I learned to make Persian chain from various sites. It wasn't too bad.

I then wanted to make Persian mail. I had seen sites that show how to do it, but I couldn't get my mail to look like their examples. I gave up on trying to follow instructions and decided to attempt to figure it out myself. Well, you make a lot of errors that way, but you do definitely get comfortable with the weave, because you know all the ways it can go wrong.

I don't have any pictures of my methods, so you're stuck with text descriptions for now.

Persian 5-in-1 (HP 3-1 Sheet 5)

I started out looking for a way to connect strands of Persian chain. The easiest way seemed to be to start with a Persian strand, connect another row of rings as if it were European 4-in-1 (1 ring thru 2), and then complete as if you were making a Persian chain (1 ring thru 3), creating a European-Persian 5-in-1 hybrid.

This mail is definitely directional. It curls when stretched horizontally, but hangs fairly straight in a vertical direction. The pictures below show a 12" x 12" patch of mail made from 16 Ga. 3/8 ID galvy. The first pic show the mail hanging in the same orientation as the sample above, and the second pic has the mail turned 90°. The first pic is showing the back side of the mail, which is why it looks different than the sample above.

HP 3-1 Sheet 5 hanging straight

HP 3-1 Sheet 5 hanging with curl

Persian 6-in-1 (HP 3-1 Sheet 6)

On 2001.10.17 (October 17, 2001, if you haven't figured out my date scheme yet), I had an epiphany at work. I suddenly realized that true Persian mail should be Persian on both sides. I made a strand of Persian 3-in-1, flipped it over so it looked like a V, and added another row as if I was making a Persian chain. I had to work a little backwards (top to bottom, instead of bottom to top) to keep my overlaps correct. It worked! I continued until I had the patch displayed above.

I apologize for the rather sad explanation of how I did it, but I hope to get pictures of the process up within a month or so.

Expanding Persian 5-in-1 (HP 3-1 Sheet 5)

The above is an example of expanding HP 3-1 Sheet 5. I colorized part of the image. The red/orange are the original strands, and the blue/green are the expansions.

I still have to try to expand the Persian 6-in-1.

Questions or comments? Email me at mailler@zlosk.com.