Seven Months In, a Reflection

It would have been better to do this at six months, but I didn't think of it until someone asked for a photo of all of my work to date. Now, this is only the work from the past seven months, and doesn't include the items that I donated to auctions. But I thought I might reflect on what I've learned since starting this project. 

I've made two sets of duplicates and three distinct necklaces. Technically, I batch made three Byzantine clasps, but one of those went to an auction, and I messed one up while polishing, and then subsequently trying to fix it, I broke it completely. 

The duplicate rings taught me a lot, from one to the other. I saw definite improvement. I'm getting better at cutting the bezels to the correct size, which was a real challenge with the first one. And tension fitting the hoop was easier. Of course, I used a round section hoop the second time, rather than a half round, and that might have made it a bit easier. I'm still not getting that joint to solder perfectly, I need to be more meticulous in filing the angle down. 

The earrings taught me less. They are a surprisingly simple project, and the biggest problem is soldering the jump rings on. It's either perfect or it's a mess of solder, and no in between. The backs of both sets have solder on them, still, and I haven't decided if I want to keep cleaning or just leave them alone. I'll probably keep cleaning. That is my absolute least favorite part of the job. Cleaning up solder. It never seems to be done.

That brings me to soldering. From making my first necklace to my current project, I've gotten much better at heat control. The mini torch helps a ton, but I've actually gotten better. I haven't melted anything other than the easy solder in that Byzantine clasp that I ruined. And that was my fault for having used easy solder. I still have the habit of using too much solder, which leads to more cleanup. Less is definitely more. And being meticulous about the cleanliness of the piece prior to soldering. That's really difficult to do with fine filigree. Pickling only seems to do so much. I need to get some rubbing alcohol to keep in the shop, for removing oils. Some pieces are just too tiny and/or awkward to get at with a file or sandpaper. And if a piece isn't clean, the solder will not flow. 

I've been more focused on making things successfully than trying to use any historical methods. I'm not wholly resigned to a directional flame, since we have a fire pit out back. But for the time being, I'm not trying that. Getting the flame hot enough is something I'm still thinking on. I do still have the casting grain to make my own period solder. The recipe is approximately the same as for modern very hard solder. No zinc. When I make that, my intention is to file it into a powder, and I'm very excited about that firm factor. That said, I'll be going back to basics with it, and not attempting filigree, or anything too fine to begin with. That might be an exercise for after this 12 months is up. We'll see. It would be nice to have that experiment for Athenaeum, because it would be fun to talk about as more than a hypothetical exercise. 

I want to do more with stones in the next five months. I might vary a little more away from direct period examples, but then again, maybe not. I just need to see what I can find. And then some friends and I are talking about enamel. I want to dig into Theophilus, because I'm pretty sure he talks about enamel. I'm not sure if Cellini does or not. I need to brush up on both of those in general. It's now been a few years, and I'm rusty on what they have to say. I also intend to get the Ogden book in the next month or so, and I really can't wait to see what he has to say.

I've put my gold and garnet cloisonne research on hold just a little bit. It's one of those jewelry forms that's probably always going to be just research, unless I substitute glass. But just like the period goldsmiths, I am hampered by the inability to cut the shapes. The research really is fascinating when it comes to that, and I'm looking forward to writing a paper on the subject. All at the same time as this, I'm still trying to study for my architectural exams. That has also taken a back seat since I took the first one, and it needs to move to the front seat starting in February. 

Loop in Loop Chain Process

Here's a quick little photo tutorial on forming the links for loop in loop chain. There are several good YouTube sources for this, but these are my own photos, and thoughts on the process. 

Step one is to solder or fuse your links. I made mine on a half inch diameter mandrel. This was slightly larger for my project, but it took getting the chain together to figure that out. I'll probably make another one of these with slightly smaller links. Like on a 3/8" mandrel.

I used round nose pliers to stretch each link into a rough oval. I tried to keep the solder joint to one side, not in the middle of anything.

I used stepped bail making pliers to round out the ends of the oval. 

Back to the round nose pliers, I pinched the center of the oval to make a figure 8.

Last step, I used the bail forming pliers to fold the figure 8 in half, curving it over the pliers. 

Linking the things together is a tiny bit fiddly, on occasion. But you slip the open spot where your two loops are almost touching through the two loops of the previous link, and then sort of twist. Rinse and repeat. 

This is 6" of chain. I started with 32 links. I had to re-solder three, which was pretty good, and I didn't lose any to the soldering process. However, I popped 5 of them while forming. So this is 27 rings. Interestingly, almost all of the failures happened in the final stage of forming.

January earrings

I decided, like, yesterday that I wanted to recreate a necklace from the British Museum. It's a loop in loop chain with a central agate pendant. The connection to the pendant is really interesting, and I've never done loop in loop chain before. But I didn't have nearly enough wire on hand to do the entire chain. So while I started working on that, knowing that I won't finish it until next month, I still wanted to get a project done this month. So I decided to make a second pair of those Roman earrings that are so ubiquitous. I will branch out in earrings eventually, but I was only so-so about my first pair of these, so I wanted to give it another shot. 

I don't have progress pictures, and they're not completed, because I haven't decided what beads to use yet. But the findings are complete. I'll update with another photo once I decide on the beads. 

Edited with photo of finished earrings. The beads are agate and an unknown green semi precious stone. 

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.