Today the topic is metals! Shiny, bright, slinky, sexy, soft, hard, edgy... there are soo many ways to describe the metals used in chainmaille!! And yes, metal can be soft too when it is used in the right weave. A "metal mesh fabric" made with itty bitty rings can actually feel somewhat silky and cool. They can be different shapes like standard rings or they can be square wire rings. Some metals are capable of being put into a chemical bath and electrolyzed to make them colorful too! This process is called anodizing. For the purposes of this particular post I am going to stick to general metals and save the other stuff for later. :)
There are several metals that are commonly seen in chainmaille and especially chainmaille jewelry. Base Metals are metal alloys that contain 2 or more common and therefore less expensive metals. These are the "Base Metals" commonly used in chainmaille: Brass, Bronze, Bright Aluminum, Copper, and Stainless Steel. These are the semi- precious and precious metals: Niobium, Silver (in various forms), Gold, Titanium, and Platinum. There may be others but as of yet I haven't seen them around. This post will be on base metals today. (so on going back and reading this myself it seems a little long. I will keep them much shorter in the future! I don't want to get blogger's cramp or something... or bore you to tears! Shorter, promise!)
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| Brass Rondo a la Byzantine |
- Brass- It is usually 67% copper and 33% zinc and is considered to be a copper alloy. It was used in Eastern Societies around 1200 BC then made it's way to Asia around 220 BC and shortly after turned up in Roman cultures. In the bible it is often referred to as bronze but as you will see below there is a difference in the metal contents of the two alloys. This lovely metal makes a nice passable replacement for gold when used in jewelry. It is easy to shape and mold and makes for nice sturdy rings in chainmaille. Gold is very soft and is often not as suitable as brass for use in this jewelry form. One of my favorite base metals to be honest!
Bronze and Aluminum
Reversible HodoBronze- This metal alloy is a mixture of copper and tin. The amount of tin in the alloy varies all over the place but appears to be 25% or less.Bronze wiring may have some phosphorous as well to help harden the metal and make is less easily corroded. It has a pleasing sound when struck and is often used in large bells for this reason. It is generally darker and richer in color than copper and is stunning when used in chainmaille weaves. Believe it or not, most copper coins are not actually copper. They are some form of bronze! The earliest copper/tin alloys seem to have appeared in early China, Iran and Iraq around the 4th millennium BC.
Aluminum and Anodized Aluminum
Rainbow Illuminated TunnelBright Aluminum- Aluminum is a very cool metal and very abundant! It is the 3rd most abundant elements on Earth. About 8% of the Earth's crust is made of aluminum. It is easy to shape, reasonably resistant to corrosion and super light weight. It is a gorgeous shiny grey color similar to silver when highly polished. Aluminum wire will sometimes leave black or greenish traces on skin when worn in cheap jewelry, however, bright aluminum has been highly polished usually by tumbling in a tumbler with steel shot. This makes is very shiny and gives it an almost slick feel and it rarely leaves marks on the skin after being polished this way. It is probably the cheapest of all the base metals used in jewelry and makes a fantastic affordable way to get a silver look to your chainmaille jewelry without the expense of silver.
Copper and Green Enameled Copper
Sleek CuffCopper- Copper is one of the few base metals found in its natural elemental form and used with addition of other metals. It has a natural reddish orange color and is very shiny and reflective when well polished. It is highly conductive and makes it perfect for use in electrical applications which accounts for the highest level of use for this metal. It is very malleable which makes is perfect for use in making jewelry. When in higher gauges it holds up well to fairly heavy abuse and holds it's shape well. In smaller gauges it is perfect for use in wire weaving applications such as Viking Knit weave. It makes up the base for many of today's commonly used used alloys such as brass, bronze, and nickel silver. It is known to have been used as early as 10,000 years ago! It was found in jewelry and other casted forms around 8700 BC. Pieces have been found in what is now Turkey, Egypt and South American cultures as far back as 6400 BC!!
Stainless Steel Square Wire Rings
Japanese 12- 2Stainless Steel- Last but certainly not least is stainless steel! It is generally any of various metal alloys containing a minimum of 10% chromium. Stainless steel is also marked for it's inclusion of carbon which gives this alloy a deeper grey color than aluminum and also makes it very resistant to corrosion and heat. It is a very stiff metal to work with in chainmaille applications and can account for lots of injuries to artists who use this metal in their weaves! It is very hard to cut rings from this alloy and eats up saw blades like crazy. For all of this though, it is absolutely gorgeous when highly polished and extremely durable!! It is perfect for chainmaillechainmaille is well cared for. One of the best parts is that it is super easy to clean. You can actually put this one in the dishwasher! It is also used a lot in jewelry because of it's tendency to be hypoallergenic.
Whew!! That was a long one!! There is soo much more I could tell you about all of these base metals and their alloys. Now I know many of you could really care less about the chemical makeup of these base metals and how they were used ages ago but it is somewhat a matter of pride that many chainmaillers know where their craft came from and the beautiful metals used to create it. I hope by following my blog you can all develop a deeper appreciation for the genre of chainmaille and see it as it's own art form as well as a once long ago form of personal protection! Hope you all enjoyed it and maybe got a little bit of cool knowledge out if this blog. Comments and questions are welcome as always! If you look below you will see a list of links where some of my information came from. Some of my info is from personal experience as well.
http://www.answers.com/topic/stainless-steel
http://www.answers.com/topic/copper-3
http://www.answers.com/topic/stainless-steel
http://www.answers.com/topic/copper-3
