This instructable will feature another type of chain maile bracelet weave. It will be a Japanese style weave instead of a spiral type of weave like my previous one, which can be found here http://www. instructable.com/id/Chain-Maile-Bracelet/ . The reason this is considered a Japanese style weave is because the rings will always intersect each other perpendicularly.

Once again I apologize about the clarity of the photos, I am trying to learn to do macro photography with my iPhone.

Step 1: The Materials

For this weave you will need some more of the steel rings that are 18ga 3/16" ID saw cut, the same ones I used in my last project.

you can find them at: http://theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=36&cat=Machine+Cut+Blackened+Stainless+Steel+Jump+Rings&websess=37431580393494

Some 4mm rings for the smaller ones. I picked the 4mm ones up at Hobby Lobby, they are actually very weak rings and are misshapen very easily if opened more then once. Good thing is there are strength in numbers and speaking of numbers we will use a lot of them. I used 585 of the 4mm rings, 87 steel rings, 12 bronze, and 8 smaller aluminum rings. This was all to achieve a 9" bracelet.

The cheaper way to get the 4mm rings is to buy the 6mm and 4mm ring combo pack for about $2.50 a bag for 600 of them (you'll probably want to buy 3 of them and you will have plenty left over, down side is you have to sort the 6mm from the 4mm.

After you get the rings sorted here is the first step.

Step 2: Starting the Weave

First open a steel ring with your pairs of pliers the ones I used in the last instructable, they are just needle nose pliers used for bead work. Twist it open and add 15 4mm rings, then close.

Now open another steel ring and add 15 more steel rings. The easiest way to do this is to hold the very tip of the steel ring and feed half on one side then the other. Now the hard part, firmly but slowly close the steel ring leaving no gap and the 18 rings locked together. now just keep repeating this until you have the desired length. Make sure that when you are adding the next set of 15 to keep 6 4mm rings on each side to add the outer rings to it. The next step will show what I mean.

Step 3: Thickening It Up

Now we will add some sides to it to make a stronger weave. Open another steel ring and feed it through 3 4mm rings leaving 3 rings unused in front of the next section. Add 3 more 4mm rings to the open steel one then close it up.

Now open another steel ring feed it through the 3 rings added in the previous step, through the 3 not used in the last step, 3 rings for the next section, and finally add 3 more 4mm rings and close. Now repeat for both sides.

Step 4: Taking Shape & Finishing

By now you should see a pattern emerging. Just keep adding main sections and working you way up the sides until you reach your desired length.

You can strengthen it up by adding stronger metal rings at the very ends, I would have liked to use steel or titanium but I did not have any that were small enough, so I went with some small aluminum ones.

For the clasps I went with the small stick and loop ones again with some bronze rings connecting them to the bracelet.

Hope you enjoyed making this Japanese 18-in-1 weave.