"Cause I've got a fever - and the only prescription is more chainmail."
Chainmailbasket.com is a collection of information, ideas and philosophies surrounding the chainmail entity. Chainmail is material that is composed of many small metallic rings, but it is much more than that. It is a way of life for some individuals. Among my goals with this website are the advancement and standardization of the art and industry of chainmail in all its aspects.
I also offer the service of providing custom chainmail products and solutions to anyone interested. No prices are listed on this website for anything. Chainmail I make for the customer is made just for them. Of course, if you see anything you are interested in, let me know, and we can work something out.
David Austin of St. Catharines, Canada has been involved in chainmail since early 1999. His humble beginnings in this art were derived from his minor interest in medieval-related things. He very much wanted to own a chainmail shirt for himself, but found them to be very costly. So one day he decided he would make himself one. Nine months later, and he had constructed a vest of European 6 in 1. His interest did not stop there and over the years he has branched out into more artistic aspects. Although he does not concentrate on any one specific specialty, he seems to have carved a niche in the basketry and sculptural applications.
The manufacturing facilities of Chainmailbasket.com consist of equipment used to convert wire into rings, which are then used to create unique items.
March '99: Made my first piece of chainmail. A small patch of European 4 in 1 made out of .063", 7/16" annealed steel rings.
Dec '99: Finished my first project: a European 6 in 1 vest.
Dec '99: Found my way into the chainmail community by finding and joining the (now defunct) Chainmaille Board.
early '00: Made my first chainmail website, which was hosted on angelfire.com. I designed it to help people getting into the art. There weren't a lot of Internet-based chainmail resources at the time.
Nov/Dec '00: In a thread on The Chainmaille Board, I jokingly stated that I was a member of the "International Association of Chainmail Makers and Wearers", which of course didn't exist. A small group of us started discussing building such a community, which eventually ended up being the Maille Artisans International League (M.A.I.L.).
early '01: Started experimenting with more exotic metals like stainless steel, copper, brass, and bronze. (Up to that point, I was only using the standard galvanized steel and annealed steel.)
early '01: Myself and one other chainmailler named Woody NaDobhar created the first implementation of the M.A.I.L. website. For the first year or so, all submissions were added manually. I stepped down from being the website designer once things went automated, as I felt someone with more web coding experience would be better suited for the job.
May '01: Made my first chainmail basket, and started experimenting with sculpture.
July '01: Finished my first major commision. I made panels of European 4 in 1 in .063, 3/8" stainless steel rings for a metal sculptor in Baltimore, who used them as fins in a giant metal fish sculpture.
Sept '01: Relocated to Peterborough to attend Sir Sandford Fleming College.
early '02: Received my first pair of Knipex Cobolt cutters. I have since cut over 1,000,000 rings with them.
summer '02: created 8 chainmail baskets in three months.
July '02: Started the ongoing chainmail castle. About 1 year later the walls and floor were finished.
Feb '03: As my web space filled up, and the content started to get overwhelming on my website, I created another one at geocities.com for my new chainmail projects.
Mar '03: Started solidifying my sculptural potential with projects such as the symmetrical 'Sphere of Influence' structure, and the stellar 'One Basket to Rule Them All'. 2003 was a great year for me for chainmail sculpture design and creation.
April - June '03: Designed chainmail chess pieces for my first chess set.
July '03: Met Jimmy of Jimmy Light Show, who would end up being my biggest client, sales-wise. I've made over 10 large items for him. His support has helped me fund this hobby a great deal over the last few years.
early '04: First time working with the previously not yet affordable anodized aluminum rings. I started using this material to make items for Jimmy, and would always have a little of each size left over after each project to play around with.
April 20, 2004: Finished my most grandiose and epic project to date: the 42,256-ring chainmail chess set.
Nov' 04: Finally went ahead and purchased a domain and webspace and Chainmailbasket.com was born. No more annoying pop-up ads, no more slow website loading, no more bandwidth exceeded errors.
Oct '05: Finished my 10th chainmail shirt. An all anodized aluminum shirt for Jimmy of Jimmy Light Show, just in time for Halloween.
Nov '05: Used precious metals for the first time ever. Specifically, I made a chainmail basket out of sterling silver and some gold-fill for trim.
Apr '06: Chainmailbasket.com headquarters relocated to St. Catharines.
Sept '06: Started the Megaman II Project, a giant wall hanging with over 63,000 rings (which exceeds my previous record of 42,000 with the chess set).
Oct '06: Acquired a set of 27 straight rods for power winding in 64th inch increments from 3/32 - 1/2". Up to this point all rings were made from coils which were hand wound.
Dec '06: Procured a caliper for measuring (accurately) ring and wire sizes. This tool now aids me greatly in weave and ring interconnection studies, and sculptural applications.
Jan '07: Chainmailbasket.com complete website overhaul. A more professional looking, and easier to navigate website, which had been in the works for the previous six months or so. I couldn't have possibly done this without the help of an old college friend, Paul Pickering.
Feb '07: I started mass ring production at this time. I purchased six 60-drawer parts organizers for ring storage, and began to produce as many different types of rings as I could. With the caliper and the use of a database, I am in the process of measuring each ring type and recording the information for easy information retreival. This information is used in the study of chainmail weaves & their behaviours and ring interconnectivity in many applications.
April '07: Got a second pair of Knipex Cobolt cutters. My other pair was starting to have trouble with stainless steel and other harder metals, thus it has been demoted to strictly aluminum duty.
July '07: I've now finished all items for the Megaman II Project, and am in the process of connecting them together. Ring count is currently sitting at around 39,000, so I'm about 2/3 done the project.
Feb '08: Finally finished the Megaman II Project.