How to Make a Chain Mail Bracelet

Last Updated: June 29, 2021 Approved

For the beginner chain mail enthusiast, this is an ideal project for producing an elegant bracelet. The project level is easy and it uses the most basic pattern, European 4 in 1. After making your first chain mail bracelet, you'll gain the confidence to make more advanced chain mail objects.

Steps

1
Gather your supplies. These are listed in the "Things You'll Need" section below. You can make the entire bracelet with a single color ring, or use two colors. In this article, the center color is red and the edge color is blue.
2
Open a ring in your center color. To open a ring, grasp each end with pliers and twist them in opposite directions, as shown in the image.

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3
Put four edge color rings on the open ring. Then close the open ring by twisting the ends back together. This unit is called a chainlet. Make sure that the ends close together tightly. There shouldn't be a gap, and the ends shouldn't overlap.
4
Lay the chainlet on a flat surface as shown. The center ring should go behind the top two rings and in front of the bottom two rings. You may need to flip the corner rings over to get this arrangement right, but it's very important that they are arranged this way.
5
Make another chainlet and lay it out in the same way, directly below the first one.
6
Open a center ring. Place it between the chainlets.
7
Loop the center ring behind the bottom two rings of the top chainlet.
8
Loop that same ring over the top two rings of the lower chainlet. Don't let the rings from the previous step fall off. This step is tricky!
9
Close the center ring. The two chainlets are now attached.
10
Make more chainlets. Then attach them together until you have a long enough bracelet to fit your wrist.
11
Attach a center ring to each end.
12
Attach the clasps to the center rings at the ends.
13
Your bracelet is finished!
14
Wear with geeky pride.

Community Q&A

Question

Where do I get colored wire?

Community Answer

Try hunting around in craft stores near your house. Depending on what color you want, you could even check the local hardware store.

Things You'll Need

Rings - The 7.75" bracelet (fits 6" wrist) in this article used 37 anodized aluminum 16ga 3/8" rings (24 blue, 13 red)
2 flat-nosed, toothless pliers
1 clasp