Saturday, January 2, 2016

Stamped Tokens for Marion & JP/Lylie

At Pennsic I learned (during a class taught by Mistress Tinker from the Mid.) how to stamp beads to make tokens. You can use modern leather stamps (which I did here), or make your own stamps using soapstone. This is a documentable thing. Tinker shared an article with the class. I have the citation at work, and will update this blog post shortly with the information.

Pictures of period examples can be found on the Corning Museum site under the technique filter "stamping" and object type "pendant". The items are labeled as being Roman, or being from the Eaststern Mediterranean/Syria. Dates range from 100-700 c.e., with many pendants falling in the middle of that time range. The pendants seem to be made from transparent glass, in colors such as very dark brown, yellow/brown, amber, and blue/green

The pictures stamped on the pendants vary. Some have one or more animals (such as a lion, tortoise, or birds). Some showed humans (full figures or just busts). Others had both human and animal figures. A few of the pendants featured identifiable Roman mythological figures, such as Medusa and the goddess Victory. However, other religious symbols were also present. A cross, a star and crescent, the chi-ro monogram, the symbol for alpha and omega, and a Greek inscription for "one god" could all be found on the pendants. Clearly, many of the images on these pendants had deep significance and meaning.

The tokens I made have symbolic meaning within the SCA, as I am using aspects of a person's or a groups heraldry.


My Tokens

Tokens for Marion 

 Tokens for JP& Lylie

Picture of the Individual Tokens for JP & Lylie