ancient roman jewelry (question)

[x0xmanda]

hello fellow craftsters!!
Next week is the IJCL (indiana junior classical league) Convention at IU (i know, total dorkdorm! but i love it!) annd i so happen seem to have entered myself in the jewelry competition! i dont make much jewelry, but it seemed like a fun competition to try, plus the entries last year were like made out of playdough

So could you gals offer some advice on how to make any of these, or some other ancient roman jewelry? Thanks!! (I'm thinking Sculpey and paint, how bout you?)
1.
2.[/size]
3. 4.

[talyra]

Dunno if this is too late, but here goes...

Number three you'd need either some serious silversmithing skills or pretty good wire working abilities. Number two could be done pretty easily with polymer clay. The others I'd do with twisted wrapped wire - the first one especially could be done with poly clay and wire. It looks like that one unhooks to slip on, but if I were you I'd just make the bangle big enough to slip on over my wrist - you'll get the look and it'll be much easier. Twist together two strands of fairly hefty goldtone wire (16 or 18 gauge) till they don't unravel and look fairly even, bend them around something like a Pringles can to get the shape and cut the ends. You can make the cab setting out of Sculpey (embed a big red glass pebble or something into a Sculpey base, sculpt details as required) and embed the ends in the back of it. You can bake both the glass cab and the wire as your oven ain't gonna get hot enough to melt either one!

[x0xmanda]

that was really helpful, thanks!! and no its not too late... competition starts friday (3/7)

[Ryoruki]

AHH!!! I'm an OJCL alum! -love live latin club!-

speaking from experience... you'll get better marks if you use metal, but the sculpty idea will work well too if you're detailed enough about it. i always entered the costume division myself, but jewelry is usually pretty cool too! i would recommend using either different colored clay, or actual stones if you can instead of paint though, it'll look better. I'm not sure how shiney sculpty is, but if it's not very, then i'd suggest putting some sort of gloss coat on.

aaa~hhh now i'm regretting not continuing with latin and latin club! hope you have fun!

[Buglady]

Too late, rats! I hope it went well

If you do it again next year, I have seen a number of late Roman necklaces made with wire bead links. Each bead was on its own bit of wire with a single-wrapped loop on each side, and the loops linked together. One really striking piece, 5th C CE from Tunisia, had natural emeralds, pearls and carnelian beads, on gold wire.

In general, Roman jewellery used a lot of gold wire and semiprecious stones in fairly deep colours. They liked natural and twining forms, and earrings often had crescent shaped elements (these are also described as "boat shapes").

I, um, kind of have a degree in Classics I think that makes me officially a total geek.

[x0xmanda]

actually it got postponed due to weather!  i was bummed cuz i had to change my work schedule around AGAIN to get two days off... anyway now its this weekend
thanks for your help!