Cameo corner: Making the silver snake's head bracelet

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The discovery of a rare snake's head bracelet as a result of metal detecting at Warburton gave Time Team the opportunity to try its hand at some Roman jewellery making for this programme. The reconstruction was carried out by Andrew Lacey, a renowned sculptor, bronze founder and specialist in archaeometallurgy. Using the same techniques and materials that would have been used in Roman times, he crafted a beautiful copy of the silver bracelet. Here he explains how he did it.

What materials did you require for the bracelet at Warburton?
Casting the snake bracelet required using beeswax for the sculpting of the snake and the casting system of vents and runners (see below). Clay mixed with sand was used for the mould material and silver was cast into the mould.

What tools did you use?
In modelling the snake in the wax version I used mostly my fingers and a fine wooden or metal tool.

What were the main steps in the process?
First a wax model of the snake was made. Little rods of wax were attached onto this and connected to a small wax funnel. These rods and the funnel are called the 'sprue system' and allow the molten silver to go in to the mould and air to escape.

Sandy clay mixture was then applied to the wax until it was about 15mm thick. This forms the mould. The mould is allowed to dry and then heated up in a charcoal fire, which melts all the wax out.

At the same time that this is happening a small crucible with silver in it is put in another very hot fire so that the silver melts. The mould is then taken out of the fire and placed so that the funnel is facing up. The crucible is taken from the fire and silver poured into the mould.

When the mould and metal are cold, the mould is broken open and the casting revealed. The little runners, vents and funnel that were once wax are now silver and are cut off with a chisel. The final cast snake is then chiselled and punched in order to decorate the surface. Finally the snake is burnished with a steel tool.

What was the hardest part of the bracelet reconstruction?
The most difficult part of the process was getting the clay mould to dry in such a short time and in damp conditions.

Would you change anything if you did the reconstruction again?
I would have liked to have time to have made a bracelet by cold working (hammering) raw silver bars.

Andrew Lacey's website is at www.andrewlacey.com.

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