Photo Tutorial Dragonback

Author's Note
Our projects were very popular during the lifetime of our business and we wanted to ensure they continued to provide inspiration for chain maillers whatever their experience. It's a pleasure to see they will live on with Chainmaillers.com
-Sarah Austin

Dragonback​

Materials​

For a 19.5cm bracelet, you will need:

• 168 champagne anodised aluminium saw cut jump rings, ID 5.2mm, WD 1.00mm - A
• 41 matt silver (white) anodised aluminium saw cut jump rings, ID 5.2mm, WD 1.00mm- B
• 41 black anodised aluminium saw cut jump rings, ID 5.2mm, WD 1.00mm - C
• 6 champagne anodised aluminium saw cut jump rings, ID 4.2mm, WD 1.2mm - D
• brass oxide medium wrapped Tierracast toggle #8

Tools:

• two pairs of smooth jawed chain nose, flat nose, or bent nose pliers

Instructions​

1. Link four closed champagne rings (A) with one white ring (B). Lay the jump rings out as shown. You may find it helpful to add an eyepin or paperclip to the white ring so that you know which end is the start of your chain.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Weave one white ring (B) up through the bottom left hand champagne ring (A) and then down through the bottom right hand champagne ring (A). Add two more closed champagne rings (A) before closing the white ring.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Repeat step 2 until you have forty one white rings on your chain. The chain will be a loose European 4-1 but it will tighten up as you add more rows.
   
   
   
   
   
4. For steps 4-11, the rings being added are shown in red for clarity. You will be adding the half Persian 3-1 edging in steps 4-9. Turn your chain on its side so that the start of the chain is on the left-hand side. Weave one champagne ring (A) down through the intersection of the first two champagne rings and up through the centre of the third ring. Close the champagne ring.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Weave one champagne ring (A) down through the intersection of the next pair of champagne rings and up through the centre of the following ring. Make sure this ring is woven in front of the champagne ring added in the previous step and does not weave through it.
   
   Continue adding edging rings until you reach the end of the chain.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Turn your chain by 180 degrees so that the other edge is at the bottom. Starting from the right-hand side, weave one champagne ring (A) down through the intersection of the first two champagne rings and up through the centre of the third ring. Close the champagne ring.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Weave one champagne ring (A) down through the intersection of the next pair of champagne rings and up through the centre of the following ring.
   
   Continue adding edging rings until you reach the end of the chain.
   
   
   
   
   
8. To add the last half Persian rings to the top and bottom edge at the end of the chain: weave one champagne ring (A) down through the last intersection of champagne rings and close. Position the ring on top of the previous ring of the edging.
   
   
   
   
   
9. To add the last half Persian rings to the top and bottom edge at the start of the chain: weave one champagne through the centre of the first and the centre of the second ring but behind the half Persian edge rings already in place.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Starting from the end of the chain: weave one black ring (C) down through the upper intersection of the first two champagne rings and up through the lower intersection of the first two champagne rings. Close the black ring.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Weave one black ring (C) down through the upper intersection of the next two champagne rings and up through the lower intersection of the next two champagne rings. Close the black ring. This ring sits on top of the black ring previously added. Continue to add black rings until you reach the end of your chain.
    
    
    
    
    
12. Link one champagne ring D through each set of two champagne rings at the end of your chain. Link one champagne ring D through the toggle ring and the two rings D just added. Repeat at the other end of your bracelet to add the toggle bar. If you find the toggle bar difficult to thread through the toggle ring, add two extra rings D.
    
    
    
    

Variations​

• Use silver for the main ring A and your two favourite colours for rings B and C. The darker shades will show up best.
• Try black for the main ring A and paler shades of colour like ice pink and lavender for rings B and C.
• Use blocks of colour down the centre of the chain.

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©2021 Sarah Austin. All rights reserved.