Making a Byzantine Necklace Clasp Part 1 (Repost)

This was originally posted on Blogger in January of 2020. Reposted here with the same photos and some slightly tweaked text.

So I want to show you two ways of finishing your necklace, both valid. A basic hook and eye, made cold with just pliers, is readily documented to Roman occupied regions from at least the 1st century BCE to about the fall of the empire. Once you get into the 5th-6th centuries CE, you start seeing more complicated filigree hooks and eyes. There’s definitely overlap, and there’s evidence of filigree before that point. What I’m saying is that either of these methods work, the complexity of the finished piece is more representative of the wealth and station of the owner, as well as the skill of the craftsman, rather than necessarily the exact time period. (The style of chain in my first post on this subject can also be seen through that same several hundred year period.)

Fun fact, the cost of jewelry in the Empire seems to have been based on the weight of the gold more than the style, so price did not necessarily drive style.

Anyway, a basic hook and eye is really easy! If you made the chain, you’ve been making eyes for a while now! I wanted to use a sturdier wire for my fastening, so I simply made one more link, without a bead, exactly the way I made all the other links, just using 16 gauge wire instead of 20. 16 gauge is super beefy. 18 or 20 is just fine in brass, and I’ve used 20 and 18 in silver as well. I wouldn’t go less than 20, though. And make sure you work harden it. You do that by working it through your fingers a bit before forming, or by beating the finished hook with a rubber or hide mallet (something soft enough that won’t deform the metal).

For the hook, it’s even easier. Form a hook on one end of a piece of wire (a few centimeters in length). Then attach it to the other end of your chain the same as all the other links. Six years after writing this, I like to do it the other way around. I like to attach a straight wire and then form the hook, but both ways work.