Photo Tutorial Stretchy Dragonscale

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

Stretchy Dragonscale​

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Materials​

You will need:

• 189 black EPDM rubber o-rings, ID 6.4mm, WD 1.63mm
• 189 ice pink anodised aluminium saw cut jump rings, ID 10.2mm, WD 1.6mm

Tools:

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

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Instructions​

1. Make one 1-in-2 chain starting with one ice pink ring, and using four ice pink rings and six o-rings. Place this chain at the top. Make a 2-in-1 chain starting with two o-rings, and using three ice pink rings and eight o-rings. Place this chain below the first chain made.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Place the 2-in-1 chain made from three ice pink rings on top of the 1-in-2 chain made from four ice pink rings. The chain underneath will be referred to as the lower chain, whilst the chain placed on top will be referred to as the upper chain.
   
   The rings added in the next steps are shown in red for clarity.
   
   Link one ice pink ring through the first bottom o-ring of the lower chain and add one o-ring before closing. You have now sandwiched the upper chain between the lower chain and the ring just added. Steps 3-5 will continue to sandwich the upper chain.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Weave one ice pink ring through the same o-rings as in step 2 (the o-ring just added and the first bottom o-ring of the lower chain). Continue weaving the ring through the second bottom o-ring of the lower chain and add one o-ring before closing.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Continue adding ice pink rings in the same way. Weave one ice pink ring through the second pair of o-rings from step 3 and the third bottom o-ring of the lower chain. Add one o-ring before closing.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Link one ice pink ring through the second pair of o-rings from step 4 (the o-ring just added and the third bottom o-ring of the lower chain). You do not add any o-rings before closing.
   
   
   
   
   Grow the weave by following steps 6-7 with the rings added shown in red.
   
   You will begin to notice a pattern - you always add the same number of o-rings that you weave through.
   
   
   • In step 6, you will weave through four o-rings using three ice pink rings and add four o-rings.
   • In step 7 you will weave through three o-rings using four ice pink rings and add three o-rings.
     
     
6. Referring to the picture below, weave one ice pink ring through the first two o-rings in the lowest row of four o-rings and add two o-rings before closing.
   
   Weave one ice pink ring through the last pair of o-rings linked with the last ice pink ring and the next o-ring in the lowest row of four o-rings. Add one o-ring before closing.
   
   Repeat in the same way to add the last ice pink ring and add one o-ring before closing.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Referring to the picture below, weave one ice pink ring through the first o-ring in the lowest row of three o-rings and add one o-ring before closing.
   
   Weave one ice pink ring through the last pair of o-rings linked with the last ice pink ring and the next o-ring in the lowest row of three o-rings. Add one o-ring before closing.
   
   Repeat with a third ice pink ring.
   
   Weave one ice pink ring through the last pair of o-rings linked. You do not add any o-rings before closing.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Repeat steps 6-7 until your cuff fits your wrist. Finish with step 6.
   
   
9. Lay out the two ends of your cuff as shown with the end of the cuff on the left and the start of the cuff on the right.
   
   
   
   
   
10. The first row of rings used to join the cuff in steps 10-12 are shown in red. In the first joining row, you are linking two rows of three o-rings using four ice pink rings. Link one o-ring through the first o-rings in the three o-ring rows, making sure that you weave the ring through the o-rings in the same direction as shown.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Link the second ice pink ring through the last pair of o-rings linked and the next pair of o-rings in the three o-rings rows.
    
    
    
    
    
12. Link the third ice pink ring through the last pair of o-rings linked and the next pair of o-rings in the three o-rings rows.
    
    Link the fourth o-ring through the last pair of o-rings linked.
    
    
    
    
    
13. The second row of rings used to join the cuff in step 13 are shown in blue. In the second joining row, you are linking two rows of four o-rings using three ice pink rings. To identify the o-rings that need to be joined look for the o-rings which only have one ice pink ring linking through them.
    
    Link one ice pink ring through the first and second two o-rings in the four o-ring rows. Make sure that you weave the ring with the same orientation as other rings in the dragonscale weave. Continue linking the pairs of o-rings in the four o-ring rows with ice pink rings, linking the second and third pairs of o-rings and the third and fourth pairs of o-rings.
    
    

Variations​

• Use a rainbow or pastel mix of colours with one colour for each row of metal rings.
• Try a light coloured metal ring against a darker shade of the same colour in o-rings, e.g. ice blue jump rings and blue o-rings.
• Use a dark coloured metal ring such as red with a white o-ring.

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©2021 Sarah Austin. All rights reserved.