Rob MacLennan

An easy way that you could stabilize the dummy is to get a piece of scrap wood, preferable something like a piece or 2"x8", then drill a hole in the centre of it so that you can insert and glue a piece of dowel into it. Slide the dowel up into the bottom of the dummy.

Wait until you've got the upper back done and don't worry about the hang, until it can hang unsupported. If you see a problem then, address it. You might need a couple more rows on the front to make it hang well.

Can't say that I've gotten the last comment ever, but definitely the first two. Rather interestingly the "patience" comment has frequently come from people who do other labour intensive thing like knitting, or needlepoint. Two of them I convinced to go to a local gaming tavern for a beginners' class. One now occasionally takes out her gear and plays around with it, while the other has become an avid mailer and makes jewellery.

You'll be amazed at what/where you can do with chainmailing, when the motions have been locked into kinesthetic memory.

Hell, the second and third chain shirts that I made were cut up to make something actually decent, shortly after the third was completed. I had learnt so much and gotten so much faster at weaving that I couldn't stand to look at them anymore. I even asked an actress friend to send a piece back to me, across the border, because I know that I could do far better on it. Mistakes happen and we learn from them. Even if all that we learn is, "Don't do that again."

I find that completing the top/neck area of a shirt and then working down from there allows me to do so far more easily. You can't hang just the front or back on yourself, or a mannequin, so working with only one side is making it harder for yourself. Having proper tools is always a good idea. For now you could just go to Home Depot or a hardware store, and find something that feels right in your hands, and works with the size of rings that you're using. I like Linesman's Pliers with a return spring, but that's just me.

When you fill in the rest, they should lie the same.

Assume that the angle of hang will ultimately be 45 degrees and you'll be "close enough for government work." If you have enough rags, sheets, or blankets around you can use them to stuff the duct tape mannequin full enough to support the weight. If you want to get *really* creative and plan on using it going forward, you could seal up the bottom and fill it with 2 part foam. Making sure that it fills fully would result in it spilling out the top, while it's expanding, so you would both need to make sure that you did it in a well ventilated and easy to clean up location, and you'd have to cut off the excess.

I appreciate it when you come around. I almost always pick up some little tidbit I didn't know, or hadn't thought of. And I agree about the "production line" comment. I like to just work on projects that I have a passion for and have made props for a few actor/Cosplay friends. One friend is trying to convince me to make welded chain shirts for the local HEMA community, because he figures I could make bank at it, but I have a feeling that he's over estimating the market's willingness to pay for the time, and I'm sure that turning out a dozen or more shirts would kill my desire to do more.

It depends on the material I'm using but, generally speaking, for smaller rings I've been using the "chisel nose" light blue handled pliers at the top of the pliers page, on the TRL website.

Looks like it to me. If not, then it's a good starting point anyway.

Not knowing sizing or body shape, I'd just be guessing. Work in stages and check against yourself frequently. Generally speaking you may need a couple of contractions, below your chest, as you move down your body. This will become more evident as you get some length on the piece.Don't be afraid to go backward a bit as you go, in order to modify the piece. I've got an entire scale shirt that I'm going to be taking apart and reworking, at some point. Skills improve over time and sometimes I just can't look at something I've done before and *not* fix it

I'm not following on the "when I fold them" comment, with respect to the scales. Are you bending them when you're assembling? I went looking for my split ring pliers and some split rings/scales, but I have no idea where I've tossed them. It's unfortunate that the video for split rings is done in a face-to-face manner, rather than an over the shoulder view. I can see how it makes wrapping your head around it difficult. I doubt that there's anything in the works to redo the videos. Putting the scales back-to-back, then running a split ring through them, insures that the orientation will be right when they're flipped back. I tend to do mine front-to-front, but the result is the same. I'm not set up to do any recording at the moment but I'll try to keep it in mind, if I manage to get things organized enough that I can. I would suggest that you try doing just the four scales in a diamond pattern, as I mentioned before, so that you can see how they end up laying when done. It might help you to picture doing the whole sheet of scales better.

It's one of those things that takes practice and finding a technique that works for you. Try holding the ring parallel to the two scales you're currently dealing with and thinking about how the split in the ring needs, to open around them, in order to have the right orientation. Slip it over the first and continue straight on to the second, then worry about getting the ring turned to lock them in place. The rare times I've worked with split rings, that seemed to work best for me. I did, however, eventually give up and just started using regular jump rings instead.

I don't work with split rings, but let's start with something simple and then go from there. Rather than working with straight rows of scales and trying to keep them organized, try working with sets of four scales, connected in a diamond pattern, like on the third page of the scale tutorial. Just four scales, joined by four rings. After that you can begin joining groups of four scales, diagonally. That way it's almost self managing and the piece doesn't get constantly yanked out of line, while you're working on it. From there it's just a matter of filling in the gaps across the edges of the groups of four, in order to make a straight line. Once you can easily make a sheet of scales, the rest becomes easier to accomplish. Just take it one step at a time.