Ancient Roman-style Earrings Make a Comeback in Renaissance Italy

Well, look what I spotted in this portrait. Ancient Roman style earrings!

Portrait of a Lady by a Follower of Bronzino

Image from: http://www.li.ru/interface//pda/?jid=4199753&pid=357459728

Some Faiyum Mummy Portraits-

Image from: http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/fayum6.jpg

Image from: http://images.rom.on.ca/public/index.php?function=image&action=simpledetail&image_name=ROM2004_1017_17

Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342977327847430803/

I decided to make some to go with the necklace I strung recently.

The gold glass beads were threaded onto small gold wire headpins. I only used one bead (as opposed to two or three as in the photo) because I didn't want the earrings to be too long.

I bent the headpin around a metal knitting needle to get the right size loop. Then I adjusted the loop with jewellery pliers.

I originally planned to use these earring hooks as they are closer to what was worn in the Renaissance, but the earrings didn't sit properly when attached to them.

The finished earrings

The completed set.

More Roman Earrings

Over the last month or two, I have been making some more Roman earrings with a view to possibly selling some in the future.

Pearl Roman Earrings

Continuing with the Roman garb-making theme, I also made a pair of freshwater pearl earrings-

Similar earrings can be seen in the Fayum mummy portraits below. I omitted the pearl at the top of the bar (where the earring hook joins the end bar) because I did not have any pearls of matching size and shape that would suit.



Image from: http://rebloggy.com/post/art-stare-ancient-art-john-berger-coptic-mummy-portraits-faiyum-mummy-portraits/58488181973
(I love this whole outfit!)


Image from: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Fayum5.html



Image from: http://foundinantiquity.com/2013/10/11/a-gallery-of-fayum-portraits/#jp-carousel-910

Blue and Silver Roman Earrings

As I mentioned in the last post, I will soon need a Roman outfit. I love making accessories (especially jewellery) because it provides almost instant impact for an outfit, and is usually relatively fast. Today I made a pair of earrings up in the Roman style. The findings are silver, and the stones are natural gemstones marketed as 'blue tiger's eye'. I used short silver eye hooks and end bars to make the earrings.

I use the little eye hook to bend the end of the eye hook around to make a neat loop.

The open end of the loop is threaded onto one of the holes on the bottom of the end bar and closed over.

When all the beaded eye hooks were attached, I added the earring hooks.

I also made up a simple string of blue glass beads to go with the earrings. The beads are strung on tiger tail wire and secured with crimps.

Although the beads are not all the same shade of blue, I think they make a nice set:

This jewellery was inspired by the Fayum mummy portraits, especially this image-

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fayum-13.jpg