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.

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

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