However, it also requires a vary wide variety of supplies, the majority which is the hundreds (if not thousands) of different kinds of rings that are required to make such varied and beautiful pieces. This makes ordering supplies for chainmaille extremely difficult at times.
How do we do it? We guess.
Ok, so it's actually not quite that simple. Each pattern, or Weave, requires a specific type of ring gauge and diameter, also known as an AR (Aspect Ration). Some weaves require rings in several different ARs, and can get very intricate. Before we place an order for supplies from our supplier (we do hand cut some of our rings for chainmaille, but we like to purchase in our Anodized, or colored rings because they look cleaner on the ends due to the industrial anodizating after they are cut), we have to decide what specific weaves we would like to create for our next set of products. Once we know what weaves we are going to do, and what AR of rings we need, we have to decide on color and metal.
We currently have access to Copper, Bronze, Brass, Aluminum, Galvanized Steel, Stainless and Black Steel, Nickle Plated, Nickel (german) Silver, Inconel, Titanium, Niobium, Silver (Argentinian and Sterling), and Gold filled Rings as well as many other components including scales and crystals. So of course our next decision is the metal and color that we are going to work with. This is where the guessing starts to come in.
We have to try to anticipate what you, the customer, will most likely want in color, metal, and price. As you can imagine some metals are MUCH more expensive than others due to world market prices (gold and silver fluctuate with this market often), and we have to guess whether our current audience will want to spend the money for a more expensive metal.
So far, we have decided to stick to more reasonably priced metals unless otherwise requested. That will most likely change in the future as demand increases.
After we have decided on AR, metal, and color its on to amount. Each piece we create varies in the sheer amount of rings involved. Some are reasonable at 300 rings, some are massive at thousands of rings (usually this is a garment such as a chainmaille top or reenactment armor). We try to keep a medium amount of stock left over after creation for Commission work, so we always try to order a little extra along with our clasps and accessories.
Whew, just thinking about this is giving me a bit of a head ache. Why am I telling you all this? Because I had to change an order today for a commission, and I thought blogging about it was a fun idea. Let me tell you, changing an order is MUCH easier than putting one together.
And this process above is only for our CHAINMAILLE supplier. It doesn't involve any of our other vendors that we use!
I'm not very good at stocking up on supplies myself. It seems the more I try to anticipate what I'll need, the market shifts, and I need more of something else.
ReplyDeleteSo I appreciate your headache!
Cynic, that's about right. Every time I order supplies, 3 minutes after I order I realize I wanted something else. Then, I get the order and start creating only to have remorse that I didn't add such and such a thing that would have been great. It's a process.
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