I know I told some of you the next post would be about patterning clothes, but Mark got super excited about making Rus’ items from things around the house so, we’re going to show you how to make simple Krivitchian tribe temple rings from a coat hanger. You’re welcome.

First, who the hell are the Krivitchians, am I right? (I don’t know why but Slavic tribe names crack me up) The Krivichians were a tribe that spanned from around the Volga river down to the top of the Dneipr river and the finds from Smolensk and Gnezdovo are are largely made up of their wares.

Now, to construction. So, we are making these temple rings out of a hanger. Tools are mostly going to also be things you already have with maybe one or two exceptions so let’s talk about those. And please wear safety gear; glasses and gloves. This is metal, you can hurt yourself.

Items and tools needed:
-wire hanger
-sharpie
-measuring tape
-wire cutters (please don’t try to use scissors)
-file or sandpaper
-ball peen hammer
-some kind of hard surface (I do not recommend tables, wood floors or tile)
-round nose jewelry pliers (any craft store and most big box stores will have them)
-dowel (for this demo, it is an inch diameter, hanger metal doesn’t like to go smaller, but you can go bigger)
– gold or silver leaf paint (optional)

*An important note: If you don’t have a ball peen or round nose pliers you CAN just use a regular hammer and needle nose pliers. Ball peen and round nose definitely make the job easier but you can still do it without them.

The good thing about this project is that if you do it to an inch diameter, you can make a couple sets out of one hanger, which is particularly nice, if you are like me and botch at least one set before you get it right.

First you are going to go ahead and cut off the hook part of the hanger. You can’t use it, removing it will help you work the metal and it’s also a lot safer without it.

Next, you’re going to measure off two four inch pieces and mark them with your sharpie. Don’t worry if it goes into the curved part of the hanger, you’ll hammer that end out.

Now, use the wire cutters to cut both the pieces.

Next you will mark three inches out on both pieces. The inch past it will be flattened and made into the s-curve.

Use the file to smooth of the edges. Even though you are flattening one edge, it is easier to file it now and it will make touchups easier after it’s flattened as well.

Now, using your hard surface (here, he used a railroad tie) and the ball peen hammer, you’ll hammer that inch section flat. The best way to go about this is a couple strikes with the flat end then switch over to the ball end to flatten it out evenly then use the flat end again for a couple strikes just to even things out. This is the hardest step if you aren’t used to this kind of work, so don’t worry if it doesn’t work out quite right at first. This metal is pretty forgiving and you also have several more pieces to try it again. Once you have the end flat and even, you can clean up any rough edges with the file or sandpaper.

Next we are going to use the round nose pliers to create that S-curve.

Grab the metal at the tip between the pliers.

Now rotate the metal towards the wire until the end is almost touching metal. This should give you a little loop.

Now grab the wire again on the flat part half way between the loop and where the flat part ends.

Then you will twist the metal towards the wire again but in the opposite direction, again until the metal is almost touching metal again. It should lay over onto the round part of the wire, so don’t be concerned.

Next, get out your dowel. Mark used a metal one, but anything of the right diameter will work as this metal is fairly soft, so get creative if you don’t have exactly the right thing. Chair legs, broom handles, cookware, whatever works.

Hold it to the dowel just below the s-curve. You will finish shaping it off the dowel and don’t want to ruin the loops you’ve just made so you don’t want them to be curved onto the dowel. This grip also allows you better control of the wire.

Now you should be able to just bend the wire around the dowel but you can use a hammer gently or roll it on the ground if you are having trouble.

Next, you’ll slide it off the dowel. Depending on the size you used, you may have a large gap, a little gap or hardly any gap.

You don’t have to close it but I recommend it, mostly so it doesn’t get caught on stuff. You can also pull it in past your s-curve if you feel like you can maintain the circular shape. All three ways appear to have been done in period. Now you can be done. Bronze temple rings are completely period and you don’t have to get fancier that that. However, if you are so inclined you can take gold or silver leaf and gild your temple rings.

Gilt temple rings have been found in many graves, I’m even lucky enough to have been gifted a couple extant pieces with gilt still on them.Now all that is left is to sew them on to a headband or weave them into your hair.

Congratulations, you just made your first pair of authentic looking temple rings! No one will ever know they came from a dry-cleaners unless you tell them.