Before you buy chainmaille you might want to consider what kind you want, how often you plan to wear it, what it may be exposed to while being worn, as it may effect the longevity or appearance over time. Some may tarnish but can be cleaned, some may lose their coating and once its gone its gone. 😕
I have used several different types of rings over the years from different suppliers. I have favorites and I have some that I consider junk and will not use ever again. I do not like and will not use the rings sold in retail craft shops, as many things as Darice makes their rings, generally speaking, suck I had a friend buy some because she liked a specific color but the not being round and bad ends (junkness) made them a nightmare to work with. I have tried stainless steel and although there are quality rings available, the harder stiffer metal is very hard for me to work due to some personal health limitations like having had broken wrists. 😏
I personally prefer anodized aluminum rings from TheRingLord, they are good quality, come in many excellent colors, and are easier for me to work with while still being strong. Also I mostly use the *saw cut version which is fairly color consistent and I plasti-dip my pliers to prevent/reduce scratching/marring the surface.
Here are some notes from TheRingLord on various metals/materials they offer, prepare for information overload. 😉
Stainless Steel Rings
Stainless steel doesn't rust and is strong and clean.
The shine level of our rings can vary - it can be compared to a stainless kitchen sink. If you need to shine up the rings you will need to research steel shot tumbling techniques.
Spring Stainless - We also offer our 16 ga and some 14g in a spring temper which is twice as hard as our standard stainless.
Spring stainless is VERY difficult to cut by hand but only slightly more difficult to cut with our machinery. Typical tensile strength of the spring stainless is 220-280KSI. This material makes the strongest armor. Use good pliers with teeth as this stuff fights back !
Titanium
Titanium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautiful and show the subtle reflective nature that is specific to titanium. They are less brilliant than niobium and MUCH harder to bend.
Most of our titanium is Grade 5 alloy TI-AL6-V4. There is only 1 exception in 16g and they are not anodized. This alloy has a hard temper - comparable to spring stainless in strength, it is smooth and the colors are consistent and bright for titanium.
Anodizing titanium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. Don't expect to be able to continue a project when ordering anodized titanium in different batches. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example teal can have blue with hints of green. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in titanium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in titanium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful. The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well. The color can be affected by oils from your skin - the color is restored be washing with soap and to remove the oils.
Anodized Niobium
Niobium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautifully vibrant.
Our niobium has the same strength as our sterling silver. They are quite similar in terms of workability and quality and look good together.
Anodizing niobium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example peacock blue can have blue with hints of violet. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in niobium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in niobium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful.
The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well.
Brass Rings
We use Jewelers Brass (alloy C226). It looks very similar to yellow gold when its not tarnished!
The strength and corrosion properties are similar to yellow brass – jeweler’s brass is about 8% stronger and costs a bit more.
Brass tarnishes but can be cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner or any commercially available brass cleaner - like Brasso.
Most brass wire you will find is soft, but our brass is 1/2 hard temper which combines strength with workability.
Enamelled Copper
Enamelled Copper is dead soft (aka weak) copper with a colored layer and plastic coat to seal it.
Silvered enamelled copper has a layer of silver plated onto the soft copper before the color and plastic. This creates brighter and lighter colors than regular enameled copper.
Enamelled Copper wire used to be consistent color and quality - it is not any more. This is due to changes made by the manufacturer of the wire - these issues have been felt by everyone buying this wire since 2010 - not just us.
The color can vary from batch to batch and gauge to guage. The plastic coating can vary in quality as well and may peal. The ends of the rings can be green due to copper corrosion. These facts are now considered normal for this product - meaning we do not consider them a defect for returns.
If you need a stronger material with vibrant and more consistent colors we recommend our saw cut anodized aluminum.
Anodized Aluminum
We use 2 types of anodizing to make our rings.
The saw cut rings marked with an * are made using a bright anodizing process. The result is a very consistent and dud free color batch that is shiny. The ends of these rings are not anodized as they are cut after anodizing. The anodizing processed used to make these rings is FDA approved for cookware.
The machine cut rings and some of the saw cut (no *) are bulk anodized after the rings are made. The ends are anodized. These rings will have touchmarks and some duds as this process is not as consistent. This is normal.
Anodized aluminum coating is fairly hard but can be scratched with steel. Use pliers without teeth.We use a hard temper aluminum which is stronger than colored copper. Note that aluminum is 3.4 times lighter than copper.
Colors may vary from what is pictured and from batch to batch. We minimize this as much as possible, but it still happens. If you are making a project where the color must not change slightly, order the full amount of rings for the colored area in one batch.
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