach clasps to the various types of weave, if you need to know how to do some other basic jewellery making techniques such as make a loop in a headpin for a bead for example it shows you, and it also contains details on aspect ratio, how to calculate it and has lots of tables to help you with this when it comes to designing your own pieces or in some cases find alternative jump rings if you can't find exactly what is required in a pattern. This is an American book so the suppliers listed are generally from that side of the Atlantic but I have found these useful as I have found it difficult at some times to find just what I need or want in the UK.Overall this is a great book for anybody who wants to start in making chain mail who also wants to be able to see progress in their efforts. I do think that this is possible with this book and as confidence and seeing good results can be such a motivator in somebody carrying on or giving up, I think that most people who start out with this book as an introduction to chain mail jewellery will more than likely carry on and find out what is a simple in principle craft but can also produce some amazingly complex looking pieces worthy of many an envious look.

Last year I embarked on creating an aluminium chainmaille shirt. I'd never done anything like it before. I found a website with some low-res line drawings and tips, and I was off. It took a long time, but I got there.I've recently bought this book, and have found it incredibly useful. The diagrams are very clear, and the photos are of excellent quality, providing inspirational images of different styles of weave, and how different coloured rings can add variety to your designs.I highly recommend this book for a beginner in chainmaille with little previous experience.

This was for my wife who is into all manner of crafts and wanted to try this one. the instructions are very detailed with some nice colour coded illustrations. There are some really nice projects in the book, but some are quite challenging for a newbie. Practice will make perfect (eventually!)