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Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jul, 2012 5:06 am    Post subject: Banded mail         Reply with quote

Just took a couple of photos of a patch of mail made of alternating rows of rounded and flat-section links. It shows the banding effect perfectly. The first has the light on the left showing the rounded links and the second has the light on the right showing the flat links.

Does anyone else have photos of regular mail that show a distinct banding?



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Mail made of alternating rows of rounded and flat-sectioned links.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jul, 2012 6:21 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

This would go a long way to explain " banded maille " in effigies and other art work as not just an easy shortcut by the artists to depict maille and maybe infers that some maille may have been made of alternating rings of rounded maille with flat maille.

Maybe one or the other being solid rings and the other riveted ?

Well it does look rather good and might be interesting to own even in cases where one isn't necessarily prioritizing historical accuracy in maille. ( In any case historical maille is rare mostly custom/expensive and not available from production makers ).

By the way where did you get the patch of maille and are full shirts or hauberk available at an affordasble price ? ( Or just a sample made up by a custom maker ? ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jul, 2012 6:24 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I made it from 1.2mm wire and some washers from Seastrom. ID is 4-5mm. The links are only butted - I was experimenting with smaller diameter links. It would take me a year to make an entire shirt from it.

Here is what it looks like with the light overhead. The banding disappears.



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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jul, 2012 6:51 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Dan Howard wrote:
I made it from 1.2mm wire and some washers from Seastrom. ID is 4-5mm. The links are only butted - I was experimenting with smaller diameter links. It would take me a year to make an entire shirt from it.

Here is what it looks like with the light overhead. The banding disappears.


Well, almost makes me wish that some manufacturer(s) " steal " the idea ..... Wink Big Grin Cool

Since the look of the maille is very much changed by the angle of the lighting it should almost look " rippling/shimmering " as it changes as someone moves in variable lighting.

Dan, you certainly came up with something leading to interesting questions and speculation ( One could almost call it inspired genius ). Big Grin ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Lafayette C Curtis




Location: Indonesia
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PostPosted: Sun 05 Aug, 2012 12:59 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Dan Howard wrote:
Here is what it looks like with the light overhead. The banding disappears.


Um. I still see bands. Not as obvious as in the previous two examples, but I still can't avoid seeing the bands.
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Julian Reynolds




Location: United Kingdom
Joined: 30 Mar 2008

Posts: 271

PostPosted: Sun 05 Aug, 2012 1:34 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Likewise, particularly in the not-so-close-up version of the image on my PC. A full shirt made like this would be very distinctive and would certainly stand out next to 'ordinary' mail. Interesting experiment......

Julian
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Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

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PostPosted: Sun 05 Aug, 2012 3:12 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The further away you stand the more obvious is the effect. You see it on mail made of all the same link, too, but it needs the right lighting. For anyone who hasn't read it, I wrote about banded mail in the Arador article.
http://www.arador.com/articles/chainmail.html
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Len Parker





Joined: 15 Apr 2011

Posts: 486

PostPosted: Fri 17 Aug, 2012 8:18 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Dan, this is the best example I could find showing light and shadows creating that banded look. I could see how a sculptor could portray it like this on an effigy.
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Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

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PostPosted: Fri 17 Aug, 2012 4:13 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi Len, that's a good one. Another thing I've noticed is that when the links are bunched up, like that one, the effect is more pronounced.
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