Step One:
The first step to creating your chainmaile dice pouch is to make a short piece of European 4-1, 3 rows wide, from the 1/4" ID rings. To simplify things later, please mark which row is the bottom row, and make sure that the rings in that row run UP through the weave, such that the lefthand side of the ring is lower than the righthand side of the same ring (as shown).

Step Two:
Now, continue this strip until the bottom and top rows are 36 rings long, and the middle row is 35 rings long. Make sure you still know which row is the bottom.

Step Three:
Next, working from the top row, extend the rectangle of 4-1 until it is 23 rows wide. Make sure that the rows alternate between 36 and 35 rings in length. This will probably take a couple of hours and makes up the bulk of the project.

Step Four:
Now we are going to add what are known as 'dags' at the top of the pouch. These will be the rings your drawstring will go through. There are a number of different ways to do this, and we will use one of the simplest ways - one ring at a time. Take a ring and add it to the first two rings on the top row, as if you were starting another row. Now, add the next ring of that same row, going through one new ring and one of the two you just went through. Finally, add a third ring through the two you have just added so that it sticks up between them. That is the first 3-ring dag. Simply continue doing this all the way down the pouch. When you reach the end you will only be able to add 2 of the 3 rings of the last dag, we will add the third ring at the end of the project.

Step Five:
We can now being to close up the bottom of the pouch around into a circle. Flip the pouch aroudn so that you are now working from the bottom. To force the pouch to close we are going to need to slowly decrease the number of rings in each row. To do this, rather than pass each ring through two as we weave them, we will pass some rings through three. For the first row of the bottom, starting from the left, add 4 rings as you normally would (through two rings each). Now, take a fifth ring, and weave it through THREE rings, tightening up the weave. This is known as making a contraction in the weave. Now, going back to normal, weave the next 4 rings of the row through two rings each. On the 5th (10th) ring, once again go through three rings. Continue this down the row. Once you get to the end you should have passed a ring through three rings 5 times. At the end you will add 4 rings through 2 rings each, and there will be one ring left at the end through which you add no new rings.

Step Six:
You should now be able to see a slight curve in the bottom of the pouch, but we need to make that curve bigger. Weave the first ring of this row through the first ring on the left side of the last row (only go through one ring, not two). Now add two more rings through two rings each. On the fourth ring, pass through three rings. One of these three rings should be the first ring you wove through three rings on the last step. Now, continue this pattern down the row, three rings through two each, one ring through three, until you get to the end of the row. As with last time you will have one ring at the end through which you add no new rings, and you will have made 5 contractions (passed 5 rings through three instead of two).

Step Seven:
Noticing a pattern? For this next row, start out by passing two rings through two rings each, and on the third ring go through three. Once again, one of these three rings will be one of the ones that went through three during the last step. Conintue this pattern of two normal and one contraction down the row until the end. Unlike before, on this row you will not have an extra ring at the end. You will however have made 5 more contractions.

Step Eight:
5 more contractions. Make sure your first ring only goes through one other like in step 6. Your second ring will go through 3 rings, and you will continue alternating back and forth with a normal ring followed by a contraction. You should notice a large curve in the pouch by now, and you will once again have a ring left over at the end through which no new rings have passed.

Step Nine:
Last row! This row is quite simple, and consists merely of 5 contractions. Each ring will, starting on the left, will pass through three other rings.

Step Ten:
Now we will add the bottom ring. This is the 5/16-3/8" ring, and can be of any metal you choose. Some people prefer to make it the same metal as the other rings, some like it different, and some mailers use a stamped, casted, or welded ring here into which they put their maker's mark. In any case, take your ring and pass it through all 5 of the rings added in the last step.

Step Eleven:
Finally we can begin seaming up the side and the pouch will take form. This part can be a bit complicated and requires a bit of pattern visualization so in each step the new rings being added are done in brass so that you can see them better. Please note that after that step they go back to normal and only the ones for the CURRENT step will be brass.

I like to put the pouch on my hand at this point to force it to wrap around and bring the edge rings together to be seamed. Label the rows in your mind as follows. The bottom single ring is row 0. The 5 rings that are woven through it are row 1. The rings woven through them make up row 2, and so on up the pouch. The first ring you will add will go through the two end rings on row 2, and the bottom ring (row 0). This makes it a member of row 1. The second ring in this step will go through the the two rings on what was the righthand edge of row 3 (including one of the rings that was not used during the contractions), and through the ring you just added to row 1. This makes it a member of row 2.

Step Twelve:
Three steps to go! This next ring is going to be woven through 4 rings. It will go through the last ring on each end of rows 2 and 4. This will include the last ring you just added in step 11. This new ring is now a memeber of row 3. The second ring in this step will go through the two rings on what was the righthand edge of row 5, once again including one of those rings through which no rings were added during the contractions, and then through the ring you just added to row 3. This makes the new ring a member of row 4.

Step Thirteen:
Second to last step! You going to do something slightly new with this next ring. Instead of weavin git through 1, 2, 3, or 4 rings as you have up until now, this ring is going to go through 5. One of these rings will be the one you just added to row 4. The second will be on the other edge of row 4, and the last three will be in row 6. Please note that one of these rings may be flopping around somewhere because until you add this ring it will only be attached to one other (if you look at the picture from the last step you can see it dangling off the edge). By adding this ring through those 5 (I recomend starting with the ones in row 6) it will become a member of row 5, and you will have completed the circle at the bottom of the pouch, meaning you now need only seam the straight edge of the rectangle.

Each ring that you use to seam along this edge will be woven through four others, one from each end of the two rows on either side of it. The first ring will be added to row 7, the next to row 9, row 11, and so on. The picture shows the placement of the first 2 of these rings. When you get to the top you will weave the last ring of the pouch through only 3 others, and complete the unfinished dag from step 4.

Step Fourteen:
Well, the maile is finished, so now we just need a drawstring! Take your drawstring and run it through the top ring of each dag (try to go in the same direction). Now, even it otu so that both ends are together and put on your holder bead. Finally, tie a knot in the end of the drawstring and you're done! You now have one very nice 973 ring chainmaile pouch.