I suggest buying the shortest piece possible of the largest diameter
size wheat chain you can find, and deconstructing it to find out how
it is linked.
M’lou
Did not think the Wheat pattern was in the Stark book, but dug it (the Stark Book) out anyway, and the wheat pattern is not in the book. Any other suggestions?
Many people wrote on and offlist suggesting I buy a book called
“Classical Loop-in-Loop Chains & Their Derivatives” by Stark and
Smith
http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books/us/product/0412078813.htm
Which, even though the wheat isn’t a loop-in-loop, I bought anyway
'cause it looked cool.
I’ve sold my friend/customer 2-way single loop-in-loop (chain 16 in
the book). Now if I can just convince him to go with straight.999
gold rather than his preferred alternating pure gold and pure
platinum bracelet which I think would look silly at best. (I’ll make a
length in 24 & fine silver to show him how ugly it’s going to be.)
I grow bamboo and so have a free source of round (enough) “dowels”
and am using one that’s approx. 13mm O.D. (bamboo tapers) and
approx. 1.3mm diameter wire.
dug out the Reist Book and there is nothing like wheat chain in it,
any other suggestions would be appreciated
i am not an expert in any jewelry matter, certainly not chain. but to me your bracelet looks like it was braided. i know you said that you cut the sample and found 4 loops, but maybe you should research braiding. i have seen a few braiding books in the crafts section of bookstores. why don't you check the libraries and the stores and see what you can see?
Braided wire has a certain feel to it. This doesn’t have that. It’s
difficult to show online how something feels though. But here’s a
picture of the chain cut in half http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1cz
and the style my customer has decided on.
I don't know if this will be of any use or not but hopefully it helps: http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1as
Wheat chain is one of my favorites and though I’ve studied it and
tried disassembling one, I’d never been able to figure out how to do
the looping pattern.
Is it possible that it is two oppositely twisted curb chains? ie:
one set of links twisted clockwise and the other counterclockwise?
Don’t have a clue how you could assemble it link by link unless the
links had been twisted beforehand. Hmm…mm. Interesting project.
Let us know how you make out with it.
Pam Chott
www.songofthephoenix.com
Hi Paf what is the sz of the thickness of the bracelet in mm and the
length in inches ?
Raffi
what is the sz of the thickness of the bracelet in mm and the length in inches ?
The length was 7". It’s about 5mm thick, although the one the guy
wanted woulda been bigger.
Braided wire has a certain feel to it. This doesn't have that.
First I’ll say again that I’m not a chain expert, but since braiding
was mentioned it bears saying.
Chains aren’t braided, and braiding isn’t chain. You may casually
say, “I’m going to braid some chain”, but it’s not really true.
Braiding is getting several strands and weaving them together and it
may be more or less flexible. Chains are “broken” - they are
individual links of some form that are linked together in some way.
Even if they look like a continuous wire, if you take one apart
you’ll find links. They’re just two different things.
I'd never been able to figure out how to do the looping pattern.
I’m not ever likely to make a wheat chain, but this thread aroused
my curiosity. So, just by chance somebody just handed one to Jo-Ann
with an open link, and she handed it to me. It’s about 4mm - big
enough to see well.
It is your basic double link chain, not different from a rope. The
difference is that the links are oval, and they have a 1/2 twist to
them. Like if you got an oval, put round nose pliers in each small
end, and rotated = your hands maybe 45 degrees or so. It’s not a 90
degree twist. BTW, this chain is made with flat wire, not round.
Jo-Ann points out that there are what she calls “three link” and
“four link” whether that’s the technical term or not. That has to do
with how many joints go into the space of the oval link, if you can
figure that out. Looking at it, it’s pretty easy to figure out -
it’s not so easy to describe with words. It’s a rope chain in the
double link sense, but the links are twisted ovals instead of plain
circles. Hope that solves the mystery
Someone else and I posted a link early on explaining the wheat chain.
There was a close-up drawing of how the links fit together and a
description which said it was made from plain oval links with twisted
oval links interwoven. Something like that. I guess everyone missed
that, or it was plain wrong.
Helen
UK
Great Wire Jewelry by Irene From Petersen, pic p. 19, instructions
p. 22 “copper and silver braided bangle”. Hers is in round wire,
whereas yours is strips or flattened wire, but it’s the same weave.
Blessings,
Sam Kaffine
Sterling Bliss, LLC