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You're going to add seven more rings so that you have a C ring in every single one of those
eyes on one side of the chain. Make sure you're going through three rings
each time and not leaving any out. You're adding a total of eight rings into
all of the different eyes, only on one side of the chain.
And in case eyes can't make sense to you, it's like a Venn diagram where it overlaps,
I think it's a Venn diagram. Yeah, but most chainmaille people talk about
eyes. I like Venn diagrams, many fandoms are encapsulated
in Venn diagrams. Okay, now that you have all of your rings
added to the eyes of your chain, now you finally get to use one of your B rings.
Open it up and then hook it through all of those C rings that you just added.
May need to re-grip a little to give yourself space with your pliers and with your jump
ring so that you still also have space to grab it to close it.
Once you have all the jump rings threaded, you can close your center jump ring.
If you're having trouble getting your ring in there and closed properly, don't be afraid
to start over with a fresh ring. You also may need to try a different set of pliers,
something with narrow jaws is usually best for this because you need to be able to fit
into a rather small space. Common problems are over biting, small gapping,
and just all around "why can't I get this jump ring closed?"
This is why we assemble it in such a way that you have as much space as is possible for
this particular closing of a jump ring. There ya go.
Now, with the last two C rings that you're going to use, take one and open it up, thread
it through one of the end rings of the outer piece of helm that you made and through that
center ring. Once you have it threaded through both of
those rings, close it up, and repeat with the other end of your helm, also threading
through that last ring and into the center ring before closing.
Now you just need to add two more A rings to complete the circular helm, this time instead
of just threading through one side, you're threading through both sides of the chain,
so open your ring up and then thread it through one of your C rings in the helm, one of your
C rings that connects to the center, the second C ring that connects to the center, and the
other C ring in your helm, all on one side of your A rings, make sure you're not threading
through any A rings, only C rings. Repeat on the other side to fully sandwich
and complete. Now you can see, you have a rosette that is
an unbroken circle of helm connected to a center ring.
Now you get to use your D rings, these are your three point fives, and just like you
did with your C rings, going through the eyes on the inside of the chain, now you get to
do the same thing on the outside. So you're going to add a C ring to each of
those overlapping eyes, almost like the center of a Venn diagram, and you're going to do
it all the way around. This is so that you can create your points,
and there will be ten of these rings total, just as there are ten inner rings.
Okay! and now you have a helm rosette that's connected in the middle with a lot of rings
hanging off of it. If you turn it to the side and look, you can
see how you have the alternating single ring double ring in your A rings.
When you're connecting your points for the next one, you're going to be connecting over
those doubles, not over the singles. Now you get to use your last ring size, being
your E rings. Open it up, and then looking at it from the side, pull together two of
your hanging D rings so that they're sitting over your two rings, and thread that one E
ring straight through both. Make sure not to catch any of the A rings
in the process, and close that E ring. Repeat with the other four points, catching
two D rings for each E ring. And you'll notice as you go around that each
point becomes, each point makes the piece become progressively stiffer.
This is the magic of those precise ring sizes working together to make a lovely firm piece
so that it'll hold its lovely start shape without going too floppy and walkabout.
And this may mean that the last ring you add is rather stiff or finicky to get in, so you'll
just need to be patient with it when you get there.
Ta da! And now you have a Celtic Star.