It’s so addicting… literally the day I came home from the competition where I presented my paper, I started making this necklace, based on a 1st-3rd century Fayum mummy portrait from Roman-controlled Egypt. The color isn’t showing up well but I used dark green aventurine beads, and they look *just like* the ones in the painting.

Here are a few more I re-created:

 I HAD to remake this hemisphere & shell necklace from Pompeii, even if I had to wire together bit of earring findings to do it! Mine’s on the right. Of all my little projects, this one is the least convincing, but I love it anyway. I hope to learn real metalsmithing techniques and create a better one some day.

This earring style – HUGELY popular in Pompeii in 79CE – is called “crotalia” (rattle) because of the sound they make when you wear them. They have two or three swinging beads each. Mine are on the right. I discussed the security earwire in this post.

    Left: ancient. Right: Mine

Left: Roman/Parthian necklace 1st century BCE to 1st century CE. Carnelian. Right: My versions in garnet (28 ga wire) and Vesuvianite / idocrase (24 ga wire).

If you like these, check out my paper for lots more re-creations, details, and a basic guide to making your own! I’ll be teaching this as a class at some upcoming events.