Abstract: A cladding element is formed from chain mail for cladding forms having different radii with the chain mail. For this purpose, the chain mail has at least one cut, which is connected at the edges thereof or to the edges of a further cut in order to clad the form. The chain mail has a running direction, in which the chain mail can be stretched to a substantially smaller degree, or cannot be stretched at all, compared to a direction running transversely thereto, preferably at a right angle. Because the chain mail with the running direction is arranged along an arc of the form specified by the radius and has indentations transversely to the running direction, wherein the connection takes place particularly along the edges of the cuts, three-dimensional round forms such as spheres or annular shapes or the segments thereof are clad efficiently.