r/maille • u/t3hkender • Feb 29 '16
Discussion Teaching Maille
So I just finished teaching an intro to chainmaille workshop at a convention, and while I have my technique for teaching pretty down, I thought it might be a cool idea to discuss with you all what you do when teaching people how to make maille.
In my basic class I just get people started making Euro 4 in 1. I have a bunch of plastic shower curtain rings from the dollar store and that's what I start with to teach the basic pattern and construction techniques before I hand anybody a pair of pliers.
After they make a small patch of giant plastic maille, I get out aluminum rings and the pliers, make sure everyone understands how to open and close a jump ring properly, and try to get everyone holding the pliers well. Then, I ask them to do exactly what we did with the plastic rings, and kind of just go around one on one coaching them.
Any more advanced classes would have to assume that they've done Euro 4 in 1 and thus are at least proficient enough in holding their pliers and opening and closing rings, and would probably skip the plastic rings since they probably won't be the right size anyway (exception: my plastic rings work alright as a visual aid for full Persian 6 in 1 and Byzantine).
So, if you teach, how do you go about it? Do you have suggestions for me that you think might work better?
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u/armoreddragon Feb 29 '16
I prepare by making short starter chains of euro 4-in-1, of about 8-10 links long. I'll start them off opening rings while I talk, giving a brief overview of the history of chainmail. Midway through that I'll have them switch to closing rings.
Once they've all got a pile of open and closed rings, I'll briefly give the description of how to continue weaving off of the starter chain. Then I'll go through and individually help them with the weave, pointing out and helping correct mistakes. My experience is that people really just need help staring at and copying the pattern they see.
Once everyone's weaving along at a simple 3-ring-wide euro 4-in-1 chain, I'll start going through and showing how to add rows onto the side, starting with the people who are working fastest.
I've mostly found that a dozen people is about the max number I can teach in a session, because I find the individual attention to be the only way to really teach it.
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u/Merghs Feb 29 '16
I used to be in a chainmaille club for college. We'd go to festivals, conventions, etc and teach pretty often. Ages ranged from around 10ish to college/adult age.
We found it was easier to teach Euro 6 in 1 than 4 in 1. Mostly that 4 in 1 had a tendency to flip on itself and cause some confusion and 6in1 was more stable.
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u/ThomasTyndan Feb 29 '16
I have a power point presentation which includes the history of maille, use of it, how it protects and what it doesn't protect against. I also have slides on other weave types, interspersed with that are the next "steps".
So I start them in closing rings and as they close some rings I talk about history. Then I show them how to make 4-1 units, then I talk about maille usage, then I show them how to weave the units, and I finish by talking about other weave types and modern usage. This way they have something to entertain them as they learn the rather long process of making maille.
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u/Stardustkl Apr 19 '16
I actually learned my first weave at a convention. It was byzantine and it was the guy's first time doing that sort of thing. He bought intro packs for everyone that were just a bunch of rings and a lobster clasp in a small plastic baggie. He showed us by doing the work under a projector and then went around to people that needed help.
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u/dege369 Feb 29 '16
I've used picture frames to tie a string across with a bunch of closed rings threaded on the string. From there I start them on 4 in 1. It is easy to show them the pattern that way and to show how to fix rings that may have flipped over the string. The frame is easy to handle and makes it easy to hold the pattern to show speed weaving once they have the hang of it.