[Jewelry making - Article 00155] - [Orchid] Byzantine chain patterns

[Helen Hill]

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Hi folks,

    I've been researching various chain making and chainmaille patterns.
    I am keen to have a go at making a Byzantine chain but have some
    questions: 

    1) When looking at chainmaille, it seems that the rings are
    unsoldered and I suppose for that application it doesn't matter as
    any forces which may cause the rings to come apart ordinarily, will
    be spread over a larger area. But for the purposes of making chains
    for jewellery, it is obviously more desirable to have soldered links.
    Would you use some sort of mini torch with a "sharp" flame to
    accomplish this or are links in handmade chains fused or welded in
    some other way? 

    2) I already have a very attractive, chunky and quite dense sterling
    silver Byzantine chain that I bought whilst at a biker rally (back
    in my more daring biker days). It has oval rather than circular jump
    rings. This may be one of my daft questions, but to make such a
    chain, would you start with oval rings or round rings and then
    gently stretch the whole chain carefully with annealing between
    steps? 

    3) Also, the chain I have has a sort of square cross section and I
    wondered whether this and the oval links had perhaps been achieved
    by being pulled through a square holed draw plate after annealing? 

    Any advice from anyone who's made such a chain or indeed anyone more
    in the know than me would be greatly appreciated. I plan to attempt
    at least one in sterling and eventually would love to make one in
    gold when I can afford it and I've "mastered" the technique. 

Thanks.

Helen
Preston, UK
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