December Ring

I decided to make another ring. There's really no excuse for not making more than one, but the holidays have been what they are, and I haven't had the spoons. However, this single ring is hands down more successful than last month's. The soldering all went smoothly, the bezel was a tiny bit too large, but that's better than too small. The stone is still set firmly. And I properly polished this one. 

The one sad thing, I got on a polishing kick and was polishing the rest of those Byzantine clasps from August (yes, they've sat unpolished this whole time). And one broke. The solder join at one of the bails wasn't as secure as I thought it was, and it broke off. In attempting to attach a new bail, I messed up the filigree. So that's frustrating. 

Finishing the August project

So I had already posted about one of the necklaces, and I still have one more to go, but this one has the correct bead pattern to match the original. It's a mix of amethyst, black glass, and pearls. The original only has one pearl, and a bunch of empty links. My assumption is that the empty links, given their placement at every other bead, and the correlation of the one pearl being in that spot, once all contained pearls. The links are created with fine silver wire that's 24 gauge. I think that might be a little wimpy compared to the original, but it's what fits my pearls nicely. I might try 22 gauge, but it won't be until my next iteration of the clasp, which will have a bail that's more bulky, like the original. That's a project for the future. 

Here's my reproduction. The hook is a tiny bit wimpy as well, but that's easy to fix. The amethysts are a touch small, and the pearls are a touch big, but overall, I'm pleased with it. This piece is being donated to the An Tir 12th Night Peers Auction. 

Note the empty links in the original, with the single pearl between the amethyst and the black glass bread at the center bottom. 

Finished Roman (almost)

Here's the completed Roman. Both the orange tunica and the linen tunica recta underneath are completely hand-sewn. I still need to hem the palla (which is wool gauze from Dharma Trading, and it's to die for!), and I may re-hem the tunica. She's a little bit long. Which is annoying because this is the second time I've hemmed it. But, third time is the charm, right? Anyway, it's 95% done, and I'm pleased as could be with it. I'll wear it to 12th Night in January. 

I was shooting for 4th century CE, but because I omitted clavii, I've probably landed solidly 2nd. I'm not mad about that, it just makes the necklace a little anachronistic. 

The Ring that Fought Back

So this was supposed to be a which quick and easy project. One of my first projects was a bezel set ring. Most of my projects prior to this year have been bezel set rings. But this one...shows that I'm out of practice. It took me about six tries to get the bezel the right size and soldered correctly. It attached to the backplate just fine. But then it took me three tries to get the hoop attached. Now, granted, I haven't tried this style of connection before, but man, it seemed like it was going to be easier than it was. After all that, I partially crushed the bezel at some point, so it looks a little gnarly on one side. I don't have progress pics of this one because of all the headaches. It's lapis set in silver. It's not based on any particular source, but it's plausibly medieval.

And the ugly side...

It also came out a bit bigger than I was shooting for, but that's my fault for not measuring the bezel properly. It fits my thumb, though. 

Roman Bracelet

This is just a sweet little pearl and silver bracelet that I've made for an auction. It's definitely Roman inspired, though the nearest inspiration for it is (supposedly) amethyst. The photos look awfully red for amethyst. But it's just silver links, the same fashion as the Byzantine necklace. This is quite a common linking method throughout Rome and the early Byzantine empire. This is, however, the tiniest and most delicate hook and eye closure I've ever made. 

I'm still planning to get out in the shop and solder something this month. It probably won't be Roman. I'm thinking I'll make a cabochon ring, since I need practice setting cabs. There's a Roman bracelet that's a bangle set with cabs all the way around it that I'm dying to make. I'll probably vary my production method a bit from what I think is original, but I'm excited to make an attempt. We'll see. Maybe December.

Roman not-jewelry

I've been making a ton of Roman jewelry, but don't have anything to wear it with. So I'm working on fixing that. I bought three silk saris, and have a ton of lightweight linen on hand. The first sari I'm working with is my last favorite, having a pattern on it. In working with all borrowed research here, so I've been told both that the pattern is correct, and also that it's not. I think it may be correct for a certain era of Greek, but I'm shooting for 4th century Roman. I'm not too futzed about it, as this is basically a test run. A hopefully wearable test run. 

As I said, I'm working with borrowed research. Dulcia's Roman Closet and Romana Sum have been very helpful resources online, and Duchess Livia, OL, An Tir, has been a great real life resource. I'm also just using my own sewing instincts, which may or may not be correct. Actually, they're almost assuredly not "correct" because the Romans were working with woven to size fabric. Nice selvage edges. I'm working with cut fabric, which means I've done a tiny rolled hem on all the edges. I'm also working with relatively narrow fabric, so no tubes available. 

Nothing is done yet, but I find this photo very satisfying. You can see the rolled hem as well as the actual seam stitching, which is whip stitch. Also, yes, this is the posture in which I usually sew. The blog is not called "Sits Like a Lady."

Month 4 - Still Roman

This was another exercise in repeatability and batch making links. It was easier to make the filigree than I thought it would be. The shape is very forgiving. First step was to make and solder the outer hoops. 

Then I rough cut and formed the filigree in a batch, and then went through and did the fitting and adjustment. 

I had to do very little cutting at this point. I then soldered that on. This was my first go using paste solder for some of the filigree. I used medium, and it worked very nicely. See my previous post if you want a bit more of my musings on soldering. Though I will say that that post was a bit too optimistic. I had to re-fire most of my second batch, and I still managed to melt a jump ring. 

On to that, I made jump rings for the bails and attached those last. It went really quickly, all things considered, in two batches of five. 

The final necklace is strung with agates. The original (at The Met) had glass "paste" beads. I couldn't find glass beads the right size and shape, and I really struggled to find anything that would fit the late Roman empire, but I have multiple written sources that site agate being used in jewelry, so I was happy to find the beads that I have. 

Progress!

Not a project post, just a general update. 

I'm on my 4th project in this series and my skills really do seem to be improving. Of course, I also started using a better torch, and the torch is still a modern tool. However, I'm not melting things as much, and making fewer mistakes. Soldering rings is easy, even though I accidentally fused a ring today. That was a surprise. But this was my hope: that practice would breed better skills. 

I'm using hard solder (and medium), working my way up to period solder. I'm very nervous about using it with filigree. I've also played a tiny bit with paste solder, though, and that gives me hope. When I make my own period solder, I'll use the chunk to file into powder. I can mix the powder with water, and la! Paste! Maybe? We'll find out. 

I'm also slowly actually making the necklaces with these clasps, so this post still gets a photo. I'm choosing to be creative with bead choice, only because I didn't have enough amethyst to do all three. And I've belatedly found my half round 12 gauge, so I'm yet going to make a 4th version, with a more accurate bail. 

September Project: Roman Earrings

This month has a lot going on, so I wanted a quick project. I didn't expect it to be this quick! I finished these in an afternoon. I'll probably make a second pair. I want to try harder to get all the links to close up completely, even if I have to solder them separately. They're amazingly tiny and fiddly, made with 20 ga fine silver. The hooks are the same wire, and the beads are wired on with 24 ga. Next time, I'm going to see if I have any 22 ga. I think it'll be better. Getting the twists around was tricky, and i think that shows. The plate is 26 ga, and I think it's perfect. The originals are at the British Museum, 3rd century Roman in origin.

A few progress photos: 

August Project: Revisiting a Favorite

I wanted to make another version of the Byzantine necklace from the Met collection. I've given away the other two I've made (and in all honesty, I'm making several now so that I can give more away). This may be my favorite piece to gift. Here's the original (photos from the Met website).

I approached different versions (this time around) different ways. I wanted to try 18 gauge wire for the inner "heart" shapes, as opposed to 20, which I've used before. The first one, I made up the hearts one by one, to fit my drawing. This was a mistake. It didn't come out terribly, but it lacked consistency and one of my clasp pieces is decidedly oblong. It's not the absolute worst thing in the world, but it bothers me. So for my second version, I went back to 20 gauge wire (fine silver) and actually measured, going in stages so that I ended up with precisely measured V shapes that fit together nicely. Then I formed the hearts, and I'm much happier with the finished pieces. Finally, not one to give up, I followed the same method with the 18 gauge wire (also fine silver), and achieved a much happier result. 

And here's the 18 gauge version. 

I feel like the 20 gauge is more true to the original proportion, but the 18 works. Here are the two pairs side by side after soldering. 

The next step is to form the beaded wire frame. 

Following that, I added the loops for attachment, the bail, and the hook. This is the hardest part. These attachments definitely aren't as clean as I'd like on all the pieces. See that little bead at the bottom of the second one? Yeah, that was a hiccup. I can't get it off (I tried) so that'll become a hook end. 

And the hooks (what will become hooks). These were easier than the small bails. Still less than perfect, but I'm happy with them. They vary from the original. I tried doing something more like the original, but it didn't work. These little granules offer support and municipal the other side of the piece, so I rolled with it. 

My writeup from the last time really helped me with this step. Melting the piece at this point is heartbreaking, and I've done it before. Holding the piece the the third hand and placing the larger bail on the charcoal block really helps. I also tinned the larger bail this time, for two out of the three. Not a period practice, but in period, they would have had powdered solder, which is definitely a step closer to tinning than using chip solder.

They just need a little polish and they're ready to become necklaces! I'm calling the project here, for this month. The one that I freehanded came out quite a bit smaller than the ones I carefully measured. They were all based on the same sketch, so that's interesting. I may make a smaller sketch at some point, and purposefully make smaller ones, but I think the larger ones are the right size to match the original more closely. What is a happy thing is that while you can still see that one of the smaller ones is decidedly oval, it's not as bad now as it was before the bails went on. 

In the end, I definitely want to make another one of these, probably multiples if I'm being honest. The originals use square section wire, and have a substantially thicker bail. I use to have some half round wire that I used on a previous version, but I apparently ran out. So I used 16 gauge because it's what I had on hand, but it's woefully puny compared to the original. So yeah, I think I have the process down for making the components, I just want to get or make more accurate materials for the next time or three. 

Bonus Project-Anglo Saxon wire work

A friend asked me to make her ten of these little wire loop pendants for a recreation she's making of a grave find from Kent. She's inspired me to attempt my own full recreation of the necklace myself, at some point, when I get into making beads. (It'll happen eventually.)

But for these little wire pendants, she even sent me a video tutorial. I strayed from it a little bit, but I'm very happy with the end results. And I can't wait to see her finished piece.

They are more regular than the originals, and I'm torn about that.  But overall, they're the same shape and style. And it was a fun project for an evening.

Project 3!

Continuing my work with Hercules knots, this is my first interpretation of a common motif in necklaces. Most examples I've found have been from auction sites, though the Walters Museum has at least two in their collection, and the below example is from the British Museum. All the examples that I've seen have had emerald or otherwise green beads. It's sometimes listed as green agate. I really only trust the museums so much in correctly identifying ancient stones. One thing the museums and auction sites do seem to agree on is that most examples date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.

This example below, which may or may not be at the British Museum (I found it on Pinterest, and reverse image search didn't bring up anything definitive. It could be a modern copy, but the bead quality and cut makes me doubt that), is what I based my knots on. Mine are definitely not perfect, but this was meant to be a quick project to get my feet wet again. Success! My feet are wet, and my goal is to remake this with better knots that are a little smaller. I think I also want to shoot more for the shape of the one above, with a completely closed neck. 

One final example from the British Museum, an individual link that's 2.5 cm long. This one has less refinement, and is more like what I accomplished. I need more practice. Though this is the size I'd like to aim for next. My current ones are more like 4 cm, end to end.

My links are 20 gauge fine silver (all examples are gold), soldered into loops that were further formed into shape using a ring mandrel, round nose pliers, and my fingers. Each knot is soldered at 4 points. I chose not to solder the center points. I probably should have, but I melted quite a few of these, and decided to call them done with 4 points of contact connected. I would probably use 18 gauge wire next time. 

Loops! 

Rough forming. 

The shape is kind of like a club, or almost a ping-pong paddle. I want to get a more defined neck with a more circular smaller end next time. 

Finished knots

All the failures. I love saving my failures! These will eventually have the solder cut off, and then probably become granules. The rings may be salvaged for smaller rings or filigree. 

First (and second) Project of July

This project sort of fell into my lap, happily, when a friend asked me to work on a collaboration. Khalja supplied three fine silver coins, struck by Arion Wanderer, and asked me to make earrings and a pendant with them. She knew exactly what she wanted them to look like, and I knew what she wanted. They were a gift for her new Majesty Brynhildr of An Tir, SCA.

The earrings are set in a frame of fine silver wire, with prongs soldered on. This is a modern design that's commonly found using old Roman coins. I used modern silver ear wires, but in hindsight, I wish I'd just made my own. If I'd had hard silver wire, I would have.

The pendant, on the other hand, is a medieval as they come. A very simple design, the bail is a piece of fine silver sheet that I cut and formed over, and then it was riveted to the coin. Examples of riveted coins are all over the Viking era, and they're easy to find. What I haven't researched enough is if they're regional to anywhere specific, or if it was a more generally diffused practice. There are definitely examples from Gotland. Again in hindsight, I wish I'd don't some stamping on the bail before forming it. That's not as common a practice based on examples, but I found at least one. If I get to do this again, I'll do that. 

The little pin rivet was made from 18 gauge fine silver wire. I melted a little head on one end and peened the back side flat. The head flattened a little bit, but that's okay. It still stands up like a little button. This is truly so much fun to do! The biggest trick was getting the head melted on the wire. I started out holding it in pliers, which were too much of a heat sink. Next time I'll just wait until I've melted the head to cut it, so I can just hold it further down, in my hand. That's how I've done this before, for Tilda's pendant.