My new hobby this year is weaving chainmail.

Since childhood I have loved knights and armor. Growing up, I fell in love with renaissance fairs. My mother frequently helped put together some sort of costume-like attire, but intricate cosplay has always been out of reach because of time, a lack of confidence in my own abilities, and money.

But I have been trying to find a hobby that does not involve screens. The chainmail process gives a great feeling of satisfaction, creates something hands-on, and might even make my dreams of cosplay come true someday.

My startup costs have been relatively low. I spent $100 in January to get started. This included pliers, a magnifying desk lamp (life saver for my eyes and posture), and about 8 ounces of aluminum chain links from Chainmail Joe. This was more than enough to keep me busy all month and to get a feel for the process.

I started with the Byzantine weave (left) using 18 standard wire gauge. It is considered one of the beginner weaves, and creates a very appealing piece that is often used in chain jewelry. The first bracelet took longer, but the second and third each took about 3 hours.

The Box weave (center) uses a wider link for the bracelet, but has a similar weave to the Byzantine. It was nice to try something new, but I did not like the final product quite as much.

Finally the Celtic Visions (right) weave uses two different sizes to create what is my favorite piece at the moment. I am still in the process of lengthening into a choker, but it is relatively easy for how cool it looks.

Eventually I want to move toward making armor, particularly scalemail, but those materials are much more expensive and time consuming, and I wanted to improve my skills on smaller projects first before jumping in for the long hall. I have truly enjoyed having something that I can sit down and work on for an hour at a time after work and see such progress.

What hobbies give you a good feeling of accomplishment?