Mail worn today for re-enactment and recreational use can be made in a variety of styles and materials. Most recreational mail today is made of butted links which are galvanised or stainless steel. This is historically inaccurate but is much less expensive to procure and especially to maintain than historically accurate reproductions. Mail can also be made of titanium, aluminium, bronze, or copper. Riveted mail offers significantly better protection ability as well as historical accuracy than mail constructed with butted links. Japanese mail ( kusari) is one of the few historically correct examples of mail being constructed with such butted links. [38] Decorative uses [ edit ] Major's shoulder chains A modern example of the use of mail, a bracelet using the roundmaille weave The origins of the word mail are not fully known. One theory is that it originally derives from the Latin word macula, meaning spot or opacity (as in macula of retina). Another theory relates the word to the old French maillier, meaning to hammer (related to the modern English word malleable). [13] In modern French, maille refers to a loop or stitch. [14] The Arabic words "burnus", برنوس, a burnoose; a hooded cloak, also a chasuble (worn by Coptic priests) and "barnaza", برنز, to bronze, suggest an Arabic influence for the Carolingian armour known as " byrnie" (see below). Laufer, Berthold (1914-01-01). Notes on Turquois in the East. Archived from the original on 2017-12-23. Discover the ultimate technique-based guide for one of the top trends in jewelry making--chain maille. In Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop , you'll find more than two dozen techniques for making today's most popular chain maille weaves--from simple chains to beaded wonders to intricate Dragonscale.

Mail remained in use as a decorative and possibly high-status symbol with military overtones long after its practical usefulness had passed. It was frequently used for the epaulettes of military uniforms. It is still used in this form by some regiments of the British Army. a b c George Cameron Stone (2 July 1999). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times. Courier Dover Publications. p.424. ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016 . Retrieved 18 February 2011. G. L. Way's 1796 translation of M. Le Grand, Fabliaux or Tales: Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries (published in French in 1779) makes a similar distinction in a note to "Aucassin and Nicolette":Don’t start by making your own jump rings. Seriously. If I had had to make all three hundred jump rings required for my first chain maille project, I would never have gotten to the fun part of actually linking them together. There are so many places where you can buy pre-made jump rings that are perfectly good, it makes sense for a chain maille beginner to buy their jump rings.

I splurged and spent an extra two dollars on a great little tool to open jump rings. It’s a ring that slips onto your finger while you work. To open your jump rings properly, all you have to do is insert a jump ring into one of the slots and give it a twist! Main article: Kusari (Japanese mail armour) Edo period Japanese (samurai) chain armour or kusari gusokua b Mitchell, Piers D. Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Schlosser, Eric (September 3, 1998). "Fast-Food Nation: Meat and Potatoes". Rolling Stone. No.794 . Retrieved 2020-11-19. Jewelry artist and author Karen Karon pairs in-depth, step-by-step instructions with color illustrations that show exactly where to place the next jump ring. You'll also get a thorough but flexible approach to techniques that prove weaving can be done in a multitude of ways and demonstrations on "speed weaving," which is ideal for large projects. Designs progressively increase in complexity, so every jewelry maker--beginner or pro--will find inspiration and projects that suite their skill level.

Stone, G.C. (1934): A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms And Armor in All Countries and in All Times, Dover Publications, New York Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ancient Helmets and Examples of Mail, William Burgess & Baron De CossonLarge-linked mail is occasionally used as a fetish clothing material, with the large links intended to reveal – in part – the body beneath them. Early medieval chainmail covered the body, later chainmail that also covered the head was also added. Chainmail was less expensive than plate armor and this is why it was used commonly by foot soldiers. Civilizations that used mail invented specific terms for each garment made from it. The standard terms for European mail armour derive from French: leggings are called chausses, a hood is a mail coif, and mittens, mitons. A mail collar hanging from a helmet is a camail or aventail. A shirt made from mail is a hauberk if knee-length and a haubergeon if mid-thigh length. A layer (or layers) of mail sandwiched between layers of fabric is called a jazerant.

Several patterns of linking the rings together have been known since ancient times, with the most common being the 4-to-1 pattern (where each ring is linked with four others). In Europe, the 4-to-1 pattern was completely dominant. Mail was also common in East Asia, primarily Japan, with several more patterns being utilised and an entire nomenclature developing around them. mail". Oxford English Dictionary (Onlineed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Pay attention to the inner diameter (ID). One of the things that bothered me when shopping for my first set of jump rings for chain maille was that I couldn’t find the exact size specified in the project. I had no idea if I should be more concerned with the inner diameter (ID) or outer diameter (OD), since they can be slightly different. Those little differences can make for big problems when it comes to your chain maille projects, and since the jump rings are linked together on the inside, you should always make sure to get the proper inner diameter jump rings for your chain maille projects. Chain maille is such a fascinating technique for jewelry-making, but I have to admit, I approached it with more than a little trepidation. Once I got started, though, the rhythm of opening, linking, and closing all those jump rings created the same soothing sort of feeling that I get when I’m immersed in a good bead-weaving project. The earliest examples of surviving mail were found in the Carpathian Basin at a burial in Horný Jatov, Slovakia dated in the 3rd century BC, and in a chieftain's burial located in Ciumești, Romania. [3] [4] [5] Its invention is commonly credited to the Celts, [6] but there are examples of Etruscan pattern mail dating from at least the 4th century BC. [7] [8] [9] Mail may have been inspired by the much earlier scale armour. [10] [11] Mail spread to North Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Tibet, South East Asia, and Japan.

Mail continues to be used in the 21st century as a component of stab-resistant body armour, cut-resistant gloves for butchers and woodworkers, shark-resistant wetsuits for defense against shark bites, and a number of other applications. Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-duc, Encyclopédie Médiévale and Dictionnaire Raisonne du Mobilier Francais de l'Epoque Carlovingienne a la Renaissance. Blake, Terry. "Dr Zeus - Testing of HV Suit w Twin Musical Tesla Coils". Daily Planet Segment 2008. Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on 2011-08-29 . Retrieved 2011-08-20. I found Chain and Bead Jewelry Geometric Connections by Scott David Plumlee ISBN 978-0-823033393-3 much better value for beginners with less weaves (as I said before the different weaves and clear visual guides are available on the net for free). On the correct English front, as part of a section on how to distinguish between mail and male, Henry Hopkins, A Key to Exercises in Orthography and Exercises in Composition on an Improved Plan, second edition (1844) has this sentence: