Oriental Six in One is a fairly common sheet weave that was historically used to connect metal plates together. These days, of course, it is not so limited. The advantage to the Oriental (or Japanese) weaves is that they are very fast to make. A shirt made from an Oriental weave can be finished in far less time than one woven in a European weave. However, Oriental weaves are not very useful in combat; they lack the mass necessary to disperse the force of a blow.

Oriental weaves all consist of vertical and horizontal rings. The vertical rings connect two horizontal rings; horizontal rings never pass through other horizontal rings (same for the vertical rings). In general, these weaves look better with small vertical rings and large horizontal rings. Otherwise they tend to look a bit floppy. Good ring sizes for Oriental Six in One include 3/8" 14 gauge large and 1/4" 14 gauge small, 5/16" 16 gauge large and 3/16" 16 gauge small, 1/4" 18 gauge large and 1/8" 18 gauge small, or 18 gauge 3/16" large and 20 gauge 1/8" small. If you plan on speedweaving Oriental 6-1, make the small rings the closed rings.

Step 1: Put six small rings on one large ring. Close the large ring.

Step 2: Put five small rings on a large ring. Pass the large ring through one small ring on the other large ring. Close the ring.

Step 3: Place four small rings on a large ring. Pass the large ring through one small ring from the first large ring and one small ring from the second large ring. Make certain that you do not "trap" a small ring between the large rings.

Step 4: Continue adding large rings around the central ring. Each large ring should pass through one small ring from the central ring and one small ring from its neighbor, and should carry four small rings of its own. The last ring, which closes the circle, will carry three small rings.

Step 5: Now we need another row in the circle. The rings in this row will pass through either one or two small rings from the previous row. Pass a large ring through four small rings, then two small rings from the outer row of the circle. Close the ring.

Step 6: And go around the circle again, adding large rings. Notice that the large rings that you add alternate between passing through two small rings in the previous row, and only passing through one.

That's it! Of course, the circular shape isn't always useful, especially if you're making clothing. Making rectangles is not terribly difficult, but it does result in a lower weaving speed. It's better to use circles for the bulk of your weaving, and then to "square them out" to make things fit better.