DIY Body Armour

No I did not spend a very large amount of money, I made it, and yes it is a total rip off inspired by this piece from Armour and at $275 compared to the £5 this cost me in materials who can blame me? The original uses heavier chains which means that it sits better as the smaller chains do not pull the neck piece off to the side but I can live with that.

The back is kinda boring but there are no pictures of the back of the original so I figure it's the same. I conculed that a load of chains down the back would inhibit arm movement and interfere with taking it on and off.

I'm loving this little DIY of mine. It's actually way more wearable than I thought I would be. I wore it out for drinks and dancing with my friends and it didn't slip about and annoy me like I thought it might. I just had to remember to wear my bag on a different arm. My little country hometown remained as fashion ignorant as ever and no one even gave it a second look which was kinda disappointing but if your the kind of person that doesn't like to stand out too much then that's proof that you could still wear this.

Now this isn't really a tutorial because I didn't take any pictures of the process. I got too wrapped up in making it and a lot of making it required the use of two hands, but if you understand the very basics of jewellery making then it is easy to do. In fact even if you don't understand the basics you can do it. All you need to know how to do is how to join two elements of the piece together using jump rings. Which is very simple, check out this and/or this to help you out.

Okay then, you'll need.

• 1 meter of large chain
• 1 to 2 meters of smaller chain depending on how long/how many small chain links you want. I used just over 1 meter.
• one large clasp
• a lot of jump rings
• chain/wire cutters. If you don't have special jewellery ones you may be able to find some around the house in mum/dads/yours/your other halfs tool box.

1. Take the large chain and drape it around you neck to determine what length you want it. Cut to length.
2. Attach the clasp to one end of the neck chain using a jump ring.
3. Drape the remainder of the large chain around your arm and shoulder. Determine length and cut.
4. Attach ends of the arm chain together using a jump ring.
5. For the next steps a dress form or a volunteer would come in very useful but you could keep taking it on and off yourself.
6. Decide how far apart you want your arm chain from your neck chain at the top of your shuoulder. Cut a piece of small chain to length and attach it to the neck and arm chains using jump rings.
7. Next determine the length and drape that you want for the bottom chain at the front of your jewellery. Cut small chain to size and attach with jump rings.
8. Now work your way back up the front of the body from the bottom small chain to the shoulder. Space your small chains evenly (or not if you want) I attached one on every other link of the large chains. Make sure that as you attach them the large chains haven't twisted and that you are always attaching the small chains on the same sides of the large chains.
9. I also added a few lengths of small chain down the back to stop the arm chain sliding off. This is was very trial and error just keep trying it on and moving about until you get it right.
10. Wear with pride. To get it on you put your arm through the arm chain and pull up to your shoulder then do up the neck chain.

I hope that was clear. Sorry for so many words and no pictures. Any qustions please ask.