Chainmail Bottle Carriers: A Healthy Fashion Statement You Can Make

By Farangian

Chainmail Bottle Carriers is a starter guide to making useful, attractive and fun projects with metal and other materials. It is meant to help beginners to learn techniques and develop skills while providing options to go on beyond the projects presented to create new and unique designs.
The book goes beyond simple sets of instructions to help the reader understand why and how to do things as well as what to do. It is intended both as a starting point for the novice and part of the ongoing conversation with those already skilled in working with rings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483568386

Book preview

Contributors

Introduction

This book teaches the process of making a chainmail bottle carrier. Three designs are included along with ideas for other, different, and/or more advanced versions. The first design is the most basic (but still useful). Each of the others adds a new piece to your chainmail skills. These instructions are intended to help you get started in chain mail with a useful basic project and some ideas on how to go further as your skills improve. Even if you have some experience you may learn something new or find inspiration. Let’s have some fun!

Overview of project

Chainmail is the art of linking rings to form chains and sheets (or fabric) which can be used for a variety of purposes from jewelry and armor to household goods and handbags. In this case we will be using the mail to create water bottle carriers. True, you could use a lot of materials for a bottle carrier, but by using mail you create an unusual and attractive project with a style all its own.

The basic form of the bottle carrier is a bag with a strap similar to a purse or shoulder bag, but conforming to the shape and size of the bottle. By varying the materials we use, and how we use them, we will adjust how tightly or loosely the bag holds the bottle and how much of the bottle you can actually see through the bag. Instructions are included for 20 and 32 ounce bottles. Once you have learned the techniques to make these, adapting to other size bottles and even other purposes entirely is fairly easy.

For the versions of the bottle carrier presented there are three basic steps. Differences for each version will be discussed in its own sections.

The Three Main Steps:

1.Make the base: First we will make the bottom of the bag. This involves working with round chainmail growing out from a central point. I say growing out because it works best (for me at least) to start at the center and work out. Some crafts people argue for working from the outside in. This is occasionally worthwhile or even necessary, but it is lot harder because there is less and less space to work with. That last ring can be really tight.

2.Make the sides: This portion of the project is basic European four in one weave. Other weaves can work, but they may make the joining step more complicated.

3.The strap: This is more four in one, but there are a few quirks and considerations here that didn’t show up