The sleeves on this hauberk were originally just a straight tube and too tight where they connected at the shoulder. They were only about 22" around or about 66 rows. Since they are long sleeves I wanted them narrow towards the wrist, otherwise they looked odd and had a clumsy, baggy end to them. Also one of them had a serious mistake in the weave. Normally the rows are suppose to move around and meet with themselves but on this sleeve the rows spiralled up the arm which left an ugly jag at the end.
To start I detached both of the sleeves and split them down the middle so that they layed in a flat sheet. On the "spiralled" sleeve I split it right where the ugly jag was so that when I put it back together I could just line them up properly to remove the spiral. I wanted the sleeve to be about 13" to 14" at the wrist which is 40 rows and 24" at the shoulder or roughly 72 rows. With the guage and diameter rings I'm using every three rows is close to an inch so to convert it I just multiply my measurement by three and that tells me how many rows I need.

The first work I did on the hauberk was to patch the holes, fix loose rings, and other oddities like contractions in the weave that had no purpose. Simple repairs in getting the piece back to a homogenous 4in1 pattern. I did my work on a mannequin, which makes it much easier to tailor a hauberk and do fine work. With it on one you can see exactly how it is hanging and adjust to changes in shape as you work.

Several weeks ago I was given a project to repair and fit a maille hauberk. It is standard Amtgard chain being 16g, 3/8id, 4in1 butted. Unfortunately, the armor was poorly made and not intended for the person now wearing it. The main request was for me to repair large blowouts in both armpits but after examining the piece I found several other issues with it as well. It had no sizing alterations(T-tunic), had several other holes and oddities in the weave, and had a sleeve with rows that "spiraled" rather than finishing end to end. All of these needed to be corrected. The hauberk was also made for someone with a smaller build, so for it to fit right I had to add width as well.
When I first got it I took some pictures of the armpit blowouts and have attached those. In the next couple blogs I'll post more pictures and describe the repairs and alterations I made.

Went and found some clay for building a tiny castle.

I pulled it from a pile from excavating the still incomplete upper well housing. Was able to make coils straight out of the pile so I have high hopes for this stuff.

Just started soaking it so I can get the plant matter and small rocks out of it with a screen. Then I get to dry it out a bit, flatten it into nice big slabs and cut tiny, tiny bricks out of it.

Once i have all of my tiny, tiny bricks I get together with Dandan and a few of his books and we do a tiny test oven (horno style), a tiny gatehouse, and tiny wall section to see if any obvious problems pop up.

So I've been obsessed with this ArtRage software for the last 24 hours or so.

http://www.artrage.com/

There is a free starter edition at the site. It has all the basic tools you need and does a damn good job at emulating placing paint on a surface. Full version is a whopping $25 and includes extras like importing stencils, extra modes for the painting tools, metallic paints, and dumping paint straight from the tube (you can even make your own little mixing tray and do it the old-fashioned way).

Here's what I've been up to with it in the last 24 hours anyway.