What is maille?
Maille (also known as chainmail or chainmaille), is a flexible material
composed of small interlocking metal rings or loops of chain. Maille was
historically used as armour from the Roman era until the late middle
ages, in both eastern and western cultures. It is used today for industrial
armour, combat reenactment, jewelry, fashion design, and sculpture.
The term 'maille' comes from the French word for wire, although most
sources claim it to be an invention of the Celts. It was used around the
world as material-efficient armour for several centuries, until the
introduction of plate armour around the 16th century.
Today it is still used as armour in medieval and renaissance
re-enactment groups like the Society for Creative Anachronism and
Amtgard, as well as in movies like Gladiator, The 13th Warrior, and The
Messenger. It is also still being used today for its armouring benefits in
such applications as shark suits and butchers' gloves.
Many people are discovering maille's potential for use in jewelry and
clothing, as well as sculpture and functional pieces. Everything from
inlaid chessboards and chandeliers to bikinis and bullwhips have been
made from this versatile material. The Articles and Weaves sections
show how to go from a spool of wire to the finished product, and
examples of finished products can be found in the Gallery.
About the Maille Artisans International League

Maille Artisans International League
M.A.I.L. started from a simple idea: artisans congregating at The
Chainmaille Board would come together to create a resource for all, a
place of communication, information, and tutoring. It didn't take long to
grow much larger than it's roots, and all it took was a brave few to say
'enough with the talk, let's do this'. We started this resource because
chainmaille had no neutral, definitive information database. After trying a
number of ways to run the show, we finally decided on a sort of
democratic matrix of members and a core of idiots who volunteer their
lives for the art.
To be completely honest we had no clue what we were in for. As articles
and weaves and gallery images began to pour in we quickly realized that
our system of manually adding content was FAR too complicated for any
sane conglomeration of volunteers. It wasn't long before we began to
automate the system. With such advances came options that we had
never even considered. With each new idea we have had to ask
ourselves 'If I were new to maille, would this help me lean the art?' Now,
even in automation, we find new tasks to be had, if for nothing else, but
to further our art.
M.A.I.L., with or without the new toys, is nothing without the donation of
information and effort by the submitting members.
updated 5-20-08
This page contains links to other
sites related to chain jewelry and
chainmaille.
Solely for your browsing pleasure,
I attempt to link only to reputable
sites. Please let me know if a link is
broken, or if your experience with
certain sites is less than honest.
Maille Artisans International League
Click this link, and you'll be taken to a site with an astounding amount of
information, articles, tutorials, photo gallery and a wonderful forum, where
you can ask questions, or just troll, and soak it up.
, the new home of Phong's
Chainmaille Tutorials, precision
computer generated, free
tutorials for chainmaille weaves
and techniques. CGMaille is also
the premiere site for customized
chainmaille graphics, patterns
and tutorials for maillers
Chainmailbasket.com
David Austin's Site has much
more than just chain maille
baskets. Check it out for
tutorials and a ton of other
helpful info for the chaincrafter.
chainmail kit, pliers in hand.

Spider has one of those fiddly little knit-pick perfectionist brains.
That's why she have so many ring sizes. Different weaves need
different ring diameters and thicknesses, and when she's designing a
new piece, she don't want to have to compromise her vision because
the perfect size isn't available. And she don't want her customers to
have to make that compromise either.