Here I am just lookin up chainmail alternatives from Grace and oh my gosh, a wild Maksy! Where the hecc is this Aragorn? If it happened, I need to find it immediately
That is what they did for the LotR movies. The advantage is it looks superior to most other "fake" maille, but down side is that you use superglue to close the rings and you end up ruining your fingertips. @ Ivan Beals, This won't be exhaustive, but here is the short version. Just pick an inner/outer ratio close to what you would see in regular costume rings. 5/16th or 3/8ths of an inch inside diameter is probably good. Regarding cutting, there are two parts to it. First, you need to cut a line down the center to open the rings into butted rings. You can make a simple jig with a dremel with a thin cutoff wheel mounted at a right angle to another tube that the PVC then passes through. To make the rings a little easier to assemble, you can angle the dremel so that you get a cut that looks like this --> // as opposed to || into the wall of the PVC. Second, you need to cut the ring to thickness. The thickness should be about the same as the thickness of the PVC, maybe a little thinner so that it lies flatter. The best tool for this is a pneumatic cutter, but most people don't have access to something like this, so the next best is some sort of saw mounted that distance away from a guide so you can cut ring after ring to the set thickness. This could be a jigsaw, a bandsaw, a circular saw, whatever. The thing to remember is that a thicker blade will last longer and likely make a straighter cut, but a thinner blade will waste less PVC. The best balance is probably a small bandsaw with a quarter inch blade. The next thing you will want to do is debur the pieces. Cutting will leave some melted plastic at the edges and a small knife can remove this easily. My final bit of advice is that you only need to cut the lengthwise cut on every other piece of PVC because when making Euro 4-in-1, half the rings can be solid. This cuts down on the gluing and speeds things up significantly. >P.S. Sorry for the wall of text.
An important note! I tried this but just spray painted the mat silver. I thought it would be a nice way to speed this up. DO NOT SPRAY PAINT THIS. the spraying makes the mat sticky and even after 2 weeks, it sticks to itself and to the fabric and rubs off paint. even coats of clear coat don't fix this. rubandbuff does not have this problem so follow the video. I messed up my project so you don't have to ^-^
i highly recommend if you want them to look like silver just silver coat them with real silver individually not sure how much does it cost in other countries but in my country it dosent cost that much :P what i mean is go to a silver smith/gold smith and ask how much does it cost to coat them with silver! ^^
Alyathaean Yea it's called string mail and it's used in lower budget films, particularly shot from a distance so that the armour can still resemble chain mail on screen.
Very cool. Have you experimented with turning the rubber mat 45 degrees? I feel like breaking up the orthogonal lines might make it look more like chain mail but I don't really know for sure.
Help! I spray painted the rubber mat with plastidip and then krylon gloss black. It’s tacky and I hear of people saying it will stay tacky even after weeks. What do I do?
I'd considered using the non-skid mat I use for carbon fiber effects, but this definitely works too. Etsy has a faux chainmail fabric, but it's something like $12 to the linear foot.
I plan on building a suit of chainmail made from old fences I found at the dump, hell to cut them with wire cutters, but it’s currently winter, so I’m staying out of the shop till things get warmer again, living in a small town aren’t easy, but I make do... 🤔
I made mail sleeves for a Boromir outfit out of a net for gathering and moving leaves. It took spray paint very well, is light and cool, and I think the 4x6-foot net came from a dollar store.
I am about to perform in the role of Lancelot in Monty Python's Spamalot, at a local community theater. My question is about the fabric, would it look good at "stage distance"? Thanks, this has been a really good video to consider options!
I'm trying to use the rubber mats for a wonder woman ares armor to use under the armor, and i was wondering what glues would be best, because hot glue doesn't stick to it and sucks for this! Thanks so much!
I know it kind of defeats the purpose as it's actual chain maille, but PVC pipe cut into thin rings makes a really good costume maille, it's really light and when painted it's really convincing. I made a gauntlet in high school and shared it with WETA a few years ago at a con and one of the guys who helped make the chain maille for the Lord of the Rings trilogy said I did a really good job at replicating their process.
I went to a workshop where the leader told us about using a hot glue like material where they just glue gunned it onto a fabric in almost a fishscale like pattern and you could spray paint it to look weathered or new. took a lot of time though
This method is less time-friendly, but it's a fun project that utilizes recycling soda can tabs. Cause I drink a LOT of canned drinks, and I had a friend who actually collected the tabs to make chainmail. I doubt it's very comfortable, since you have the risk of small, sharp edges, but it's a cool product in the end! And they even have the little holes at the top you can string them together with. It gives more of a larger/coarser chainmail look
Theres also like the top of soda cans those things that open the can is a really cool alternative for chainmail, however you still would need to dedicate some time to cut and link them together lol
Lol! I was actually searching for ideas to make a Solaire cosplay, it was unexpected to see the Solaire helmet on the back, cool that I actually got to see how fitting the last method would be for a Solaire cosplay, haha Nice vid Praise the sun
Knitting with pliers... ouch. Bill from punished props laser cut some I think or maybe 3d printed it in a recent video. I was going with the pvc pipe option but now I'm not so sure...
Buy a mail hauberk and perform whatever adjustments to make it match your costume design. Or completely disassemble it into "sheets" of mail to shape into your costume. (Either way is far quicker than the hundreds of hours you will spend making a piece of mail armor if you start with individual rings or thousands of hours if you start with a roll of heavy wire.)
I bought 1,000 small key rings on ebay. So far I have chain mail on the front and I can wear it. And its cool I can hit myself with a stick and it doesn't hurt at all. Since they are key rings you can fit other stuff in them. I found a piece of galvanized metal with 2 holes and a rope (like a sign) I am going to get a bunch of them and squeeze the rope into the key rings hehe.
do you have a link or brand for the rubber mat you are using? I've been looking at amazon for a couple hours and I can't find a mat that is a grid like yours, just checkered patterns of space and solid rubber
Maybe now I can make Lady Sif now😀 thanks for your tips Edit I found the rubbery chainmail at dollar tree😀 I was not expecting to find that lol it looks just like what you showed. Size is 17 inches by 27 inches, it's called a rug underlay😊
Chainmail alternative (sorta): Buy a chainmail shirt from a larp supply shop. saves most people a good amount of time, and if you're like me and actually partake in larp as well as cosplay, you get more use out of it than just for a single costume.
There is not ANYTHING called 'chainmail.' That is an Victorian affectation and grossly incorrect. It is simply called 'mail' armor. The stuff you get in the mailbox is actually called post. Please make the necessary corrections.
my ex knows how to make chain mail. I would probably give him measurements, what want it and pay him for it. He and I are not ment to be in a relatuonship as a couple but we can chat like friends.
You're a lifesaver! I was panicking about an Aragorn cosplay I'm planning but this helps so much!
Here I am just lookin up chainmail alternatives from Grace and oh my gosh, a wild Maksy! Where the hecc is this Aragorn? If it happened, I need to find it immediately
I usually just cut a shit/ton of PVC rings and make chainmaille out of them while drinking vodka and hating my life.
LOL That's awesome! I've been meaning to try PVC too.
DemonWeasel1990 What diameter? what tool for cutting?
That is what they did for the LotR movies. The advantage is it looks superior to most other "fake" maille, but down side is that you use superglue to close the rings and you end up ruining your fingertips.
@ Ivan Beals, This won't be exhaustive, but here is the short version.
Just pick an inner/outer ratio close to what you would see in regular costume rings. 5/16th or 3/8ths of an inch inside diameter is probably good.
Regarding cutting, there are two parts to it.
First, you need to cut a line down the center to open the rings into butted rings. You can make a simple jig with a dremel with a thin cutoff wheel mounted at a right angle to another tube that the PVC then passes through. To make the rings a little easier to assemble, you can angle the dremel so that you get a cut that looks like this --> // as opposed to || into the wall of the PVC.
Second, you need to cut the ring to thickness. The thickness should be about the same as the thickness of the PVC, maybe a little thinner so that it lies flatter. The best tool for this is a pneumatic cutter, but most people don't have access to something like this, so the next best is some sort of saw mounted that distance away from a guide so you can cut ring after ring to the set thickness. This could be a jigsaw, a bandsaw, a circular saw, whatever. The thing to remember is that a thicker blade will last longer and likely make a straighter cut, but a thinner blade will waste less PVC. The best balance is probably a small bandsaw with a quarter inch blade.
The next thing you will want to do is debur the pieces. Cutting will leave some melted plastic at the edges and a small knife can remove this easily.
My final bit of advice is that you only need to cut the lengthwise cut on every other piece of PVC because when making Euro 4-in-1, half the rings can be solid. This cuts down on the gluing and speeds things up significantly.
>P.S. Sorry for the wall of text.
My2CentsWorth1 Most excellent, thank you!
An important note! I tried this but just spray painted the mat silver. I thought it would be a nice way to speed this up. DO NOT SPRAY PAINT THIS. the spraying makes the mat sticky and even after 2 weeks, it sticks to itself and to the fabric and rubs off paint. even coats of clear coat don't fix this. rubandbuff does not have this problem so follow the video.
I messed up my project so you don't have to ^-^
To keep Acrylic paint from sticking to itself, once its dry, dust it with baby powder and that will take care of the stickiness.
Or get plastic netting and use plastic primer and silver paint
I was going to use spray paint! Thank you, you saved me from a lot of heartache!
i highly recommend if you want them to look like silver just silver coat them with real silver individually not sure how much does it cost in other countries but in my country it dosent cost that much :P what i mean is go to a silver smith/gold smith and ask how much does it cost to coat them with silver! ^^
oh lol xDDDD nvm i just woke up and read your comment has nothing to do with metal chainmail xD oh well :D
My mom had a man in her knitting classes. He knitted chainmaille for movies and sprayed it silver ;)
Thats so cool!
Alyathaean Yea it's called string mail and it's used in lower budget films, particularly shot from a distance so that the armour can still resemble chain mail on screen.
rub n buff solves everything!
IT DOES
Very cool. Have you experimented with turning the rubber mat 45 degrees? I feel like breaking up the orthogonal lines might make it look more like chain mail but I don't really know for sure.
I want to make a solaire cosplay too!! thats why I was searching chainmail alternatives. Thanks for the tips
@ZonZonZonbi does the rubber stuff sew? I’m making a Twilight Princess Link Cosplay and just wondering if I can stitch this to his tunic
I ordered that exact same chainmail print fabric from spoonflower for my Auriel cosplay.
omg that's such a genius idea! Working on Geralt and Triss currently.
WOW! Thank you, thank you THANK YOU! I needed something like this for my Yhorm The Giant cosplay. Yayyyy! :D
I just came here for chainmail for a Solaire cosplay, and you mentioned you did an Abyss Watchers cosplay! The sun shines upon us!
Thank you for posting this!!! 👏🏻🔥🤙🏻 never even thought Of the last one!
Dude, that is awesome! I’m trying to do a whole chain mail coat right now for LOTR Gimli and I adore the foam mesh idea! You’re the best! Thank you!
Help! I spray painted the rubber mat with plastidip and then krylon gloss black. It’s tacky and I hear of people saying it will stay tacky even after weeks. What do I do?
Thumbs up just for the 'Hardcore Knitting' comment alone LOL
I'd considered using the non-skid mat I use for carbon fiber effects, but this definitely works too. Etsy has a faux chainmail fabric, but it's something like $12 to the linear foot.
I plan on building a suit of chainmail made from old fences I found at the dump, hell to cut them with wire cutters, but it’s currently winter, so I’m staying out of the shop till things get warmer again, living in a small town aren’t easy, but I make do... 🤔
I made mail sleeves for a Boromir outfit out of a net for gathering and moving leaves. It took spray paint very well, is light and cool, and I think the 4x6-foot net came from a dollar store.
I am about to perform in the role of Lancelot in Monty Python's Spamalot, at a local community theater. My question is about the fabric, would it look good at "stage distance"?
Thanks, this has been a really good video to consider options!
hi where did you get that much rubber matting please i can only see small amounts ? {:
I'm trying to use the rubber mats for a wonder woman ares armor to use under the armor, and i was wondering what glues would be best, because hot glue doesn't stick to it and sucks for this! Thanks so much!
I know it kind of defeats the purpose as it's actual chain maille, but PVC pipe cut into thin rings makes a really good costume maille, it's really light and when painted it's really convincing. I made a gauntlet in high school and shared it with WETA a few years ago at a con and one of the guys who helped make the chain maille for the Lord of the Rings trilogy said I did a really good job at replicating their process.
I went to a workshop where the leader told us about using a hot glue like material where they just glue gunned it onto a fabric in almost a fishscale like pattern and you could spray paint it to look weathered or new. took a lot of time though
That sounds awesome!
You could be an awesome Dana Scully. Awesome vid btw!
This method is less time-friendly, but it's a fun project that utilizes recycling soda can tabs. Cause I drink a LOT of canned drinks, and I had a friend who actually collected the tabs to make chainmail.
I doubt it's very comfortable, since you have the risk of small, sharp edges, but it's a cool product in the end! And they even have the little holes at the top you can string them together with.
It gives more of a larger/coarser chainmail look
But like where can I get "Knit material" and what is the specific name
Wow! Thanks for sharing the rubber mat alternative
That rubber mat will work perfect for the air vents on my power armor.
NICE!!!
great suggestion on rubber mat. I need just a little chainmail for Skyrim helmet and this will be much easier than making my own
So happy about a new video!
Theres also like the top of soda cans those things that open the can is a really cool alternative for chainmail, however you still would need to dedicate some time to cut and link them together lol
use rings to interlock them it works better.
Lol!
I was actually searching for ideas to make a Solaire cosplay, it was unexpected to see the Solaire helmet on the back, cool that I actually got to see how fitting the last method would be for a Solaire cosplay, haha
Nice vid
Praise the sun
Knitting with pliers... ouch. Bill from punished props laser cut some I think or maybe 3d printed it in a recent video. I was going with the pvc pipe option but now I'm not so sure...
well in my past I have made kingsmail which is a bit involved to make but fun.
Buy a mail hauberk and perform whatever adjustments to make it match your costume design. Or completely disassemble it into "sheets" of mail to shape into your costume. (Either way is far quicker than the hundreds of hours you will spend making a piece of mail armor if you start with individual rings or thousands of hours if you start with a roll of heavy wire.)
a good idea, but expensive
Cloud Nucleus Like $100. On the plus side, it'll be something you can have for a while.
the website sell only fabric not complete cloth is it?
I bought 1,000 small key rings on ebay. So far I have chain mail on the front and I can wear it. And its cool I can hit myself with a stick and it doesn't hurt at all. Since they are key rings you can fit other stuff in them. I found a piece of galvanized metal with 2 holes and a rope (like a sign) I am going to get a bunch of them and squeeze the rope into the key rings hehe.
do you have a link or brand for the rubber mat you are using? I've been looking at amazon for a couple hours and I can't find a mat that is a grid like yours, just checkered patterns of space and solid rubber
Hey hope im not too late... I too was looking for a long time.
" Anti-slip rug pad" on Amazon or Ebay! Happy Cosplaying!~ :D
rubber mat = ingenious. very well done.
Shadversity's historically accurate chainmail!!!!!
Thanks for the advice Zonbi!
I personaly like tabmaille. it is rings like chainmaille but interlocking soda tabs.
Maybe now I can make Lady Sif now😀 thanks for your tips
Edit
I found the rubbery chainmail at dollar tree😀 I was not expecting to find that lol it looks just like what you showed. Size is 17 inches by 27 inches, it's called a rug underlay😊
Did you spraypaint that mat brown? or did you buy it like that?
This stuff just happened to come in brown. It comes in several colors.
Thank you! Not I just have to figure out how to rivet it to a foam plate
do you live in Maryland can you make some roman armor not the helmet
I bought that rubber mat thing and they send me a bright yellow one..
Everybody came for Solaire, I came for Leliana hahaha :"D I'll definitely try this idea!
Definitely don't use lacquer spray paint. The solvent will destroy it. I would use this rub and buff or tube acrylic paint.
Good idea. Thanks!
Me: looking for chain mail alts for Solaire
Me: Sees Solaire cosplay - looks like I've come to the right place
Chainmail alternative (sorta): Buy a chainmail shirt from a larp supply shop. saves most people a good amount of time, and if you're like me and actually partake in larp as well as cosplay, you get more use out of it than just for a single costume.
Working on a scale mail shirt, black 1.5 inch scales... from the Ring Lord... a bitch to work on, but will look incredible when done
thats funny, i was looking on how to do this for a solaire costume.
your eyes melt me ...
There is not ANYTHING called 'chainmail.' That is an Victorian affectation and grossly incorrect. It is simply called 'mail' armor. The stuff you get in the mailbox is actually called post. Please make the necessary corrections.
u ok
Chainmail wasn't silver colored, it was black because they heat treated and tempered the rings
Ruffles Gaming can use silver to add battle damage
great tip
I've seen people use soda can tabs
Ive seen that too!! It looks pretty cool.
Definitely wanna check out your rubber mesh idea however! Hope your channel keeps growing, keep it up dude:)
Rug gripper mat
used this in my last robin hood movie looked ok
Saw a cheap alternative to your plastic net at the .99 cents only store.
nice!
and I am subed to you and William jakespeare
Properly punched and riveted chainmail ONLY society.
Re-enactor snobbery intensifies!
my ex knows how to make chain mail. I would probably give him measurements, what want it and pay him for it. He and I are not ment to be in a relatuonship as a couple but we can chat like friends.
relatuonship???
Awesome videos ! and if i may be so bold. you have really beautiful eyes .
Not at all difficult, but labor intensive and time consuming.
lol I just searched this video 'cause I'm actually doing a solaire cosplay
I'm making mine out of coke can tabs
Praise the sun!
Chainmail is ez
Low price deus vult incoming
stolen
Love making chainmail. Just finished my first scale necklace. If anyone needs something hit me up
omg that's such a genius idea! Working on Geralt and Triss currently.