The spiral is an important feature of a freehand chain. This helps
to keep the structure rigid and stable as it is being worked. Once
the desired length is accomplished and the chain has been annealed
it can be untwisted to remove the spiral.
Aha! This explains something that has been puzzling me-- when I
switched from freehand to working on a dowel (much faster and
easier, IMHO) I found that I really didn’t need to anneal the chains.
They come off the dowel pretty stiff and get drawn down MUCH more
than the freehand ones did, but they are beautifully supple
afterwards. I like that I can avoid the heating and re-polishing.
Freehand fabrication, when done correctly, will naturally develop a
spiral.
Ah thank you! I thought I must have been doing something wrong. I’ll
continue with it when I’ve ordered more wire in a couple of weeks
and hopefully will achieve a nice 16-18" chain.
Thanks to all who told me where I could order the Sharon Hessoun’s
book. I am looking forward to getting it.
I do have another question. Various Orchidians have mentioned making
a knitted chain using a dowel. I never heard of this before. What
kind of a dowl, and how is it used. What is the process? Is this the
same as spool knitting where nails or brads are put in the top of the
spool and the chain is drawn through a hole in the spool?
I am eager to improve my freehand knitted chain making. First of all
it= is hard on my hands–even when I use a pliers to pull the wire
though the loops I use annealed 24 and 26 gauge fine silver, in about
25 inch lengths, but even with annealed fine silver the wire gets
work hardened.
I would like to try several different methods and decide which is
best for me… Thanks for all the good advice you all have been giving
about knitting chains.
From the historical perspective Viking Knit is probably descended
from Nalbinding (knitting before needles). In a book on the history
of knitting there were two ways to do Nalbinding (the book is in my
guild’s library so if any one wants the reference contact me). One
way created the next row of stitches directly below the loop the
other way created the stitch on the connecting wire instead of the
preceding loop. I haven’t really played around with it to much but
there could be a cool pattern which develops.
Various Orchidians have mentioned making a knitted chain using a
dowel. I never heard of this before. What kind of a dowl, and how
is it used
Google “Viking knit” and you should find various tutorials on the
subject. I’m sure I found a good on on YouTube but it seems to be
playing up today and I can’t find it.
I took one of Loren Damewood's knotting workshops, and Loren uses
fine silver, and simply melts the ends together... no solder.
Beautiful. Same principal would probably apply here. Loren, if you
are following this thread maybe you could chime in with a better
description of what you do?
Fine silver fuses very nicely, if it’s free of surface contamination
and is in mechanical contact. You have to have a deft touch, because
it is necessary to get the surrounding metal almost hot enough to
melt down, but not quite, and then concentrate just enough heat at
the joint to form a puddle of molten metal there. If you get it too
hot it will slump, and if you don’t have good contact, the separate
pieces will melt away from each other, beading up due to the surface
tension of the molten silver.
I also make a habit of keeping some bits of silver wire scrap handy,
melting clipped off ends into balls ready to pick up on a solder
pick. The method used in pick soldering works perfectly, but it’s
important to remember that the “solder” and the work melt at the
same temperature. Get the area hot, bring the extra bit of silver in
contact with the joint, and boost the heat just enough to flow it
into place and let it merge with the surrounding metal.
For an open chain which is hand friendly try the spool technique.
But don’t use nails, try 6mm dowels on a larger circle. No real work
hardening issue, wrap around post = minimal, lifting loop over the
top more but then it’s down the rabbit hole with any half hardened
metal. One piece of wire for the entire chain. I calculate my
starting wire length in grams not inches. For reference the chain of
mine I like the best is.65mm sterling, double looped around 4 3.2mm
posts on a 15mm circle, pulls down tight to 5mm. Very dense and it
takes a few days to build up the stamina to do more than one hour
sessions. But if you double the spool dimensions it gets very easy to
make a more open chain, maybe pull it down over an mandrel to keep it
open. Practice with ‘cheap’ copper, there are lots of variables.
I’m waaay behind on my Digest reading, so perhaps you’ve gotten
plenty of replies to your knitting query by now. Maybe as I catch up,
I’ll see this note is redundant. Your note, though, hits close to
home, so I felt compelled to put my 2 cents in when I read it. Some
points about Viking knit…
When I first did it (and I also used sterling the first time), I
was rather disappointed when I was “done”, I had spent all that time
knitting a necklace chain, and THAT’s what it looked like!?! Well, a
few seconds through a draw plate and magic happened! Suddenly it was
beautiful even. If you haven’t done it yet, PLEASE run it through a
draw plate and you’ll be amazed at how it improves.
If you do run it through the draw plate you’ll see that it of
course it gets skinnier & longer as you do so, so you won’t have to
knit as much as you might think to get a decent length chain, but I’m
sure that’s not news to you. I’ve often considered trying a bit of
the chain and seeing just how skinny I can make it.
Yes, DO do the knit with fine silver in the future. Two reasons.
One, it’s easier to work. I think doing that knit could cramp up the
fingers of even the best of us! Other reason is that it won’t tarnish
as quickly and have to be cleaned up in all of its nooks & crannies.
Of course, if you have a jar of “eggy smelling” dip cleaner, it’s not
such an issue.
Soldering a tube (or coil) clasp at the end is a task that
requires a lot of focused attention. Those skinny little wires of the
chain right there can melt in the blink of an eye (and perhaps
because you DID blink!), so you must be careful. It’s not impossible
to avoid melting, though, I assure you.
Anyway, I hope you’re really enjoying this new technique. I think
it’s just wonderful, although I must admit that when I decide to do
one of these chains (I’ve done 3 ever) I have to do it in spurts to
save my tired & achy fingers.
I did, by the way, try it the “spool” method first. I had someone in
school show me how to make my own spool by soldering some wires on a
brass tube. I had watched her zip through what seemed like miles of
wire, knitting away as if it were nothing, and I just couldn’t get it
to work! My wire kept breaking. Again and again. Now, I think I might
have been using sterling (although as with Viking, I got the knit
started with brass), so that might have been working against me, but
the point is I used the same wire she did and I just couldn’t do it!
Now, I can’t knit in real life, either, so maybe I’m just not meant
to knit my wire, either, in a more traditional way (not that spool
knitting is how an adult usually knits!). Of course, I could use
those little spools when I was a kid and was using yarn. I whipped
out countless useless ropes of knitted colorful yarn! When it comes
to wire, though, the Viking knit I can do, so I do it that way. I’m
sure, though, that if I could just figure out how to get it with the
spool method, it would be easier to have evenly spaced rows even
before drawing down since they’re created on evenly space wires
instead of “freehand”. Hmmm… makes me want to find where that spool
is and try it again!
Yes, we’ve not seen much of you on Orchid lately. Hopefully you’ve
been super busy and productive!
The knitted chain is temporarily on hold as I’m in a mad drive to get
things produced to actually sell - that’s a novel concept, making
jewellery to sell! I’ve been making jewellery and just giving it
away or keeping it myself now for almost a year and then realised
that I went into this to actually make a bit of money so that’s
where I’m at at the moment, but my experimental projects will see the
light of day again soon hopefully.
I’ve been making jewellery and just giving it