Steps to Making an Ancient Roman Necklace

Julius Caesar was one of the most famous ancient Romans.

Ancient Romans advanced many new styles in jewelry. Making jewelry in one of their most famous styles, the pendant, can teach you about making jewelry, as well as giving children a fun way to learn about history. By selecting a famous ancient Roman, and making a pendant of their bust a beautiful decoration is inspired by history, both in form and in content.

Pick a Historical Figure

This might be the most fun part of the project. Look through history books and websites to find a person that appeals to you. One of the more interesting aspects of Roman culture was that the Romans had a religion with many gods, so you might want to select one of them for your pendant. After selecting your subject, write down a few things about why you selected that subject, so you can tell anyone who asks.

Draw Bust onto Pendant

Take a piece of tinfoil, and draw a sketch of the subject on the foil. One of the nice things about foil is that you can "draw" with the pressure of a pen or pencil, instead of the ink or lead itself. Perhaps your drawing skills are not that great, and you might want to create a border around the drawing that spells out the name, so that it is abundantly clear, and attractive.

Decorate Pendant

Once the bust is drawn, it's time to decorate the pendant. First, decide the shape you would like the pendant to be. Cut that shape. Next, choose what you would like the backing material to be. More foil, construction paper, and even wood are all good options. This is a good point to add any additional flourishes that you might like, such as stick-on gems and glitter. Be creative.

Attach to necklace

The last step is to attach your pendant to a necklace. You can choose whatever material you would like: leather, fabric or metal all work. Poke a hole in whatever is the backing material and thread the necklace through that. If you want to be fancier, you can also attach a ring through the hole, and run the chain right through that.

References

• Roman Jewelry
• The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire