Scale Maille - Tumblr Posts
Did I never post this? It looks like I never posted this.
These are the Tiny sized scales from The Ring Lord. I got a pack or two to experiment with. And man they’re pretty, but man they’re not for me. They take forever. Where the typical bracelets I make take about 2 dozen scales, the same length of tiny scales takes about a hundred scales. And the tiny rings were super tedious to work with.
Basically, for the amount of time it takes to make something with these tiny scales, I don’t think I can sell them at a price that I think someone would pay. Though if I ever end up starting to work with precious metals, I’d use these.
These ones are “frost” colored anodized aluminum. The size comparison is green anodized titanium.
I took this dragon tail commission partly to check on whether my wrist was back up to speed. It’s mostly back. I need to be a bit careful with the direction I exert force in. And I did this one too hard too quickly, and I’ll probably be sore for a few days.
Pretty straightforward red and orange anodized aluminum. Red on top, orange underbelly. I think the holes on these scales were shifted a fraction of a unit down on the scales, because my standard 35-inch pattern came in at 33 inches long. Kind of funny how small manufacturing variations add up to something I can measure. Weight is 3 pounds on the nose.
I was happy to have a couple days free that I could make this during, but I’m expecting to go back to being super busy for the rest of the month. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do for my day job, and I’m trying to finish a LARP that I have to run early in November. I’m hoping to be able to open for commissions again in early to mid November.
Anodized titanium dragon tail! Wooooo! I love the almost iridescent quality these scales have.
It’s been quite a while since the last time I got to work with these scales. For this commission I custom ordered a batch of them from the manufacturer. This tail uses purple, violet and dark blue anodized titanium scales, plus “Bright” anodized aluminum scales on the underbelly (in red and bronze color). It also uses gold-colored cat claw-shaped spikes. (I had to track down a random amazon supplier for those, since the place I normally get spikes from only does chrome. But nowhere but them seems to have large sizes, so these are all just the small 1-inch ones.)
I ordered enough extra titanium scales that I’ll probably make another tail with it. Probably leaning towards green tones since I got green too. Probably just go for stainless steel on the underbelly though. While these bright aluminum scales are super reflective and pretty, I don’t think they’re pretty enough to justify ten times the price as normal aluminum. Especially on the underside where you don’t seen them all that much. But, the commissioner was wanting to match their character, and they were happy to pay for the premium materials.
A pair of extra-wide scale bracelets for a couple’s wedding. Both anodized aluminum, one purple and one blue.
Just a quick shot of some anodized aluminum scale bracelets before I ship them out.
I am opening for dragon tail commissions! I’ll be making about 4 tails by the end of December. Read this page for info and options, then fill out this form by Sunday November 25 to request one!
I should try to be better about showing the small things I make. So here's a bracelet someone bought from my Etsy last week. Both scales and rings are stainless steel. I do a bunch of different colors with scale mail because people like them, but I gotta say, stainless steel is still probably my favorite material to work with. It's just straightforward and satisfying. And of course, here's the link to it up on my Etsy.
I am opening for dragon tail commissions! I'm looking to make 3 during May, possibly more into June. Info here: https://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails
Scale mail dragon tail commission I just finished. One of the prettiest patterns of colors I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
It’s got a custom pattern of anodized titanium scales in purple, violet, dark blue and teal, and it’s got a stainless steel underbelly. The anodized titanium has to be special-ordered from the manufacturer, and it’s pretty pricey, but it’s worth it. The spade tip’s shape was based on a reference from the commissioner, and it’s 1/8″ birch plywood that I laser-cut and painted with acrylic paint.
It measures in at 34 inches long without the spade tip, and the spade tip adds 4 inches, bringing it to 38 inches total. It weighs 3 pounds 13 ounces.
I’m currently open for more tail commissions like this! Info here: https://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails
Red and black dragon tail! I powered through this commission while visiting family earlier in the week. It’s made of red and black anodized aluminum with a mottled stripes pattern. It measures in at 34 inches from the tip to the top of the belt loops, and weighs precisely 3 pounds. Modeled by a friend who has Very Good Wiggles.
I think this is like the 3rd or 4th tail I’ve made with this same color scheme and pattern? I assume it’s because an earlier version one of the tails I link to as an example on my info page.
On to the next commission!
Just a couple scale bracelets someone bought recently. One in rainbow anodized aluminum, the other in flame-colored titanium.
A new dragon tail made in anodized titanium and blackened stainless steel. It uses teal, purple and violet titanium, in a pattern that gives an image of larger scales overlapping down its length. It’s got a full line of metal spikes along the spine, and a lobster clasp at the tip to attach things onto.
The anodized titanium is a rare treat to work with. It’s expensive and I need to custom-order it from the manufacturer and I’m always low-key worried they’ll tell me to go away one of these times, but damn if it isn’t just stunningly beautiful when it’s good. I really love the variation and texture on every scale, and I like putting together patterns to mix the colors in with each other and try to enhance that effect. In this batch the teal scales shifted on the edge of sea green and blue with hints of purple, the purple was a more muted maroon-ish tone with a blue base, and the violet was a great vibrant tone with occasional shifts towards rose-gold. The colors aren’t quite iridescent, but they definitely look like they were pulled out of the swirling colors of a soap bubble and pumped up to full saturation.
The blackened stainless steel is fun too. I guess I just really enjoy coloring processes that don’t rely on dyes like anodized aluminum does.
This tail is a medium length, measuring in at 31 inches from the tip to the top of the belt line, and it weighs 3 pounds 11 ounces.
A pair of scale maille bracelets ordered recently. The top one is flame-colored titanium, where the heat oxidizes it to a gradient of colors. The bottom one is bronze.
Available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheArmoredDragon?section_id=10150667
Small scale maille dragon tail! Been a while since I made a short one like this, it’s nice and cute.
It measures just over 24 inches long, and the spade tip adds about 2.5 inches onto that. The scales are black anodized aluminum, and the spade tip is black acrylic. It weighs in at 2 pounds 5 ounces.
One of the funny things that struck me was how it feels subtly different to wear. The most common length of tail I make is about 3 feet long, and those swing like pendulums at about the speed that your hips naturally sway when you walk. This one swings much faster, so it tends towards quicker, bouncier movements.
Which is to say, big ones sway, little ones wiggle.
Bronze scale mail bracelets. The thick one is fresh and shiny, and just shipped out. The thinner one I made for the last convention I was selling at, and it's starting to show some oxidation. I think bronze is fun largely because of how it patinas over time.
Gonna re-work the etsy listings for these bracelets to make the options more clear. Here’s the revised one for bronze, next I’ll do steel.
I'm slowly re-organizing the jewelry portion of my Etsy shop, combining the thin and wide versions of these sorts of bracelets into the same listings. Already did bronze and rainbow, next up is probably blackened steel.
(I'd previously combined the thin ones all into one listing and you chose the metal as an option, but I found that most of the sales were from the individual posts for wide bracelets of specific metals, so apparently that organization scheme was confusing to people.)
Available here!
A friend recently ordered a bi pride scale maille choker necklace, so here it is along with the rainbow one I keep for myself. I swear the purple is actually purple in real life, the lighting that day was just particularly weird. These are made with large anodized aluminum scales, woven together with stainless steel rings. And here's the Etsy listing, if you'd like one for yourself!
Here's some pride flag scale maille I made recently. From top to bottom, we have bracelets in rainbow, lesbian and trans pride flag colors, plus a choker necklace in the bisexual flag colors.
The lesbian flag colors are the ones that will always be approximate, and I just have to live with that. The official description of the lesbian flag colors is: dark orange, light orange, white, light pink, dark pink. The flag looks dang pretty, but those colors are really hard to match even if you’re not working in a limited pallet of about 12 colors. Red-orange-white-pink-purple is the best approximation I can do short of trying to source custom anodized scales.
You can find all my pride jewelry over here on my Etsy shop!
Heat-colored titanium necklace. This was a take-home order from ANE. This process is always a bit unpredictable; I got more of a gradient across each scale on this one than I often do.
Scale mail bracelets in the colors of the bear and leather pride flags! Some distinctive flags that I’d neglected for a while. But I had these at my table at Anthro New England, and they found homes pretty quickly.
Yes I know it’s a little silly to make the leather flag in metal don’t @ me.
And they’re shown as options now on my Etsy shop! I’m just grouping these with the other lgbt+ pride flags. I think I’m closing in on all of the flags? I’ll need to actually check and figure out which ones I’m still missing.