Going Greek. Sort of.

The upcoming reign is a classical Greek reign, which is why I'm furiously working on garb for this weekend, which is Coronation.  After raiding Walmart for sheets (they make fantastic peplos!), I realised I needed to have something to actually turn a bedsheet into piece of clothing.

I raided my jewellery box, and unfortunately nothing.

Go go gadget research (and a Pinterest trawl), and I found this - and while I don't have a forge, I do have wire.  A lot of wire.  And a hammer.  And a bit of patience.

Behold my faint copy.  It will do in a pinch (Coronation is tomorrow morning), but for quick and dirty and won't ruin my new bedsheets too much, I've got four fibulae and time to work on getting my house back to some semblance of working order after being gone for essentially a month. 

While I was gone, I got to go play with the Norse at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.  L'Anse aux Meadows is known as the first Norse settlement in North America (done in the 8th century), where western and eastern migration met again when the Norse and the Beothuk met to trade.

I got some photos of the recreations at Norstead (not far from where Leif Ericsson and his people settled, actually) and L'Anse Aux Meadows.  Let me tell you - there is nothing cooler than seeing a sod longhouse with icebergs in the distance.  It really helps capture history in a unique way.

In addition to this, I also went to the former Colony of Avalon, and saw some beautiful beads that were used in rosaries, as well as some used in trade.  The Colony of Avalon is from the other end of the spectrum - early to mid-17th century, however, many of the items found dated from SCA period

I'm really inspired to work on something from my period, and then some.  I also received some gorgeous silk that needs to be made into garb, and soon.

I've also been asked to work on some items for the kingdom's Pennsic gift basket to Caid.  Once these are complete, I'll be posting them.

Welcome home, inspiration.

A Panoply of Scrolls (and other things)

I've been juggling a couple of things lately, including three scroll commissions from the outgoing queen of Calontir, and learning how to use my new lampwork torch.  I also entered a blank border contest.

So, after my trip to the Middle East, I was inspired by the many, many, many Qu'ran pages I saw at Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art, as well as this page that I saw on Pinterest.  One thing I liked about this particular page was the variety of colour, as well as the ability to modify it somewhat for SCA use.  In the future, I think I'll add more bars, like what is in the extant (which is a 13th century Persian Qu'ran), but I'm otherwise pleased with this.  There's so many techniques to try and learn (I suspect the extant also has gold leaf, which I really must learn to do soon).

While that was being worked on, I also received a commission for three separate scrolls, and for a very important client: the sitting Queen of Calontir.  She expressed that she wanted something French, but she also wanted to personalise the scrolls a bit, as the recipients were for the Queen's Endorsement of Distinction.  The Queen's Endorsement of Distinction is listed as such on the Calontir Awards page:

As the patroness of all gentle and courteous behavior, the Queen of Calontir may, at her own discretion, bestow this recognition upon some few individuals. It may be given only thrice during any one reign, and only once in each category:
1. Unto the individual combatant or archer who has shown the highest of chivalric behavior;
2. Unto the individual who has best exemplified gentle and courteous behavior; and
3. Unto the individual who best exemplified the ideals and goals of the Society.
The Queen may bestow any or all of these recognitions as she chooses. She may bestow upon those individuals a badge of her own initials entwined with a rose, constructed as she desires. Members may place the initials QED after their names. Individuals may be so honored by more than one queen.

So, each scroll is personalised - one with bees, one with an archer and bunny, and the third with a later period knight.  I'm pleased with how they turned out.  You can see them here.  There was a part of me that wanted to add some more marginalia, and there's a lot more vining and detail that I could have added that in the future for a scroll from 14th century France really should have. On the other hand, each recipient loved their scroll.

Scribal work feeds both my service needs and my arts niche.  It's a lot of fun, but definitely takes a steady hand and a gentle heart.

My new lampwork torch and supplies have been a lot of fun - I've been making beads and veil pins and all sorts of glass fun.

There's a lot that I still can't remember or don't have all of the supplies to do, but the evening I figured out how to enrobe beads in clear glass very much made my day.  It's a bit of a challenge, really - it's making sure the glass is warm enough that it doesn't crack, but cool enough that the clear glass doesn't deform the cooling glass underneath.  It's a challenge, but the results are beautiful.
The veil pins, though - fun!  I found some 12th century veil pins (here) with glass that appeared to be wound around the brass. I used 18 gauge brass wire, hammered it in two directions, making sure to flatten and spread the wire a little bit to keep the glass on the pin, and then cut the wire at an angle.  After the pin is worked, the metal was heated slightly while being held in pliers to prevent thermic shock, and then the hot glass was added to the pin.  I then let them cool down in a heat blanket.

In the future, keeping the pin round, but work hardened will be work to figure out, but I look forward to the challenge.

Gold & Sapphire Necklace - Altes Museum, Berlin

Gold & Sapphire Necklace - Altes Museum, Berlin, a photo by noriko.stardust on Flickr.

I ran across this particular piece on Pinterest, and think it interesting that it's superhumeral-shaped. What if superhumerals are not fabric, but metal?

I'm intrigued, as one of my inspiration pieces for my persona is Theodora with Attendants, which is a sixth century Byzantine mosaic in Ravenna, Italy. In that piece, the Empress is wearing what appears to be a separate collar, but with bezels and the like. Attaching said bezels to fabric is tricky, and can damage delicate fabrics (like silk). If it is a metal piece, like this, it makes more sense. Further more, the Berlin necklace has the same sorts of drops, similarly shaped bezels and prong settings, and does have pearl beads inset into bezels - much like Theodora's collar.

One thing I do find interesting is the loops on the back of the necklace. I'm thinking that this may have been tied shut and was therefore adjustable. It also could have been sewn to a fabric backing.

Also in the realm of cool are the headpins - which are really just eye pins folded under. The piercework is amazing, and the teeny-tiny hinges are gorgeous. I really, really want to try to make this piece.

It's something to think upon some more.

Roman-inspired Earrings

I love Pinterest for finding similarly-minded Roman and Byzantine jewellery fans and for sharing all sorts of awesome.  Including this pair of earrings that's housed at the V&A.  (Provenance can be found here.)

Even though these are a little more complicated than I can do right now, I can at least come close with what I do have.

Let's look at the extant piece: emeralds, sapphires, and pearls.  Emeralds and sapphires can be on the expensive end, but freshwater pearls less so.  Amethyst is another material that was used extensively by Romans, as it invoked the Imperial use of purple.  Instead of pure gold, using hammered brass wire can at least come close.

This set of earrings uses freshwater pearls, gold-plated spacer beads, tumbled amethyst beads, and hammered brass links that I made myself, and then placed onto shepherd-hook earrings.

It is still not as period as I would like, however this evokes the original closely.

See what you've got in your craft stash and see what you can figure out!

It's been quiet. . .

I apologise for being so quiet - it's been a bit of a busy time, as I've been commissioned to make items for people - ranging from raffle items to jewellery and paternosters.  This will be a gratuitous item post.

This is a paternoster made for a friend of mine.  She provided the grey beads and asked me to come up with something that would key into her heraldry.  That's where this paternoster came from.  Strung on silk.

I made this for an auction at Horse and Falcons to benefit Unleashed, an animal shelter in my barony.  It was inspired by late Italian and English jewellery.  I used freshwater pearls and coral, as well as gold plated spacers on chain.

 The earrings and the necklace are made for the Lilies Troll raffle, and I wanted something that looked Roman.  The necklace still needs to be finished, but it's nearly done.  Freshwater pearls, coral, and quartz.

For my apprentice-brother, this paternoster is garnet and labradorite.  He has a persona that is a monsignor, and as such, it would be appropriate to have some bling on his person.

Spirals and sunflowers . . .

The surprise I was hiding was the item for my recipient for this round of Noblesse Largesse.  My recipient does Rus.  And I might have exhausted a bunch of non-jewellery options (sometimes I feel I put myself into too much of a jewellery-themed box) before I came back to jewellery.

So, I made temple rings.  The bottom set is based on the Viatachi-style rings, which are pretty much spirals with a hook going in the opposite direction, and the other set is inspired by sets found near the upper Volga River (link to an interesting site about temple rings is here).  The wire I used is commercially drawn permanently coloured copper wire in either 14 or 16 gauge.  (I don't remember which one it is, but it is very thick and somewhat difficult to work with, but I like the results.  And the metal beads were on sale - they remind me a little of sunflowers with the large round middle encircled with petals.  I shaped these with pliers, and with the rings with the beads on them, put the beads onto the wire, and then shaped it just enough so that the beads wouldn't move around a lot.  They still move, and had I experience in using a soldering anything, it may have turned out differently.

One of the things I found was that gold and silver were both appropriate for use in this context.  Studying Byzantine art and jewellery, it almost all seems to be gold, so finding silver, and getting a chance to play with it within the context of a similar culture really is fun.

Photo by Ms. Rhianydd
(V. Herschell - https://www.flickr.com/photos/vhersch_rhianydd/)

In other news: I was given admittance to Calontir's Order of the Calon Cross for my work with Noblesse Largesse.  I am beyond ecstatic.  To the right is my scroll, painted and lettered by HL Neathery of Safita, and the scroll text by Master Andrixos Seljukroctonis.

Still, there is always work to be done.

Seriously.

I have two necklaces to complete prior to 

Photo by Ms. Rhianydd
(V. Herschell - https://www.flickr.com/photos/vhersch_rhianydd/)

May 24th - one for an auction at Horse and Falcon, the other for a raffle for Lilies Gate volunteers.

And then a banner for my barony.  And a banner for my lord.  There's a lot still left to do.  But, it's worth it.

One thing I've learned is that time management skills never get any easier.  On the other hand, the quest for fun and knowledge do wait.  And there's so much more to learn and do and have fun with.

What's going on now?

So, I'm working on my documentation for the Gallo-Roman necklace.  But, of course, I'm doing more than that - I've got a piece of garb that I'm working on, too!  (Mostly because I might be completely crazy, but I also need garb that fits better, so there's that.)  At any rate, the photos for the Gallo-Roman are done.

I also have a bit of a pictorial dress diary for the tunic that I'm working on, but as sewing is not really my forte (or even patterning, for that matter) that can be found at the following link: New Byzantine Garb Dress Diary!

I'll be posting my documentation for the Gallo-Roman piece when that's finally done, and I'm thinking that there will be an appendix for it.  (I'm a little wordy, as I'm sure you've noticed.)

One thing that I did fail to note on this piece is that the same wire-wrapped technique that the simple Byzantine necklace tutorial covers is the exact same one.  The only difference between this one and the Byzantine necklace is a three strand subdivision between links, which, from what I can tell, is extremely unusual in Roman jewellery.  It's really neat, but can't find much of an explanation for.  Given the amount of wire and time that this took, it is totally possible that this may have belonged to a higher ranking noblewoman (wife or daughter of a magistrate) than perhaps someone of a lower class.

Questions like this will be asked, and we may not always have the complete answer, but we will certainly try to get the big ones (who, where, and how) answered.  Why is much more fun, but will mostly end in conjecture.

The Gallo-Roman necklace saga . . .

The saga of the Gallo-Roman necklace is over!  I have to finish writing my documentation for it, but the piece is complete.  On a whim, I went to one of my local bead stores (Beadazzler Beads in downtown Overland Park, Kansas), and looking over their selection of Hill Tribes metal, I saw these rather oval-shaped beads.  Sure, they're not exactly what I was looking for, but to capture the essence and the feel of the original piece, they're perfect.  These beads are made of brass, not gold or silver, due to the current prices of precious metals.  (Gold is currently, as of this writing, at $1576, which is down from the high of $1970-something that it was at during Christmas 2012.  Silver is also quite a bit down, as well, at $28.48.)  While the Hmong prefer using silver, as the owner of Beadazzler Beads was telling me, they're expanding their work to brass, given the prices of metal at the moment.  And I am so glad they're working in brass - it keeps my investment costs much lower, and I don't have to learn a new technique if I don't want to.  (I do want to, but not everything needs to be a learning curve.)

Making the clasp was a little less painstaking than I thought it would be.  I used 18 gauge non-tarnish brass wire, the Hill Tribes beads, and the rest of the necklace.  The first thing I started work on was the looped link, as it follows the same technique as the rest of the necklace, making sure that I kept my loops very large.  After this was completed and attached, I started work on the hook.  With the hook, it was better to connect the necklace, thread the bead on, and then shape the remainder of the wire into a hook shape.  The hook also has another loop on it, so that it does not get caught on anything or scrapes skin.  There will be a tutorial on this in the future, so please, look for this.

At any rate, this is done.  Next major project will probably be some illumination based on either the Rabbula Gospels or the Codex Argenteus, unless I get derailed by some other side project.

Gallo-Roman Necklace - DONE! (well, mostly.)

I finished the Gallo-Roman necklace.  It took about six hours (I did take frequent breaks, so that's some of it), and most of my 24 gauge copper wire, but that was from wrapping all the links.  The time-consuming part - the links - is done.  You can see some of the reason this was so time-consuming in the photo to the left.  Each section required three separate lengths of wrapped beads, connected to a singular link.  In addition to this, the smaller beads are quite a good bit smaller than what I normally wire-wrap, and pearls are quite a bit softer and more easily marred by errant pliers.  That being said, this part is done.  The bad news is that there's still more that I need to do with it - and that is make a clasp.  I have a temporary clasp (because I did wear this to the office to have my coworkers ooh and aah over it), but if I'm going to enter the piece into A&S competition, I want something that is plausibly period - and I want it to look the part.  So, I want to have a clasp that looks right.

So, you see, it's a bit difficult to find beads that look like the original's elongated heart/spade/arrow shape.  I know.  I looked.  You can get kind of close, but I want something that could be a near-perfect replica with the modern materials that I have available.  After talking with one of my friends, who happens to be a Laurel, he suggested that I look at getting gold-clad brass sheet, cutting out the shapes, putting a crease in those shapes, soldering both sides together, and then running the wire through to complete the clasp.

I've never soldered.  Most of the metalwork I do involves cutting and wrapping wire around itself.  That being said, provided I can get assistance and help, this could be doable.  Hopefully, once I learn this technique, I can move onto other ones, like piercework, which was also used in Byzantine jewellery.

Oooh! Purple!

I found some gorgeous amethyst a few days ago that I'm using in an interpretation of the Gallo-Roman necklace.  The original piece uses emeralds, according to the Louvre, but emeralds are a bit cost-prohibitive right now, and amethyst is found world-wide.  There is even a variant of amethyst that's called rose de France, which is a rather light shade of purple.  Now, the amethyst I have is emphatically not this shade of purple, but this is where I'm going to be a bit more creative and take a few more liberties with the process.  The larger pieces of amethyst are from my veritable hoard of amethyst, and it pairs decently well with the darker purple of the smaller pieces. 

At the same time, I've finished another piece - the bead-along piece.  It will be headed off to its owner soon (my friend Anna, of Anna's Rome).  You might notice the change in the green materials - I found some agate or bloodstone (I can't remember which it is) and used this as my emeralds still have not been recovered.  I find it interesting the simplicity of this single strand between locations in the time-space continuum, but at the same time, the similarity of materials only affirms the Roman aesthetic and use of colour between cultures.  It is utterly fascinating to me.

So, back to the Gallo-Roman piece: it's very nearly complete.  I will need to do another set of the freshwater pearls, and then another set of the amethyst, and then I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do about the clasp, as I haven't found an acceptably-shaped bead yet.  If needed, I may see what I can do about getting some Precious Metal Clay in gold, and make two leaf/blade-shaped beads to put on wire and to use as the clasp.

Roman Wirework Jewellery

Now that you have all of your parts assembled for making your own Roman-style jewellery, let's get started.

Step 1: Assemble your materials and equipment and ready your work area

Staying organized will make the project go faster (because you won't be searching for parts or tools). Making sure your work area is clear will also aid in clean up. When I make jewelry, I usually have a plate or a piece of fabric underneath my beads so that they don't roll away and get lost. It's also good to have a photo of your inspiration close by so you can match up as close as you can. (Remember, though, this is recreating with modern materials. You may not be able to make an exact replica, and that's okay.)  You'll notice that the beads are kept in little tins - these were cleaned out candy tins, and they're quite convenient for travel.  They're also quite convenient to keep your materials all in one spot.  So, while not necessary to have, they are nice to have around.

 

Step 2: Straighten your wire

Wire often comes on spools, and therefore can cause kinking if the wire isn't straightened. Straighten your wire by unspooling small portions of it (about 6 to 12 inches at a time), and making it as straight as possible. If you choose to not work from the spool, take this time to cut your wire into three-inch segments It may seem like a lot, but you'll need the wire. If you choose to work from the spool, do not cut your wire now.

Step 3: Make and wrap a loop

Loop-making is the first part of making a component for your necklace. When you make a loop, you will go about an inch from the end, take your roundnose pliers, about an inch from the end of the wire and make a 90° bend, so that the wire makes an upside-down L-shape with a loop.   The next step is to wrap the loop, where you will take the short tail and wrap it around the longer portion. To do this, hold the loop with the roundnose pliers in one hand, and wrap the tail with the chainnose pliers with the other. Be careful, and don't pull too hard, as this can damage the loop. Go around the longer portion at least twice.  This will give it a neat, finished appearance, and was done in period.

You will end up with a loop that has a wrapped portion with a small tail. Take your side cutters, and snip off the tail.

SAFETY ALERT: The tails fly off when you cut them, so do not aim them at people or animals. In fact, if you have a small box to aim the wire into, please use that to help contain the debris. The flying debris is moving fast enough that it may damage what it hits, so please, be careful.

After you have snipped the tail off, use your chainnose pliers to smooth down the remaining part of the tail. This can be fiddly, so be patient. After you're done, cut the wire at about inch and a half below the loop, which should give you enough room to enough so that you can repeat the loop on the other side of your bead. Your loop should look like this.

Step 4: Bead your looped wire

This is where you stick your bead onto your wire. If the bead does not fit, try reaming out the bead with a reamer. If you do not have a reamer, look through other beads to see if you can fnd some that fit the wire better. If you cannot find one that works, try switching to a wire with a higher-number gauge. (remember, though, that the higher the wire gauge, the smaller the wire circumference and the easier it is for the bead to saw through the wire and break.)

Step 5: Make a second wrapped loop

This part can be tricky, so be patient. When you make your second loop, give yourself a bit of room (a couple of millimeters) between the bead and the bottom of the loop, so that you have room to wrap it.  You may also need to move the wraps closer to one another with your pliers, and this can be time consuming, but will make for a better-looking piece of jewellery.

Once it is wrapped, you will be ready to start connecting loops together.  This will test your patience, so take a break every so often and let your hands rest, as this can be difficult.  It is also important to ensure that the holes are big enough to thread another loop through.  I say this, because the next part will involve threading the loop through the next link through its loops.

Follow the directions for wrapping a loop (see Step 3), and snip off the end, bearing in mind the safety precautions. Your beaded component is done, and should look like this.

Putting Your Necklace Together

Once you get the first of your beaded components finished, the next part is to start the process over, taking care to link the next bit of wire through the preceding link to connect them all.

If you look to the side, you can see how it's put together.  It's the same general idea as above, but the chain will get longer and longer as you connect more pieces to it through the loops.

This particular piece has alternating freshwater pearl and amethyst, until it gets to the middle, where it then will have three green beads of some kind.  The general rule of most jewellery is to have a sense of rhythm and colour coordination, and the Romans and the Byzantines were no exception.  If you take a look at pieces found at the V&A, The Met, and The Walters, you will see a strong sense of colour, a sense of repeating components (a rhythm, if you will) in the materials being used, and a quality of materials.

One of the cool things is looking at the areas and what they were famous for trading in, on a gemological level.  Another one of the cool things is looking at the geological make-up of Constantinople and Rome, and how this influenced jewellery in the area.

Most necklaces in this style are short, nearly choker length necklaces.  Wear what is comfortable for you.  When I make these, I try to bear in mind that the wearer may have a larger neck than the typical Byzantine or Roman noblelady, and that making it slightly larger is okay.  To match the approximate length of what appears in the mosaics at Ravenna, make your necklace to fit the base of your neck.  It should be close-fitting, but not much longer.

Finishing the Necklace, or Oh My!  I Get to Wear This!

When it comes to a point to put the toggle on, you will need to use jumprings for additional flexibility.  Jumprings are not period, however, being able to wear your new piece of jewellery in comfort is pretty beneficial.



When you use jump rings, open them using two sets of pliers (I currently use a set of chainnose and roundnose pliers, but flatnose pliers can be used), taking care to open them by twisting the cut ends away from each other. When you're ready to close your rings, twist them closed.

The finished piece should look very much like this.  Of course, this piece isn't completely done, as I will need to go and add the green beads to this, but it should give you a taste of what to look for.

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments!

-K

You'll have to pardon me . . .

100_0507, a photo by constantiak on Flickr.

. . . but squee!

I had donated this piece for the Knowne World Auction (that took place at Pennsic this year, and I got the results of how much this collar raised. Half of the proceeds went to my kingdom, or to the artisan's indicated kingdom, which in my case was Calontir, and the other half of the monies raised went to the SCA as a whole.

This collar raised $100. My Laurel pointed out that as a relatively unknown artist in the SCA, this is fantastic. (and for me, it's not far from what I would probably charge someone commissioning me to make something similar.) I was also told that the collar "was lifted up and the assembled crowd went 'ahhhhhhhhhhh'", and that, as an artisan, makes me feel awesome.

For those of you wondering about the materials I used: gold-plated brass links, Swarovski pearls, and Czech Druk beads, in addition to 4mm jumprings and permanently coloured copper wire.  Not seen is a chain on the back and the clasp, which is also gold-plated brass.  I'm fairly sure the construction isn't entirely period, but it does look very much like similar pieces seen in later period paintings.

So, thank you, mystery buyer, whoever you are! Not only for helping the SCA, but also for making me feel awesome.

-K

Gallo-Roman necklace, mid-3rd c. (Louvre BJ586)

necklace, gold with emeralds and pearls, Gallo-Roman, mid-3rd c. (Louvre BJ586), a photo by Atelier Sol on Flickr.

I'm going to take a brief trip outside of Byzantine jewellery to look at this Gallo-Roman piece. I am uncertain if it is currently on display at the Louvre, but it's a lovely little piece, and it's one that I hope to recreate, even if it is much earlier than my persona.

That being said, there is a multi-stranded necklace in Theodora with Attendants (which is one of two of my go-to resources for art contemporary to my persona) that may resemble something like this, but like most two-dimensional pieces of art, it is hard to tell.

One more thing - check out the clasp! I've seen similar leaf-shaped clasps that have been made commercially. It would also not be hard to create one with commercially-produced products, either.

Via Flickr:
Provenance: Rouen (possibly)
l : 39.5 cm

photo source: RMN

Sixth Century Byzantine Necklace Supply List

As I've stated in my first post, I'm passionate about Roman and Byzantine jewellery.  One of the wonderful things about the Information Age is that museums like the V&A, The Met, and The Walters have digitised most, if not all of their collections.  For those of us who can't afford to make a trip out to the museums, it saves us not only money, but these photos are often available to researchers of all levels, from hobbyists to professionals.  What's even better is that sometimes, they're under Creative Commons licensure, so, blogs like this (and pinterest, and pretty much anything involving the blogosphere) can use their photos with attribution.

So, I got a commission to make something very similar to this necklace, using as many period materials as I could get my hands on.  The best part is that the materials used in this piece, with the exception of the clasp, are relatively easy to get a hold of.

Here's your supply list so you can make this necklace alongside me.  Most of the parts I got at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Fire Mountain Gems, Michaels, or Joann, or most craft stores.  If you're lucky to have a bead store in relatively close proximity, that is also not a bad place to look for your supplies, but beware - sometimes the boutiques can charge more than the big box or the internet retailers.  Comparison shop.  It will help keep your costs low.

Supplies
Freshwater pearls
Tumbled amethyst chunks
Green glass beads or rough cut emerald beads
Toggle
4mm jumprings
Round-nose pliers
Needle nose pliers
Wire cutters
20, 22, or 24 gauge gold coloured wire (I'm using copper wire)
Bead reamer - not necessary, but may be nice to have on hand

One of the things I'd like to note with materials is that you can fake any of this with cheaper materials.  I prefer using freshwater pearls (and in the photo below, you can see that I had my choice between type of pearls.  From the left - small freshwater button pearl, larger freshwater potato-shaped pearl, small glass pearl, and lastly, a much larger Swarovski pearl), however, use what you have on hand.  If you like Swarovski pearls, or are making this project for a singular event, don't spend a lot of money on something that you're only going to wear once or twice.  That being said, I can find, locally, in my midwestern American city, 16" strands of freshwater pearls anywhere from $2-$4 in the sizes that I need.

Another fun thing is that occasionally, places like Walmart can occasionally surprise you and have what you need in stock.  A couple years ago, at my local Walmart, I found tumbled amethyst chunks for $2 a strand, and I hoarded as many of them as I could get my hands on.  Occasionally, depending on trends in jewellery, beads that are useful for a particular historical period become popular.

Sandcast glass beads

Emerald beads

Since my client was given a choice between emeralds and glass, and chose emeralds, I'm posting photos of what you can use.  The original uses rather tubular pressed glass, but I've made similar necklaces using sandcast glass, and in this case, emeralds.  The great thing about looking at the geological makeup of the area (and consequently, the Empire's trading partners) is that it's reflected in jewellery of the area.  Again, the glass I got on sale, something like $0.99 a strand at Hobby Lobby.  The emerald was a gift, but Fire Mountain sells rough cut emerald beads for relatively inexpensively (though, they will totally be, more than likely, the most expensive part of your project, especially since you need three beads for it).

The closure can sometimes be the most difficult part of the piece.  Unless you're into doing piercework on gold (and as of the writing of this entry, the price of gold is $1,761.25, so not feasible for many SCAdians), or can find hooks that work (and I've had a very difficult time finding those that might work), toggles are sometimes a great compromise point, especially since most people won't look for the toggle in the first place.  I specifically chose a toggle with granulation, as this is a period technique.  This brings me to the point of jumprings, and why I have them listed.  I like using jumprings to attach the necklace to the toggles, as it can be difficult to allow enough room for the toggle in the technique of wire-wrapping the links.  By using a jumpring, it allows flexibility to use the toggle in opening and closing the necklace, reduces the chance of metal fatigue on the link, and if one wishes to replace the toggle with something else (like a hook and eye closure, which is more similar to the one on the extant piece), they can.

The wire is just as important as anything else you're using.  This particular piece needs a fairly hefty wire, especially as wire in period is a bit more coarse than the drawn wire we have now.  The original (based on what I can guesstimate), probably used what we would call 18 gauge wire.  It's thick, hefty, and again, made of gold.  Modern beads are often not drilled wide enough in most cases (and as much as bead reamers can help, drilling amethyst can be a pain.  So, I used what wire I had that would easily and cleanly pass through the beads.  (Reamers can still sometimes help, but bear in mind that they can only do so much.)

Finally, the tools you need.  If you have a set of rosary pliers, you can use these to get some fantastic loops, but I find that I have issues in cutting the excess wire off close to the base with their side cutters.  I have a pair of end cutters that help me get nice flush cuts, but before I had my end cutters, I had a pair of side cutters that I will still use to help me get the excess trimmed to size.  I use two pairs of pliers, round and needlenose pliers to help with the wrapping technique - the round to get perfectly round loops, and the needlenose pliers to help me shape the wire further.

Whew.  That's a lot.  I hope this is detailed enough, and if you have questions, please feel free to comment - I'll try and answer why I'm using the things I'm using.

Next in this series is the construction of this particular type of necklace!

-Konstantia