Amaya Blackstone (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
special_rabbit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2018-09-10 05:38 am
special_rabbit) wrote in fandomhigh2018-09-10 05:38 am
Entry tags:
Shop Class; Monday, First Period [09/10].
"Good morning, class!" Amaya greeted them as eager for another morning of working in the shop as ever, which would often mean far too much for a Monday morning. "Hope you all had a good weekend and are ready to get back to work. I was thinking we'll take a break from sharp spinny things and get back to metal and work a bit on chainmail!"
Which would explain the practice dummy with the chainmail shirt at the front of the shop room, yes.
"Chainmail's a type of armor that was designed to help protect warriors from slashing damage, as the interlocked rings made it difficult for steel to slice through, but it's also very commonly used as decoration or in jewelry as well. Now, back where I'm from, this is a long and arduous process because we had to hammer and chisel out the rings ourselves or even pull our own wires before we could make the rings. Around here, though, we've got commercially available spools of wire that makes at least that first step a lot easier. We'll be using these today, but if anyone is interested in the process of making wire like this as well, let me know, and we'll see if we can fit it in. Meanwhile, we've got plenty of this, in different metals and colors so you can play around with it a bit.
"But first we've got to make the rings. Start by choosing your wire, I recommend the 16 guage steel, this one right here, but feel free to venture into some of these others, too. Then, pick out one of these thin dowels that I've got right here," she gestured to the wooden sticks on the table to her side. "The width of the dowel will determine how wide or small your rings will be. We're going to drill a hole into the side of the dowel," as she showed them with the power drill, "then you just turn the dowel to wrap the wire into a tight coil around it. If you like, you can pop this dowel right into the drill to speed it up, but I'll always prefer doing it by hand myself. Since we've only got a limited amount of time for class, though, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to get this part done faster.
"Once we've got a good amount of coiled wire, we'll just slip it from the dowel," like so!, "and then we're going to use these bolt cutters here to cut out the individual rings. Then we just have to put them together in a pattern. To link them, bend the ends of your rings apart with a pair of pliers, hook the next rings onto the other ring, and then use the pliers to close them up again. Bend, hook, repeat, until you're on your way to building whatever you're making.
"Feel free to play around and figure out how to link them together on your own, or I've also gotten written instructions for different patterns and a few projects for diffrent skill levels: I've got a chainmail ball, a bracelet or necklace, gloves, and a shirt.
"Now some of these, those last two especially, are going to take longer than the time allotted to our class, so you know what that means. You've got yourself a little bit of homework, but that's one thing about this project is that you actually can take it with you. We'll get started now so you can get a head start or figure anything out before you're left to your own. Feel free to borrow the pliers and take all the wire you need. Trust me, I've got plenty. And tomorrow we'll show off what you came up with; you might even think of something entirely different.
"And, with that, I'll open it up to you guys for questions, or you can go ahead and get started."
Which would explain the practice dummy with the chainmail shirt at the front of the shop room, yes.
"Chainmail's a type of armor that was designed to help protect warriors from slashing damage, as the interlocked rings made it difficult for steel to slice through, but it's also very commonly used as decoration or in jewelry as well. Now, back where I'm from, this is a long and arduous process because we had to hammer and chisel out the rings ourselves or even pull our own wires before we could make the rings. Around here, though, we've got commercially available spools of wire that makes at least that first step a lot easier. We'll be using these today, but if anyone is interested in the process of making wire like this as well, let me know, and we'll see if we can fit it in. Meanwhile, we've got plenty of this, in different metals and colors so you can play around with it a bit.
"But first we've got to make the rings. Start by choosing your wire, I recommend the 16 guage steel, this one right here, but feel free to venture into some of these others, too. Then, pick out one of these thin dowels that I've got right here," she gestured to the wooden sticks on the table to her side. "The width of the dowel will determine how wide or small your rings will be. We're going to drill a hole into the side of the dowel," as she showed them with the power drill, "then you just turn the dowel to wrap the wire into a tight coil around it. If you like, you can pop this dowel right into the drill to speed it up, but I'll always prefer doing it by hand myself. Since we've only got a limited amount of time for class, though, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to get this part done faster.
"Once we've got a good amount of coiled wire, we'll just slip it from the dowel," like so!, "and then we're going to use these bolt cutters here to cut out the individual rings. Then we just have to put them together in a pattern. To link them, bend the ends of your rings apart with a pair of pliers, hook the next rings onto the other ring, and then use the pliers to close them up again. Bend, hook, repeat, until you're on your way to building whatever you're making.
"Feel free to play around and figure out how to link them together on your own, or I've also gotten written instructions for different patterns and a few projects for diffrent skill levels: I've got a chainmail ball, a bracelet or necklace, gloves, and a shirt.
"Now some of these, those last two especially, are going to take longer than the time allotted to our class, so you know what that means. You've got yourself a little bit of homework, but that's one thing about this project is that you actually can take it with you. We'll get started now so you can get a head start or figure anything out before you're left to your own. Feel free to borrow the pliers and take all the wire you need. Trust me, I've got plenty. And tomorrow we'll show off what you came up with; you might even think of something entirely different.
"And, with that, I'll open it up to you guys for questions, or you can go ahead and get started."
Re: Class Activity - Shop Class, 09/10.
Aloy, however, nodded along thoughtfully. "I guess I can see that," she mused. "Something to cover up the joints... hm."
She was going back to work. She was probably keeping the work, too.