Cleaning & Care
Cleaning and care for your armor pieces: First off, and this is very important, DO NOT use any form of grease, tallow, Wax, Lard, or other animal fat product on your Maille! The product will end up on everything, and all types of dust, dirt, hair, and debris will stick to the fat, and it will end up looking like a dark, blackish grey paste. If your maille has rust, lay it out on concrete, paving slabs, or any other solid rough surface, and brush down the maille (working with the lie when possible) with a good quality wire brush. Its going to take elbow grease(so to speak), the rings will turn as you brush(you can put an old ruined towel or tshirt inside the Maille to help prevent this). Now, with the worst of the rust removed, repeat with foam rubber sanding pads or a good quality Brillo pad(not sandpaper!) Turn maille inside out and repeat process. Hang up outdoors or in a well ventilated space by inserting a good quality dowel pole through the arms and brush off any last rust dust(you can use your hands or any soft beating tool, avoid harder tools like broomsticks, as this will tend to make the maille move more than desired) and spray with 3 in 1, or similar very light oil, and leave to drip off extra. Wrap in an oily rag,(the one from earlier cleaning works well here) and put in an oiled leather bag, thick cloth sack, or wrap in dry cloth. If you intend to store for any length of time, add desiccant packets, or a humidity monitoring device and check regularly. Ideally, 50% humidity or lower should be maintained. Before wearing, rub down with an old dry cloth, to remove any excess oil, before wearing. |
Cleaning and caring for your Jewelry Pieces:
Depending on what type of metal your jewelry is constructed of, it may require different forms of care and "feeding" to look its best. Aluminum: this slivery colored metal naturally forms a greyish Oxide coating on its surface over time. It can be cleaned most easily by gentle abrasion, with a soft cloth or your hands. If worn next to the skin, you may notice a grey residue on the skin surface. This is not a reaction in most cases, but the oxide rubbing off. The aluminum oxide is non-toxic and can be washed off with normal bathing. Anodized Aluminum: |
History
I have done a lot of personal research on the history, use, and evolution of patterns in the 20+ years I have been making maille, but there are people who have devoted their entire career's and sometimes lives to the pursuit of this knowledge. I have only scratched the surface, and due to new and better techniques in Archaeology and metallurgy, we are discovering new things every year, every month, every week. I have included here a short description as I currently understand it, supplemented by a number of sources which I shall endeavor to link to where I can find it still. Many of my early sources are no longer available online, and many others are only in print or museums.
First off: The Word 'Maille':
Why that spelling?
Well, like so many other english words, its complicated. The word 'maille' is simply the one I have chosen to use for my business, and it translates to armor(hence, saying "chain maille armor" is redundent. It would be like saying pass me the Paperback Book book). It is the French spelling of the same term in English, 'mail' and it is defined by modern scholars the same way it was defined in the middle ages, namely as a fabric of interlocked metal rings which form a flexible yet strong mesh armor. In the European style, each ring is linked thru 4 others, 2 positioned above and two below. The word 'mail' is derived from the old english word 'mayle', French 'maille', italian 'maglia', and the Latin 'Macula'. The issue arises from the fact that several English scholars overused 'Mail' in describing armor, such that the word came to mean any metal body armor(plate mail and Scale Mail being two examples). Because of this, differentiation was needed, and 'chain maille' came into use.
The best current long form explanation of Maille can be found here, at MyArmoury.com, and I have excerpted one of my favorite sections below.
First off: The Word 'Maille':
Why that spelling?
Well, like so many other english words, its complicated. The word 'maille' is simply the one I have chosen to use for my business, and it translates to armor(hence, saying "chain maille armor" is redundent. It would be like saying pass me the Paperback Book book). It is the French spelling of the same term in English, 'mail' and it is defined by modern scholars the same way it was defined in the middle ages, namely as a fabric of interlocked metal rings which form a flexible yet strong mesh armor. In the European style, each ring is linked thru 4 others, 2 positioned above and two below. The word 'mail' is derived from the old english word 'mayle', French 'maille', italian 'maglia', and the Latin 'Macula'. The issue arises from the fact that several English scholars overused 'Mail' in describing armor, such that the word came to mean any metal body armor(plate mail and Scale Mail being two examples). Because of this, differentiation was needed, and 'chain maille' came into use.
The best current long form explanation of Maille can be found here, at MyArmoury.com, and I have excerpted one of my favorite sections below.
" |
Mail was originally thought to have originated in the Celtic regions of Europe around the beginning of the 4th century BC. This was confirmed by Roman authors who also believed that the Celts invented mail. Strabo refers to mail as Gallic, and Varro suggests that the Romans adopted it from the Gauls [de Lingua Latina, V, 24, 116].10 One of the earliest examples was found at Ciumesti in modern Romania. The wire used to make the links was between 0.8mm and 1.8mm thick and each link had an outside diameter (O.D.) between 8.5mm and 9.2mm (corrosion is likely to have distorted these figures).11 However, the Ciumesti find has recently been re-dated to the 3rd century BC and is no longer the oldest example.12 A find from a burial of Horny Jatov in Slovakia has been dated to the first half of the 3rd century BC, which makes it earlier than Ciumesti and currently the earliest confirmed example of mail armour. An earlier example was allegedly found at the Hjortspring boat bog sacrifice and dated to the 4th century BC, but later work suggests that the find was not armour at all but natural deposits of iron that form around plant roots in bogs.13 The earliest Celtic example of mail was found at Vielle-Tursan in Aubagnan has been dated to the beginning of the 2nd century BC. A find at Tiefenau, Switzerland, is another 2nd century example of Celtic mail.14 Celtic statues found in Southern France are also likely to depict mailed warriors and date slightly earlier, to the end of the 3rd century BC. |
|
This is the long version. The short version is, Chain Maille has been around a very long time, and has been co-invented by various cultures at around the same point in time, around 4th century BC, most likely in the Celtic or slavic regions. We dont have a lot of samples of early armor, in part because it was very labor intensive, and all evidence points to it being reserved for the wealthy. With that said, chain maille was not intended for ornamentation, it was for use, and that inherently leads to a short life span for any object.