The Ringlord

No, not Lord of the Rings, the Ringlord. And believe me, the name is no boast.

For the people who have the money but don't have the time to do home experiments, or those who want something exotic, there is the Ringlord.

http://theringlord.com/cart/default.asp

Its based in Canada and has...well everything. The Ringlord sells all you could possibly need for making chainmaille of all kinds and a few other things as well.One of my minor dreams involves driving up to the place with a big truck, several strong lads and grabbing everything thats not bolted down and we'd carry bolt cutters just in case.

Starting with the tools - it has all the kinds of pliers you'd need, the wire cutters and the saws for the coils, mandrels, more miscellaneous stuff like mini scales to calculate weight, welders, tumblers etc.

As far as products go it sells wire, coils and cut rings from trivial materials like copper, galvanized and stainless steel to exotic ones like brass, inconel, nickel silver, gold, niobium and titanium. The very prospect of making a titanium maille shirt is definitely tempting. The Ringlord is also responsible for the small leaf like scalemail that can be seen around the web - it makes them. Finally they also have finished maille shirts and sheets of chainmaille from most of the above mentioned materials. All in all the price range for most products is what i'd call acceptable. I've never personally purchased but I've heard a lot of positive reviews, and well let's be honest, there is no other like it. If you are on a tight budget, well you can daydream like me. But if you can afford it or its something special you want, look no further.
 
All in all - seriously just go have a look.
http://theringlord.com/cart/default.asp

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The smallest(and most adorable) barbarian in the horde

Right, so on this Christmas my cousin Nevena - a charming lil' girl got the chance to try out wearing  real steel armor. Not exactly the proper gift for a little girl, but then again Nevena ain't into dolls anyway and did not complain about it being heavy at all. It was a bit of a challenge to gear her up- the helmet especially was way too big for her head so I had to pad it quite a lot. She found the whole ordeal really funny and she even wants to come to some of our trainings once the weather warms up. All well and good of course, as long as she is a spectator only. Oh well, at least I know what to give her for her next birthday - her own aluminium chainmail shirt. Let's hope she doesn't go all medieval on the boys that are teasing her in class(she is 9 and she started school 1 year earlier than the rest) or the teachers in her school. Its not that I am worried about the outcome, I just don't know how are we going to bury them all.

Now I know I may be in the process of creating the future warlord that will burn down your homes but we can't be sure can we? Right?!

 

 I also took the liberty of turning some of the photos into motivational posters. I just couldn't resist the temptation.

Ok that's all! Now move along citizen!

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Blog redesign after New year's Eve.

Right, so, at some point next week(and next year too, as it happens) I will be changing the template of the blog again, This one is better than the basic blogger, sure, but on other hand its well - a stiff, I can't modify it much since I know almost nothing about coding, web design and html. I'd like to put on something brighter, and get some quick links and categories in here, leading to different sections - after all the first part of the blog involves tutorials, I'm not sure if many visitors are even aware of it, and a gallery for the finished projects/WIPs and so on. A welcoming message would be a good addition too, maybe a decent wallpaper for background if I can find a relevant one. While I know of several sites with blogger templates, I could use suggestions here, and when the time comes some help too I don't want to lose my nerve over a missing piece of code or something, nor do I want to turn my site into a total mess.  Oh yeah - expect some juicy updates soon. I got stuff to show to the world. As Dexter from Dexter's laboratory would say - "My greatest creation is completed!", right before unveiling the new "greatest creation".

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Birthday time! Turned 23

Eh, How fast time flies. So yeah happy birthday to me...

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Lego man in full armor

You love lego. There are no exceptions, unless of course you are an alien trying to take over the world or a nazi or something. So yeah the idea was simple to implement once i got to making it.  The quality of the photos is quite poor this time. I'll do a new session tomorrow. The armor itself needs some fixing too its not symmetric or a good fit yet, but the lego man was more problematic to work than the bunny.
My eyes are very tired and I just can't go on for today so yeah - fixes and new photos tomorrow.

I used rhodium rings for this one - the smallest I could find, still not small enough to look great but its ok.

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Early summary and future schedule

Phew, the year is almost done. So, while we are all busy with the holiday festivities, let's see how it all rounded up. I finished my 9th semester in the university, so far so good, but the best is yet to come as they say. I am for the time being without steady income, but my expenses are fairly low so it was not a problem. Next spring things will hopefully look different for my finances. In a happy relationships for which I'm grateful.
The new chain&plate mails will be postponed for a while -  exam session is soon to follow in January not to mention that the cold weather is hardly an incenstive to hard work. That does not mean this blog will remain without updates of course. I found good use for the rhodium and gold plated links I bought. What exactly, you will see soon enough.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New year. Let's hope it will be better than this one.
Cheers mates.

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Photobucket issue is solved

Okay,
the bandwidth problem is gone, all photos should be visible now, I will start editing every post, hosting them all on blogger from now on, that will prevent such a thing from happening again. It will take a while to fix them all, but it will be done soon.

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Chain& Plate armor Second serving

Right, now that the prototype is done and I got the basics of it, its time to start the new line of trendy and fashionable armor sets. I've started two at once to show my obvious dedication to hard work....Eh, excuse me, I need to trim my nose...Funny thing how quickly it can grow eh? Well actually its because I found parts that can help me start two at once.

Now this pair will be a little different, and that difference will be mostly due to an added belly plate. Recycling is the new rule of cool and while my own fashion sense is stuck around 1100 AD that does not mean I can't improvise, so yeah - I recycled those belly plates from what used to be kneecap guards. They don't look like much, having caught some rust and a bit misshapen since they were not planished, but for the current cause - it will do.

Whats important to note here however, is that unlike the simpler square plates used for the last set, these involve some actual hammering. Now I didn't plan to write about whitesmithing(no fire) so early on the blog so I'll just give a few basics.

The tools you will need here are above all - good hammers. Here you can see a ballpeen hammer you can probably find in the nearest handyman store. Next to it, is my own dishing hammer - I had it custom made for the job. The head is much less curved than the ballpeen. The ballpeen will still do if there is no alternative.

The other thing you'd need is a dishing stump. That could be an actual wooden stump with a oval hole on it, where you can shape the metal or you can use something else - like a sandbag. Right now I don't have a dishing stump, since my old one is now firewood.

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Stop SOPA already

You know I should really be writing this in my political blog, but this one gets more attention so I'm going for it here. As they say in South Park:
SOPA is bad mmkay?

No, really it is. The other law that allowed indefinite detention without trial is bad for americans only, and well - thats your internal problem. But SOPA will cause problems for the rest of the world too and that's a whole different story. I'm fifth year law student, I've learned at least something from my time in university and I can tell when something is complete garbage without a second glance.
Law making is one of the most problematic areas of creative work. We'd done some practical work already, there is nothing easy about it. Laws need to be accurate, as foolproof as possible, suited to the public needs, following the local constitution if there is one. Basically, an awful lot of things that SOPA is not. That does not even merit questioning and debate. The internet is perfect as it is, its the one thing that is under no one's rule. The very notion of trying to do so is an attempt for control over the free form of information. And he who wants to deny you information, in the end, always seeks to control you.  What everyone seems to say about it, is that SOPA has provisions that bring up the possibility of it being misused. Excuse me? Of course it will be misused!That's why it was designed this way! It was also completely over the top - a classic in this case. They can cut back 1-2 steps to show willingness to compromise but in the end, the same deal will be shoved down our throats.

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In the mean time

Finding the originals to fix the photobucket mess is a wee bit of a problem, so in the mean time, I made myself my own motivational poster :). Not much really, just  5 minutes work in photoshop after I took the shots.

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Photobucket issue

Yes, most of the old posts are messed up due to photobucket limit. I know, I will fix the problem soon.

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Future schedule

With Christmas, new year's eve and above all - my university exam session coming, I might not be able to post as often as I wish. For now here is what's in the works.

I've started two more chain&plate armors. Now that I have some experience with it, I just need to sit down and make em. They will be a bit different, I am recycling old parts again, but the general principle remains the same. Depending on how things develop, production in January will be sketchy. I still need to get someone with a car to help me resupply with metal and wire.

I've started another uuuuh, how should I call it... Battle ready armored plushie, like the Bunny knight, with a 3rd in the plans. These are quite fun to make to be honest and much easier on your hands, even it not on your eyes. With sufficient breaks and good light I need to fear putting on glasses of course.

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Chain&plate Reasonable female armor volume 2

Ok the prototype turkish chain &plate mail is done, next ones are started already. All the basic ideas are set, I just need to get my lazy self to work.

Its not the best fit admittedly  its slightly too big for her. An arming doublet will fix that.

 OK, to sum it up. 

How to make one. First - the tools.

You need all the basic chainmaille tools  and material - pliers, cutter etc. to get the links.

You need a good drill - not the most expensive one but not the cheapest that will break in no time - you will be using it a lot. At least 2-3 spare drilling heads aint a bad idea. I broke one already.

You need either a throatless shear or a jigsaw to cut the plates. Another option which I've never explored is to get it cut by laser in some machineshop. Its available, and doable, but I've never tried it so I got no experience on the money involved and what you will get in the end. As far as I've heard the money depends on the number of cuts the laser does but I really can't say. If anyone tries this, tell me what you got.

Anyway, if its a one time gig, go for the jigsaw since its easier to get one and it will do, though you need to be careful with it - googles, gloves and basic safety folks! 

If its not a one time gig or you can get one easily - go for the throatless shear, yes I said it before, I will say it again. Those things are wonderful. The jigsaw is noisy(can't use in residential area) and you will need half a dozen discs or more since we are talking about a lot of cuts not to mention electricity  and safety gear. The shear involves more manual labour indeed - but seriously if you've picked this as a hobby you should not be afraid of manual labour. Its a bit slower too but apart from that its the obvious choice for anyone who wants to do more than 1-2 things because its a one time investment with almost 0 maintenance while jigsaw discs look cheap only until you've ran through 50 or more.

Finally you need sheet metal. There are many possible sources, for all its worth you can chop up a tin bucket. Just check that its around 1mm thick -too thin sheets won't do, too thick will be unnecessarily heavy and hard to punch holes into. I used left-overs & scraps from the workshop where they let us do our stuff, so its mixed gauges up there. Its not the best idea because of the previously mentioned piece of hardened steel that almost cost me my drill. Best option is to simply buy sheet metal from a warehouse. Thus you know what you are going to get. Of course that means a car to get it back home.

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