www.ArtJewelryMag.com 1

It’s no secret that jewelry makers

are, quite often, tool junkies. We get

positively giddy over good tools —

with “good” defined not just as high-

quality tools from manufacturers, but

also as those inventive little devices that

our fellow jewelry makers cook up and

make themselves.

This project involves two such wonder-

ful homemade devices: a wire feeder and

a jump ring opener. The raw ingredients

to make these tools aren’t expensive —

a wooden spring clothespin for one, and

an old broom handle for the other.

intermediate

wire

chain mail

© 2009 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

Corrugated Knot Chain Bracelet

onlineexclusive

Combining basic wireworking skills

with a traditional Byzantine chain mail

pattern results in an eye-catching, distinctive chain.

by Howard Siegel

www.ArtJewelryMag.com 2

materialsFine-silver wire: 18-gauge (1.0 mm)

round, 5 in. (12.7 cm)

Sterling silver wire: 20-gauge (0.8 mm),

round, 4 ft. (1.2 m)

Sterling silver jump rings: 16-gauge

(1.3 mm), 4 mm inside diameter, 2

Crab-claw clasp

toolboxes, www.artjewelrymag.com/toolboxes

Chain mail

Soldering

Sawing/Piercing

Wirework

additional tools & suppliesWooden spring clothespin

Jump-ring-opening tool; or 3–4-in.

(76–102 mm) wooden dowel,

slotted screw (optional)

Coil winder

V-block tool (optional)

Shears

Tweezers

Ring stretcher (or snap ring pliers)

(optional)

Felt-tip pen

Corrugator (choose from): paper

crimper or tube wringer

suppliersMandrels, Blazer-type butane torch

(Harbor Freight Tools, 800.444.3353,

www.harborfreight.com)

See Safety Basics at

www.artjewelrymag.com/howto

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Slotted screw(for flat head screwdriver)

End of dowel/broom handle

Clothespin tool (left): To make your own jump rings, you’ll need to coil wire around a mandrel. You can do this by hand, but this handy tool, which you can make from a spring-style wooden clothespin, helps control the tension of your wire as you coil it mechanically.

To make the clothespin tool, select a drill bit that’s slightly larger than the gauge of wire you’ll use to make the jump rings. Insert this bit into a flex shaft, and drill a 45° angle hole through one leg of your clothespin, below the rope recess. The 45° angle will allowthe wire to pass smoothly through the tool without kinking.

Jump ring opener (above): To help you use good technique while opening your jump rings, you can buy a slotted ring tool from a tool manufacturer, but making your own is fairly simple. Start with a 3–4-in. (76–102 mm) length of dowel (I used an old broom handle) and screw a slotted screw into one end.

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make your own tools!

Once you’ve made the tools, you can make this chain, which requires coiling,

cutting, fusing, stretching, forging, annealing, and corrugating fine-silver

wire, then connecting the corrugated rings with Byzantine knots made from

handmade sterling silver jump rings. When you finish this eye-catching

bracelet, you’ll have conquered a host of basic wireworking skills.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe clothespin tool was shown to me by master chain maker Cao Madina. He has

my thanks for sharing this very simple but useful tool.

The idea for corrugating the links in this chain is the result of taking a corruga-

tion workshop taught by Trish Macaleer for the Society for Midwest Metalsmiths.

I was greatly aided in the composition and taking the chain process photo-

graphs by Herb Halpern of Herb Halpern Productions.

Wire

Drilled holeRope recess

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Part 1: Make the jump rings

Position fine-silver wire in your

clothespin tool. Cut a 31⁄2-in. (89 mm)

piece of fine-silver wire. Insert one end

of the wire through the drill hole in your

clothespin tool (see “Make Your Own

Tools!” page 2) so the wire comes out

inside the rope recess.

Pull the wire through the hole and

the jaws of the clothespin until you have

a 1-in. (25.5 mm) tail. Use chainnose

pliers to make a 90° bend about ½–3⁄4 in.

(13–19 mm) from the end of the wire.

Prepare a coil winder. Insert a 9 mm

mandrel into a coil winder and tighten the

chuck. Then insert the bent end of your

fine-silver wire into the jaws of the chuck,

tightening again if necessary. This will hold

the wire so you can wind the coil.

Wind the coils. Turn the coil winder’s

crank clockwise to wind the wire around

the mandrel. Use the clothespin tool to

guide the wire so the wraps lie side by side

with no gaps [1]. Continue until you have

wound all the wire; the coil should have

about seven or eight wraps. Slide the coil

off the mandrel.

Coil the sterling silver wire. Using 8–

10 in. (20.3–25.4 cm) of sterling silver wire

and a 3.6 mm mandrel, repeat the previous

steps to make another coil. Wind a coil

about 2 in. (51 mm) long, then use flush

cutters to cut the wire. Continue winding

and cutting 2-in. (51 mm) coils until you

have coiled all the sterling silver wire.

NOTE: Limiting the length of the sterling

coils to about 2 in. (51 mm) makes them

easier to cut with a jeweler’s saw. You

will need roughly 70 small jump rings

to complete the bracelet.

Cut the sterling silver coils into jump

rings . Thread a 2/0 or 3/0 saw blade

into one end of a jeweler’s saw . Thread

the blade through a sterling silver coil,

then into the other end of the saw frame,

and tighten. Lubricate the saw blade by

pulling the teeth through beeswax or

another lubricant.

Place the coil against your bench pin.

(Instead of using a bench pin, I use a V-

block tool that I designed and made for

myself [2].) Saw through the coil with the

saw blade tipped at roughly 45° so you’re

only cutting through two or three wraps

at any time. Collect the jump rings as they

separate from the coil, and resume sawing.

NOTE: Be careful to align the saw blade

with the cut end of the last ring. If not

properly aligned, there will be two cuts

in the ring, one only partially through the

ring. If you try to open a ring with a second

partial cut, the ring will break, making

instant scrap metal.

Continue sawing until you’ve cut

all the wraps on the coil. Then, cut the

remaining sterling silver coils into

jump rings.

Cut the fine-silver coils into jump

rings. Grasp the fine-silver coil in your

nondominant hand between the heel of

your thumb and your fingers. Hold a pair

of shears in your dominant hand and

insert the lower blade inside the coil [3].

NOTE: The shears should point down the

center of the length of the coil to ensure

that you don’t cut your hand.

Continue cutting until it becomes

difficult. Then, collect the cut rings and

resume cutting, taking care to align the

blades with the cut end of the last wrap

on the coil. Continue cutting the coil until

you have cut all of the wraps.

Open the sterling silver jump rings. Pick

up one sterling silver jump ring, and grip

one side of the ring with chainnose pliers,

positioning the pliers’ tip close to the cut.

Place the other side of the jump ring in

the groove in your jump-ring-opening tool

(see “Make Your Own Tools!” page 2; as an

alternative, you can use two pairs of pliers

) and twist the tool away from your

body until the ring is open about 60° [4].

Repeat to open all the sterling silver

jump rings.

Prepare the fine-silver jump rings for

fusing. Place a fusing or soldering board

on top of a firebrick to prevent burning

your bench.

Using pliers or your fingers, close a

fine-silver jump ring so that the cut edges

make good contact. To do this, over-form

the ring (bring the cut edges past each

other), then carefully pull them apart, and

line up the cut edges. Make sure the edges

are aligned both when viewed from the

edge of the ring and down the center of

the ring. Place the closed ring on the

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www.ArtJewelryMag.com 4

fusing board with the cut facing forward.

Repeat for the remaining fine-silver

rings, placing them in a row across the

fusing board and leaving a little space

between each ring.

Fuse the fine-silver jump rings. Put on

an Optivisor so you can clearly see the join

in each ring as it fuses.

NOTE: If you hold your torch in your right

hand, start with the ring at the rear left of

the fusing board; if you hold your torch in

your left hand, start at the rear right. This

will minimize the danger of accidental

burns by keeping your hand away from

previously fused rings.

Move the torch flame in a circular

motion around the first ring until it turns

a dull red. (I use a propane-fueled pencil

torch, but any standard jeweler’s torch

setup will work, including a handheld

butane model.)

TIP: When you’re fusing, turn

down your studio lights to

make it easier to see the

metal change color as you

heat it.

Once you see the color change, move

the flame to the join in the ring and move

the flame in a small circle. Concentrate the

heat evenly on both sides of the join [5].

In a short time, the silver at the join

will melt and surface tension will pull the

molten metal together, fusing the join

without the use of solder.

TIP: When you’re fusing

jump rings, remove the flame

from the join as soon as the

metal melts. Overheating

will cause the join to “thin

out,” then melt completely

and form a ball of metal on

either side of the join. If this

occurs, the ring is scrap. Try

deliberately overheating the

first ring so you can observe

what happens.

Fuse all the fine-silver jump rings.

You will need about eight fused rings to

complete the bracelet. Use tweezers to

push the fused rings off the fusing board

and into a water-filled container to cool.

Stretch the fine-silver rings. Place

a fused ring on a ring stretcher about

halfway down the jaws [6]. (You could

also use roundnose pliers.) Mark this

location on the stretcher with a felt-tip

pen so you can position all the rings in

the same place and stretch them to the

same size.

NOTE: Position the fused join on the

outside of one jaw of the stretcher. This

will stretch the ring so that the join will

be inside the chain and not visible on the

finished bracelet.

Stretch all the fine-silver rings.

Forge the fine-silver rings. Place a

stretched ring over the corner of a bench

block so that only half of the ring is on the

block [7].

Use the flat face of a ball-peen hammer

to flatten this side of the ring to about

twice its initial width. Reposition the ring

so that the other side of the ring is across

the corner of the bench block, and flatten

this side.

Try to forge both legs to the same

width. Do not forge the curved ends of the

rings. Forge all the fused jump rings in the

same manner.

Anneal the fine-silver rings. Forging

the rings work-hardens the silver. Since

our next step will be to corrugate these

rings, we need to soften the metal.

Annealing softens the metal and is

done by heating the metal .

Place the forged rings in a row on the

fusing board and turn down the lights.

Heat each ring until it is dull red, then

move on to the next, keeping the torch

moving in a circular motion so you don’t

melt the rings. After heating all the rings,

push them into the container of water to

cool them.

Corrugate the fine-silver rings. Use

chainnose pliers to place the narrow end

of a forged and annealed ring into the

corrugator. I used a paper crimper from

a local craft store as a corrugator; you

could also use a tube wringer. Whichever

style of tool you choose, use it according

to the manufacturer’s instructions to

corrugate the ring [8]. Corrugate all the

fine-silver rings.

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www.ArtJewelryMag.com 5

Howard Siegel

has a master’s

degree in metal-

lurgy and works

in lapidary,

silversmithing,

and chain

making. He

teaches at the William Holland School

of Lapidary Arts, the Society for Mid-

west Metalsmiths, the Craft Alliance,

and the Jacoby Arts Center.

Part 2:Assemble the bracelet

Weave the chain. Pick up a corrugated

ring. (If desired, you can thread a paper

clip or twist tie through this ring for a

better grip.) Thread a 3.6 mm sterling silver

jump ring through the corrugated ring and

close it; repeat with a second 3.6 mm ring.

Thread a third 3.6 mm ring through the

first pair of rings and close it; repeat to

add a fourth 3.6 mm ring [1].

Grasp the corrugated ring and the first

pair of 3.6 mm rings between your thumb

and forefinger. Separate the second pair of

3.6 mm rings and flip them back, one to

each side of the first pair [2].

Grasp the corrugated ring and the

second pair of 3.6 mm rings between your

thumb and forefinger, and push up on

the second pair of rings. Insert a scribe or

needle tool above the corrugated ring

to hold the first pair of rings open and

expose the second pair of rings [3].

Thread a fifth 3.6 mm ring through

the V-shaped opening in the knot, then

through a second corrugated ring, and

close it. Repeat to add a second 3.6 mm

ring through the same path, going

through the two 3.6 mm rings and the

corrugated ring.

You have just completed a Byzantine

knot at the end of the first corrugated ring

and added a second corrugated ring to

your chain.

Each corrugated ring and Byzantine

knot is slightly under 1 in. (25.5 mm) long;

you can estimate the length of the chain

by counting the corrugated rings.

Continue adding corrugated rings and

Byzantine knots until your chain reaches

the desired length. End the chain with a

Byzantine knot (rather than a single ring).

Add the clasp and finish the chain.

Open two 4 mm inside diameter (ID)

sterling silver jump rings. Thread a single

4 mm jump ring through the Byzantine

knot at the end of the chain; add the clasp

to this jump ring and then close the ring.

Thread a second 4 mm jump ring

through the corrugated ring at the end

of the chain, then close the ring. This

ring will form the other half of the clasp.

Alternately, you can skip this second jump

ring and close the bracelet by closing the

clasp through the final elongated corru-

gated link.

Place the chain in a tumbler with

mixed stainless steel shot and burnishing

compound. Tumble the chain for 1–2

hours. Remove the chain from the tumbler,

rinse it with running water, and then dry

it. Pull the chain through your hand. If

the chain feels rough, put it back in the

tumbler, and tumble it until the chain feels

smooth. Additional tumbling will not harm

the chain.

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Bonus VideosCheck out these bonus tutorials

for fundamental techniques used

in this project:

Making jump rings

Threading a saw blade

in a saw frame

Opening and closing jump rings

Annealing metal

Videos, www.artjewelrymag.

com/howto

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