My dear friend Vestia Antonia Aurelia was Laureled (a lifetime achievement award for the arts and sciences in the SCA) this past weekend.  She does Roman and Minoan portrayals. I wanted to make something for her, and for another friend, Marya Kargashina, who joined the Order of the Laurels a few months ago. Since both Romans and Russians used lunulas (worn by women as protective charms), I decided to make these. The third one went to Julia Sempronia, my first official Roman teacher. ❤

The first design had balls at the ends. I was cutting these out of 18 ga sterling silver sheet. I used a leaf stamp in two sizes, plus a little dot to create the laurel leaves. The screwy one on the left was improved by the addition of more leaves. Once I was happy with the designs, I set to with a saw, then file file file!!!

I had some leftover doubled wire from making my husband’s wedding ring, and used it for two of the bails. For the third, I cut out a rectangle of sheet silver, and soldered beaded wire on either side. The surface where they attached to the back was then filed flat before soldering.

 I would have loved to leave them like this, aesthetically, but the points were a bit stabby and I didn’t want to draw blood with hugs, so I softened them with more filing. I think I did some burnishing after this pic was taken, too.

After blackening one (top left), I decided I liked it so much I did all three. It makes me very happy to be able to create things for my friends! ❤