Japanese Patterns - Hana-Gusari Mail (2/6 Hex)

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Hana-Gusari Mail (2/6 Grid)

Base Pattern

Hana-Gusari Mail or 2/6 Hex is one of my favorite Japanese Mail patterns.

This is a historical Japanese pattern and while obviously weaker than European Mail patterns, Japanese Mail patterns in general were designed to be used in a completely different environment of arms and armour technology. In general they were never used for straight Mail Shirts. Rather, they were used over padded steel plates or to connect steel plates.

While the open grid of Hitoye-Gusari allows for some facinating shaping possibilities through pattern alteration, Hana-Gusari offers variation through it's strict geometric shape.

The base of Hana-Gusari is a 6 link equilateral triangle, this base allows you to create polygons based on equilateral triangles, such as Straight Triangles, Diamonds and Hexagons.

While these shapes are alright as flat polygons, they truly shine as the base for more complex 3D polyhedrons. One of my favorite uses is the pentagon-shaped polyhedron that I use for the cups of my Hana-Gusari brassieres.

Hana-Gusari offers almost no flexability, so clever use of polygons and polyhedrons is the only way to fit this pattern around complex shapes.

It is important to note that in Japanese patterns the links alternate between sitting horizontally and vertically. In authentic Japanese Mail patterns, the vertical links would be oval-shaped. If you wish to emulate these authentic patterns, make sure that all the gold coloured links in the following Japanese Patterns are oval-shaped.

2/6 Hex means that vertical links pass through 2 horizontal links and horizontal links pass through 6 vertical links to form a hex-like pattern.

The following pattern is for a small hexagon, I've also included an illustration of a small triangle at the end as an example of alternate shape possiblities.

The ratio of links for creating Hana-Gusari Mail is all open links. However, if you add this ratio to the ratio for creating the base Japanese 1 in 2 Chain, the overall ratio is 1 Closed Link to 3 Opened Links.

Starting Hana-Gusari Mail

Step 1	Start with a length of Japanese 1 into 2 Chain, for this example it need be no longer than 19 horizontal links.

Step 2

Starting a Row

Bring the chain back on itself to form the base of a new row.
Opposed to Hitoye-Gusari, where each horizontal link in a new row sits above a horizontal link from the previous row. The horizontal links in a new Hana-Gusari row sit above the vertical links of the previous row.
Avoid twists, keeping the vertical links perfectly straight and keeping the horizontal links aligned as in the illustration.

Bring the chain back on itself to form the base of a new row

Step 3 1st attachment for a new row	Place an open link through the 2 links coloured copper in the illustration. Close the open link.

Step 4 Continuing to attach a new row	Place an open link through the 2 links coloured copper in the illustration. Close the open link.

Step 5 Continuing to attach a new row	Place an open link through the 2 links coloured copper in the illustration. Close the open link.

Step 6 Continuing to attach a new row	Place an open link through the 2 links coloured copper in the illustration. Close the open link.

Step 7 Continuing to attach a new row	Place an open link through the 2 links coloured copper in the illustration. Close the open link.

Step 8 Starting another Row	Bring the chain back on itself to form the base of a new row. With this row we are going to widen the pattern by making sure that the vertical link that attaches the new row angles out from the pattern. The choice to widen or narrow the pattern depends on the final shape that you desire.

Step 9 Attaching a new row	Use open links to attach the new row to the pattern as in the illustration. Close each new open link as you add it to the pattern. When you reach the end of the row go on to the next step of folding the chain back on itself again.
X 7

Step 10 Starting another Row	Bring the chain back on itself to form the base of a new row. With this row we are going to narrow the pattern by making sure that the vertical link that attaches the new row angles in towards the pattern. The choice to widen or narrow the pattern depends on the final shape that you desire.

Step 11 Attaching a new row	Use open links to attach the new row to the pattern as in the illustration. Close each new open link as you add it to the pattern. When you reach the end of the row you can repeat the previous step of folding the chain back on itself again.
X 7

Step 12

Starting another Row

Bring the chain back on itself to form the base of a new row.
With this row we are going to narrow the pattern by making sure that the vertical link that attaches the new row angles in towards the pattern.
The choice to widen or narrow the pattern depends on the final shape that you desire.
Hana-Gusari is based on equilateral triangles and can be used to make any geometric that is composed of equilateral triangles. Such as Triangles, Diamonds and Hexagons.

Step 13 Attaching a new row	Use open links to attach the new row to the pattern as in the illustration. Close each new open link as you add it to the pattern. When you reach the end of the row you can repeat the previous step of folding the chain back on itself again. Or you can choose to open the vertical link that attaches the chain to the mail to finish the piece.
X 5

Finished Japanese Hana-Gusari Mail - Hexagon

Finished Japanese Hana-Gusari Mail Alternate - Triangle

Finished Japanese Hana-Gusari Mail Triangle

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