1. Aspect ratio in practice: mandrel springback and wire temper
Aspect ratio (AR) is defined as the ring’s inner diameter divided by its wire diameter. Both measurements must be in the same unit — millimeters is standard because mandrel diameters and wire diameters are both specified in millimeters without ambiguity. The formula is simple: AR = ID ÷ wire diameter.
The complication is that the nominal mandrel diameter (the diameter stamped on the mandrel or reported in a ring specification) is not necessarily the actual inner diameter of the finished ring. When wire is coiled around a mandrel under tension and then the coil is released, the wire springs back — it tries to return to its pre-coiling shape, which is straight. How much it springs back depends on the wire temper.
Annealed wire has been heated above its recrystallization temperature (approximately 600–650°C for copper, 700–720°C for sterling silver) and cooled slowly. The heat treatment allows the metal’s crystal structure to reorganize into large, stress-free grains. Annealed wire is the most malleable temper available — it deforms easily under small forces, which means it conforms closely to the mandrel during coiling and springs back very little on release. For annealed copper on a 6mm steel mandrel using 18 AWG (1.024mm) wire, the actual inner diameter of cut rings is typically 6.05–6.15mm. AR = 6.10 ÷ 1.024 ≈ 5.96.
Half-hard wire has been cold-drawn from annealed wire through a die without re-annealing. Drawing compresses and elongates the metal’s grain structure, increasing internal stress and hardness — partially work-hardening the wire without fully softening it. Half-hard wire springs back more noticeably than annealed. The same 6mm mandrel with half-hard sterling AWG 18 typically yields actual inner diameters of 6.2–6.4mm. AR = 6.30 ÷ 1.024 ≈ 6.15. For most loose-AR weaves (box chain, European 4-in-1, Helm chain) this difference is within the acceptable range and not structurally significant. For tight-AR weaves like Byzantine (AR 3.5–3.9 required), specifying half-hard vs annealed on the same mandrel can push rings from the correct AR range into a slightly loose range where the Byzantine knot refuses to close tightly.
Hard-drawn wire is the maximally work-hardened state produced by drawing without annealing from the start. Springback from the mandrel is 5–15% more than the mandrel diameter, depending on gauge and alloy. A 6mm mandrel with hard-drawn sterling AWG 18 yields inner diameters of 6.5–7.0mm. AR = 6.75 ÷ 1.024 ≈ 6.59. Hard-drawn rings are preferred by experienced maillers who want maximum hardness in the finished piece, but they require more closing force and more consistent closing technique because the rings spring back open unless closed slightly past flush.
Mandrel material also affects the AR. A wooden mandrel (common in educational settings because it is inexpensive and non-marring) absorbs a small amount of the wire’s compression during coiling, effectively acting as a slightly larger mandrel than its nominal diameter. Rings coiled on a 6mm wooden mandrel tend to have slightly larger inner diameters than rings coiled on a 6mm steel mandrel with the same wire. Acrylic mandrels are intermediate. Steel mandrels give the most consistent, closest-to-nominal results.
For Patreon creators, the practical resolution: specify ring inner diameter in millimeters (not mandrel size and gauge number alone), specify wire diameter in millimeters (not AWG number alone), and specify temper. Better still: use pre-cut rings from a supplier whose rings include actual measured AR and specify the temper, removing mandrel-variation from the equation entirely. The pattern should state, for example, “18 AWG (1.024mm) half-hard sterling silver, 5.0mm inner diameter, AR 4.88 — cut rings from Weave Got Maille or equivalent” so that subscribers in any country can match the specification without knowing the mandrel-to-AR conversion for their local wire temper.
2. AWG gauge to millimeter equivalents
AWG (American Wire Gauge) is an inverse scale: a higher AWG number means a thinner wire. AWG is commonly used in North American ring and wire suppliers; metric suppliers use millimeters directly. AR calculation requires the wire diameter in the same unit as the inner diameter — both must be millimeters if the inner diameter is measured in millimeters. Converting AWG to millimeters is therefore necessary before performing any AR calculation.
The standard conversions for gauges used in chain maille jewelry:
- AWG 24 = 0.511mm (very fine wire, small delicate rings for lightweight weaves)
- AWG 22 = 0.644mm (fine wire, earring components)
- AWG 20 = 0.812mm (standard lightweight jewelry gauge)
- AWG 18 = 1.024mm (standard medium gauge, the most common single gauge for Byzantine and box chain)
- AWG 16 = 1.291mm (heavy gauge, bracelets and statement pieces)
- AWG 14 = 1.628mm (very heavy gauge, structural components, clasp findings)
- AWG 12 = 2.053mm (heavy structural wire, rarely used in decorative weaves)
Note: Brown & Sharpe (B&S) gauge is the same system as AWG for round wire cross-section — the gauge numbers and mm equivalents are identical. Do not confuse AWG with Standard Wire Gauge (SWG, used in the UK), which produces different mm values for the same gauge number. AWG 18 = 1.024mm; SWG 18 = 1.219mm. A pattern specifying “18 gauge” without specifying AWG or SWG is ambiguous for non-US subscribers. Millimeter wire diameter resolves the ambiguity.
3. Saw-cut versus pinch-cut rings
The quality of a jump ring’s cut determines whether it can close to an invisible seam or whether there will always be a visible gap at the closure point.
Saw-cut rings are produced by a jeweler’s saw frame fitted with a spiral-cut blade (a blade with a helical cutting edge rather than teeth on one face only, which prevents the blade from binding in the wire kerf) or by a dedicated rotary ring-cutter (a motorized disc cutter that slices through a wire coil in a single pass). Both methods remove a thin sliver of material (the kerf) at the cut point, leaving both wire ends with clean, flat, flush faces. When the ring is closed, the two flush faces can meet in full-surface contact. In argentium and fine silver, the cut closes to near invisibility. In copper, the saw-cut seam is visible under magnification but not at handling distance.
Pinch-cut rings (also called snip-cut) are produced by diagonal wire cutters. Diagonal cutters apply a shearing and compression force to the wire rather than a clean severing action. The result is that one end of the cut wire has a slightly pointed, angled profile (the outside-jaw end) and the other end has a slightly flattened, widened profile (the inside-jaw end). Neither end is flat and flush. When a pinch-cut ring is attempted to be closed, the angled and flattened ends cannot achieve full-surface contact — there is always a gap of approximately 0.1–0.3mm at the closure point. This gap is visible in finished work under close examination and can catch delicate threads, fabric fibers, or fine body hair.
For weaves where the ring cuts face the interior of the link and are covered by the passing rings (box chain, simple chain links), pinch-cut is acceptable and many experienced maillers use diagonal cutters for speed in copper practice work. For Byzantine, Full Persian, and other complex weaves where the ring cuts face outward and are visible in the finished weave surface, saw-cut rings are standard.
Saw-cut rings also provide reliable tactile closure feedback: when the two flush ends meet exactly, there is a faint but detectable change in resistance under the plier pressure — the ring is closed. Pinch-cut rings must be closed by visual estimation because the irregular ends provide no reliable tactile stop.
4. Ring opening mechanics: sideways rotation versus outward pull
The single most-cited beginner error in chain maille is opening jump rings by pulling the two sides of the cut directly apart — outward from the plane of the ring, like opening a binder ring or a split ring. This error permanently ruins the ring’s circular profile.
The physics: when the ring is pulled outward at the cut, the wire at each cut end is being bent perpendicular to the ring’s circular arc. The metal on the outside of each outward bend is in tension; the metal on the inside of each bend is in compression. In any outward opening motion large enough to pass another ring through the gap, the bending stress at the cut points exceeds the wire’s elastic limit — the stress is in the plastic deformation range. When the outward force is released, the metal does not fully spring back to its original position. The cut ends now protrude slightly out of the ring plane; the ring’s cross-section in that plane is no longer circular but has two small outward-pointing wings of deformed metal at the cut point. Trying to close the ring back to circular by squeezing the deformed wings inward further stresses the already-weakened material, and may crack brittle alloys like brass.
The correct motion is a sideways rotation. Hold the ring in two pairs of flat-nose pliers, one pair gripping each side of the cut. Rotate one pair forward (away from you) while rotating the other pair backward (toward you), both motions in the plane of the ring. This produces a gap at the cut where the two halves of the ring have rotated away from alignment. Both halves remain circular arcs — they are merely rotated relative to each other. The metal at the cut is being stressed in torsion (twisting around the wire axis), which is a much lower-stress mode for a round cross-section than outward bending, and the deformation per unit of opening displacement is much smaller.
After threading the open ring through its connection point, the reverse rotation — forward pair back, backward pair forward — closes the gap. The closure technique for springy wire: deliberately rotate past the flush-contact point by a small amount, then release. The spring-back energy in the wire brings the cut ends back to flush contact. The amount of over-closing needed is calibrated by feel after the first few rings in a new lot: annealed copper needs minimal to no over-close; half-hard sterling needs a few degrees of over-close; hard-drawn wire needs the most deliberate over-close, sometimes approaching a half-ring-diameter of rotation past flush before releasing.
The check for correctly opened and closed rings: examine the ring in good light with a loupe or under magnification after closing. The cut seam should be invisible (saw-cut rings) or have only a minimal gap (pinch-cut rings). Any visible step at the closure point where one wire end is higher or lower than the other indicates that the ring was pulled outward rather than rotated sideways at some point.
5. Byzantine unit construction: the fold-and-lock sequence
Byzantine is built from 8-ring units. Each unit consists of two pairs of parallel rings (the spine rings), held in a perpendicular orientation by two connector rings (the lock rings) passing through both spine rings simultaneously. The characteristic raised knot is the intersection of the two lock rings with the two spine rings.
The construction sequence for a Byzantine unit in a growing chain:
Step 1 — starter chain: connect a 2–2 section (two closed rings through two closed rings) as the base. This produces a flat, parallel structure.
Step 2 — extend the chain: add two more closed rings through the last pair of the starter chain. Then add two more closed rings through those. The chain now ends in three consecutive 2–2 sections.
Step 3 — fold: identify the two rings in the second-to-last 2–2 section (counting from the working end). Using your fingers or a pair of pliers, pull these two rings outward — away from the axis of the chain — so they splay to the sides, no longer lying in the same plane as the rest of the chain. They are still connected to the sections on both sides of them, but their orientation has rotated approximately 90° from the chain plane. A window — a gap between the two folded rings and through the center of the chain structure — opens up at this point. Hold the folded rings in their outward position.
Step 4 — lock: take two new open rings. Pass the first open ring through the window from the front, threading under both folded spine rings — the open ring goes behind both folded rings simultaneously, not through each separately. Close that lock ring. Repeat with the second open ring, passing through the same window from the back on the opposite side. Close the second lock ring.
The two lock rings now pass through both folded spine rings and are oriented perpendicular to the spine rings. The fold is now permanent: the lock rings hold the spine rings in their outward orientation against any subsequent pulling or manipulation. The result is the Byzantine knot: a raised 3-dimensional crossing of lock rings and spine rings that gives Byzantine its visual density and structural rigidity.
The most common beginner error: not spreading the fold rings far enough outward before threading the lock rings through the window. The window must be wide enough for an open ring to pass through cleanly on both sides. If the spine rings are only slightly tilted from the chain plane, the window is narrow and the lock rings are extremely difficult to thread, and the finished unit is compressed and flat rather than raised. The fold must be deliberate — the spine rings should be pulled until they are nearly perpendicular to the chain axis before attempting to thread the lock rings. A common teaching phrase in chain maille: “fold it until you think you’ve folded it too far, then thread.”
After the unit is locked, the chain continues: two new closed rings are added through the last 2–2 section of the unit, becoming the first two rings of the next unit, and the process repeats from Step 2.
6. Full Persian ring threading order
Full Persian is a dense cylindrical chain built from rings in a complex interlocking arrangement. The AR requirement is approximately 3.5–4.0 — tight enough that the rings fill the space completely, producing the cylindrical profile. The threading sequence differs from most weaves because the final ring in each unit must pass through all preceding rings in the unit at once, rather than through a subset.
The construction of Full Persian proceeds by building two parallel rows of rings that interlock in a specific sequence. The base structure is a 2–2 chain (two rings through two rings). Each new pair of rings in Full Persian must thread through the rings immediately preceding it in both the upper and lower rows simultaneously — the new ring goes through two existing rings from the top and two existing rings from the bottom in the same threading pass.
The practical technique: use an open ring as a threading tool. Orient the open ring so its gap is at the front. Maneuver the open end first through the top two preceding rings (inserting the ring from the front between them), then through the bottom two preceding rings (the open ring now spans all four preceding rings with its gap at the back). Close the ring. The ring is now interlocked with four other rings — two from each of the two parallel rows.
The most common Full Persian error: threading the new ring through only two preceding rings (one row) rather than four (both rows). If only two rings are threaded, the structure looks planar rather than cylindrical, and the characteristic round profile does not form. The check: after threading and closing each ring, the chain should immediately feel stiffer and rounder than a 2–2 chain of the same rings. If it still flops flat, a threading error was made.
Full Persian requires more ring manipulation per unit length than Byzantine and is recommended only after Byzantine and several intermediate weaves are well-practiced. For Patreon creators, Full Persian is a strong “advanced subscriber” content milestone: the high degree of difficulty makes successful completion satisfying and shareable, and the dense cylindrical profile photographs exceptionally well in sterling and argentium.
7. Historical chainmail armor versus decorative chain maille
The terms “chainmail” (or “chain mail”) and “chain maille” reflect a real distinction in the craft. “Maille” is the French word for link or mesh, from Latin macula (mesh of a net), and is the preferred spelling in the contemporary jewelry craft community partly to signal that the work is decorative rather than protective armor.
The mechanical requirements of armor and decorative jewelry differ sharply, and the AR ranges for the same weave family reflect those different requirements.
European 4-in-1 armor: rings are typically 14–18 AWG (1.02–1.63mm wire) and 8–14mm inner diameter, giving AR of approximately 5.0–9.0. The deliberately loose AR allows the mesh to flex freely under impact — the rings can shift position relative to each other, distributing the force from a blow across a larger area of the mesh rather than transmitting it as a point impact. In butted mail (historically the most common construction: rings are simply closed, not riveted or welded), the loose AR also allows the rings to shift when struck, which dissipates energy. Riveted mail uses slightly tighter AR (4.5–6.0) because the riveted closures prevent the rings from being pulled open, so the looser flex tolerance of butted mail is unnecessary.
European 4-in-1 decorative jewelry: rings are typically 18–22 AWG (0.64–1.02mm wire) and 4–7mm inner diameter, giving AR of approximately 4.0–5.0. The goal is visual harmony (uniform mesh density with no visible gaps between rings) and drape (the ability of the finished mesh to conform to the body). Too-loose AR produces visible gaps between rings and a floppy, unstructured drape; too-tight AR produces a rigid mesh that does not drape at all. AR 4.0–5.0 is the visual and drape sweet spot for decorative 4-in-1.
This gap — armor AR 5.0–9.0, decorative AR 4.0–5.0 — means that a ring specification appropriate for a historical armor reproduction project is inappropriate for a decorative bracelet, and vice versa. A subscriber who reads “European 4-in-1, AR doesn’t matter much, just use whatever rings you have” and uses armor-grade rings will produce a loose, gap-filled decorative piece; one who uses decorative-grade rings for armor reconstruction will produce a stiffer, tighter mesh than historical examples.
For Patreon creators in the decorative jewelry space, including a brief explanation of why decorative AR and armor AR differ — one is optimized for visual density and drape, the other for impact distribution — is a strong introductory unit. It contextualizes the AR parameter meaningfully: AR is not arbitrary, it is the numerical expression of what the weave is required to do.
8. Ring making from wire: mandrel selection, coiling, and cutting
Pre-cut rings from suppliers are convenient and well-specified, but many experienced maillers make their own rings from wire to access custom ARs, unusual gauges, or non-standard metals. Ring making introduces additional variables that affect AR.
Mandrel selection: for circular rings, a round steel mandrel of the target inner diameter is the standard choice. As discussed in Section 1, the ring’s actual inner diameter will be slightly larger than the mandrel due to springback; the springback amount depends on wire temper. Square mandrels produce rings with a square interior; these are used for square weaves where the ring interior shape is visible in the finished piece. Stepped mandrels (mandrels with multiple diameters on a single rod, like a set of stacked cylinders) allow quick switching between sizes without tool changes.
Coiling: pull wire off the spool under consistent tension while wrapping around the mandrel at approximately 90° to the mandrel axis. Inconsistent tension during coiling produces coils with varying pitch (the spacing between adjacent coil turns), which causes slight variation in the contact pressure between wire and mandrel at each turn, resulting in rings with different actual inner diameters from the same coil. For the highest ring consistency, pull wire off the spool through a wooden dowel with a hole drilled in it (a wire tensioner) to regularize spool drag. Wrap in a single layer (don’t stack coil layers on top of each other) and wrap from one end of the mandrel to the other without stopping if possible, to keep tension consistent throughout the coil.
Cutting: cut the coil into individual rings while the coil is still on the mandrel (some ring cutters are designed for this) or after removing the coil (jeweler’s saw method). Jeweler’s saw method: remove the coil from the mandrel, hold it in a coil-holding clamp (or tape the ends to prevent unwinding), and cut through all coil turns in a single pass with a fine spiral-cut blade. Blade size: use 2/0 or 4/0 spiral blade for AWG 18–20; use 0 or 1/0 for AWG 14–16. A blade too coarse for the wire gauge will chatter, producing irregular ends.
Ring consistency tolerance: ±0.1mm variation in inner diameter from ring to ring is acceptable for most weaves. Byzantine at AR 3.5–3.9 requires ±0.05mm or better consistency; if the coil was wound with varying tension, the tightest and loosest rings in the coil will not both work in Byzantine without either the knot being too tight to close or too loose to hold. Sieving rings through a set of ring gauges (stacked circles of increasing ID) to separate by size is standard practice for experienced makers doing large production runs.
9. Tier structures and Apple Tax
Chain maille Patreon tiers should reflect the skill progression from copper practice through argentium or sterling production weaves, and from simple open chains to tight structural weaves like Byzantine and Full Persian.
Tier 1 — Copper Ring ($12–15/month): Monthly pattern for a simple-to-intermediate weave in copper or anodized aluminum pre-cut rings. Copper and aluminum are appropriate practice metals: affordable enough that beginner errors (opening rings outward, pinch-cutting when saw-cut is needed, AR miscalculations) are low-cost to correct. Pattern must specify: inner diameter in millimeters, wire diameter in millimeters, temper (annealed for copper, which is how most copper rings are sold), weave AR, and a ring source or minimum specification for commercial pre-cut rings. For a box chain bracelet pattern, the pattern should also specify clasp type and approximate finished length per ring count, since chain maille lengths are deterministic (each ring pair adds a fixed length) and this is a teaching point.
Tier 2 — Sterling Ring ($28–35/month): Monthly pattern plus video demonstrating the specific weave mechanics for that month’s piece. Chain maille video instruction should be filmed from a top-down overhead angle with adequate lighting to show individual ring orientations clearly — the weave geometry is the instructional content, and side-angle or hand-held footage hides the ring orientations from the viewer. Video for Byzantine must show the fold step from directly above and from the side, since the fold moves rings out of the overhead plane and into the viewer’s axis. Video should include: ring opening technique (sideways not outward, demonstrated in slow motion), saw-cut vs pinch-cut comparison (side-by-side under lighting that shows the seam gap), closing technique including over-close and springback demonstration, and the finished weave unit with a loupe-view insert showing the seam quality. Video for a sterling silver piece should also cover polishing: tumbler setup and shot selection, duration, compound concentration, and the difference in finish between 30-minute tumble and 4-hour tumble.
Tier 3 — Designer Ring ($50–65/month): Monthly pattern and video plus a ring-making module. Ring-making content for this tier: wire gauge to millimeter conversion reference, mandrel diameter selection for target AR (the back-calculation: mandrel diameter = target AR × wire diameter minus expected springback), coiling technique demonstration, saw and blade selection, ring consistency assessment. Also at this tier: weave modification content (scaling a box chain from AWG 18 to AWG 20 while maintaining visual proportion, which requires recalculating AR and selecting a new mandrel; mixing two weave families in a single piece; designing simple connector units between Byzantine sections for earrings vs bracelets vs full necklaces).
Apple Tax: Chain maille jewelry audiences are heavily iOS. YouTube chain maille tutorial channels run 62–72% iOS viewer share; Instagram decorative chain maille accounts run 68–78% iOS; Pinterest craft jewelry boards run 72–84% iOS. Patreon subscribers found through these channels inherit similar iOS ratios.
At $18/month, 68% iOS subscribers, 50 subscribers: $18 × 0.68 × 0.30 = $3.67 per subscriber per month × 50 = $183.60/month ($2,203.20/year) permanently lost to Apple IAP after November 2026.
At $30/month, 72% iOS subscribers, 60 subscribers: $30 × 0.72 × 0.30 = $6.48 per subscriber per month × 60 = $388.80/month ($4,665.60/year).
At $55/month, 76% iOS subscribers, 40 subscribers: $55 × 0.76 × 0.30 = $12.54 per subscriber per month × 40 = $501.60/month ($6,019.20/year).
The mitigation is link routing. Update all discovery-platform links — YouTube description, Instagram bio, Pinterest pin links — to the Patreon web URL (patreon.com/yourcreatorpage, not patreon://yourcreatorpage or an iOS app deeplink). A subscriber who navigates to Patreon through a mobile browser is billed through Stripe (web billing, no Apple IAP fee); a subscriber who opens the Patreon iOS app is billed through Apple. The link controls the billing path. Enable web-only billing for any tiers you want fully protected: Patreon’s web-only billing toggle (in creator settings under “billing”) disables iOS app purchase for those tiers entirely, routing all new subscribers through the web regardless of how they first found your page.