Dozens flock to learn how to make chainmail
IT IS meticulous, methodical, and repetitive work, but still more than 100 people flocked to Weta Cave to learn the art of making chainmail.
On Saturday, the Miramar facility had Weta Workshop artists Reece Dixon and Elise Brown teaching members of the public how to make the ancient armour, used in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
History buff Finley Biggs, 10, said it was fun getting to make plastic replicas of ‘‘what they used when there was knights and stuff’’.
Dixon, who could not confirm which Weta Workshop movie he is working on, said he got into making chainmail after being knocked unconscious by a chair leg during an ALF’S Imperial Army mock battle in Dunedin eight years ago.
‘‘It got me thinking I should have some armour and a friend showed me how to make chainmail and I got the bug. ‘‘I used it as therapy.’’ Initially he sold his chainmail to ‘‘bogans and goths’’ in Dunedin for beer money. But six months ago he scored his dream job, making chainmail for Weta Workshop.
The art of chainmail was something people either understood or could not pick up, he said.
‘‘There’s some days you
just
Finley Biggs, 10, making chainmail at the Weta Cave during Easter look at it and you pattern.’’
James
Little,
12,
can’t see any
said making chainmail could be frustrating but ‘‘once you have done it a few times it gets quite easy’’.