| Welcome to Cotton Blossom Designs where you will find chain maille jewelry for all occasions. All pieces on this site are finely crafted using sterling silver and 14K gold filled wire together with natural gem stones, crystals, furnace glass and pearls. |
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| Mail (also maille, often given as chain mail or chain maille) is a type of armour or jewelry that consists of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form an armour, provided a highly effective defense against the weapons of the era. It was almost impossible to penetrate using any conventional medieval weapon. The flexibility of mail meant that a particularly strong blow would most likely cause fractures or serious bruising. Several patterns of linking the rings together have been known since ancient times. The true inventors of Maille are a group of nomadic tribesmen that lived from the 7th century B.C. to the second half of the 3rd century B.C. called the Scythians. The Scythians were first written about by the Greeks in the 7th century but it is thought they existed as far back as the 9th century. The Greeks also credit them with inventing how to work with bronze and iron as well as inventing bellows, which allowed them in smelting metals. Celts, which we have proof they knew of this technology from the mass burial sites. The Romans then picked it up from the Celts, and of course the Mongols were known to wear Maille towards the later part of their rule. Through their influence, the Scythians' ring maille could have reached the lands of Japan, which was changed to meet the needs of the Asian warriors. All these adaptations give us the different patterns of Maille we see today with the European, Persian, and Oriential or Japanese patterns. Through this timeline, it can be seen that the Scythians had a huge impact on what we as Maille-Smiths love to do everyday. Mail remained in use as a decorative and possibly high-status symbol with military overtones long after its practical usefulness had passed. Mail also has applications in sculpture and jewelry, especially when made out of precious metals or colorful anodized metals |
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