The following document puts chainmail basket making into pictures. This basket is more unusual than most other models I've developed because of its complete floppiness during the construction phase. I put quite a lot of work into it before I even knew it was going to work out. It isn't until the last few rows are added that it starts to actually become a self-standing structure, as chainmail baskets generally need to be.
I started off with some Half Persian 3 Sheet 6 in 1 of 5/16", .063" rings. This ring size is not the tightest possibility for this weave, which contributes greatly to the fact that the basket is overall not too rigid.
I expanded it into a continuous strand. As you can see the sheet on its own is very floppy, which is not common with a sheet of maille that is to end up as basket sides.
If you set the sheet of maille down on a table in a certain manner though, you can see that it starts to take the basketal form. It is realized at this point that it will take much coaxing to form this piece of chainmail into a basket.
A few rows are added to the bottom, and the basket sides are still very floppy.
I decided to add a very tight row to pull in the bottom part of the basket sides a lot. The row I added was too tight and it pulled in the sides too much. This is the first time I had ever witnessed this phenomenon. On all my other chainmail baskets in which I made the basket bottom working my way toward the center, I never encountered this problem. It has to do with the not quite perfect ring size/wire gauge combo in the Half Persian 3 Sheet 6 in 1 basket side material.
I rectified the problem by replacing the row with one of the appropriate tightness. I was back in business.
I continued to add rows until I reached the center. In the center I incorporated a mini-mosaic which I created a few years back.
The basket sides were still very loose.
The addition of two rows of 9/32", .063" rings, and one row of 1/4", .063" rings continuing the Half Persian 3 Sheet 6 in 1 weave helped quite a lot in tightening up the basket. I then added one row of 7/32", .045" rings to make the top part of the lip using Three Quarters Persian.
After this, I added trim which I attached to the row of 7/32" ID rings.
The basket can still be squished in a bit as shown in the picture, but overall it is still a very good basket, and I am quite satisfied with the results.
