Weta Tenzan Chain Maille
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Weta Tenzan Chain Maille is a division of Peter Jackson's production company that makes chain mail, from unique sets for lead actors to hundreds of identical sets for extras. Prior films tended to use either painted cloth (such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail's painted wool sweaters), which cannot be used in close-up and looks terrible at greater distances, or real chain mail armor which is quite heavy. Weta invented a technique of injection-molding PVC rings which snap together. They are electroplated with a very thick layer of metal to give a true-metal look. The mail, therefore, has exactly the same look as real chain mail and moves like metal at one third the weight, and is much cheaper to boot. The mail can be repaired easily on-set. Weta also produces aluminium or steel mail for high-impact stuntwork.[1]
In The Lord of the Rings, the injection molding process was not used, rather PVC pipe was sliced into rings, assembled by hand into armor, and then electroplated, so the rings had some rough edges to them. 12.5 million links from 7 miles of PVC pipe were used in this extremely laborious process.[2] The injection process was used for the armor in Kingdom of Heaven, giving better results.[3]
