Grip Strength for Fun and Profit
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:51 am
I've had this done for a while now, but haven't gotten around to doing closeups of it for show-and-tell purposes. I give you: Halloween '09 - "Going Medieval" ^___^
The reason I'm posting this here is that I've found chain maille to be an incredibly fun and, dare I say profitable, hobby that presents a unique and satisfying challenge to my grip strength, which I know is of particular interest to shovelglovers. This piece is made entirely of brass and blackened stainless steel, using two pairs of little hook-nosed pliers, a lot of patience and somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-6 hours of work (great time for audio books, I might add). Here's how it's done, if you're unfamilar with the process (though I bought my rings pre-cut from [http://theringlord.com]The Ring Lord[/url]), so you can imagine that manipulating those rings can put a serious strain on your grip after while, especially with harder metals like steel.
The profitability is questionable, but I did make some bracelets (which I have no pics of) as gifts, and they were a big hit.
The reason I'm posting this here is that I've found chain maille to be an incredibly fun and, dare I say profitable, hobby that presents a unique and satisfying challenge to my grip strength, which I know is of particular interest to shovelglovers. This piece is made entirely of brass and blackened stainless steel, using two pairs of little hook-nosed pliers, a lot of patience and somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-6 hours of work (great time for audio books, I might add). Here's how it's done, if you're unfamilar with the process (though I bought my rings pre-cut from [http://theringlord.com]The Ring Lord[/url]), so you can imagine that manipulating those rings can put a serious strain on your grip after while, especially with harder metals like steel.
The profitability is questionable, but I did make some bracelets (which I have no pics of) as gifts, and they were a big hit.
Debs