How do you make a gold greek or athenian crown or headpiece with snakes?

Answer 1

A sculptor can approach this in many different ways.

The most relevant question is, are we making a prop for theatre/larp or an authentic replica?

Also, are you asking how did they make such a crown in ancient times, or are you asking how would one be made today?

In any case, the basic sculpting methods for metal are: casting, embossing and cutting. Many artisans use all three together to create the result they want.

First step in every process is planning. The artisan creates design drafts, and concept art. Usually several until she is satisfied the look & feel of the crown she is about to make.

Then she makes construction plan, designing the how she will make the little details, how many parts she needs etc. This is often called a blueprint: a detailed scheme of the parts needed. At this point all measures need to be achieved. Who is going to wear the crown, how wide the circlet must be, how heavy the crown may be etc. This is very important part and will be revised several times, until all facts are told. If total calculation of the material's weight surpasses the maximum weight tolerated, the plans must be revisited, until the mass is tolerable.

Gold is very heavy and expensive material. That is why many headpieces are merely gilded or overlaid with gold. This means the budget will affect heavily on the design how to make the crown. Usually all jewelry headpieces are made of silver and then gilded. A lot cheaper and lighter that way.

If I'd make a theatrical or larp piece, I would just make it out of chicken wire and layers of paper strips attached with glue or plaster or dough and paint it golden.

But if we are making the real thing, then we forward on step three.

At this point onward she just works step by step, piece by piece according to her construction plan. It may take days, weeks or months, depending on the detailing of the crown. A simple circlet can be done in twenty minutes, but adding the serpents requires first making the serpents and then attaching them to the circlet one by one, so it takes time.

Also working with precious (expensive) material like gold or silver, one has to take special care collecting all the residue when processing the crown. As every little swarf and dust particle can be melted and used again. This is usually achieved by working on a velvet fabric, which collects the dust.

The fastest way to make several serpents is by casting. But if you want them all to be unique, you need to make as many molds. Today casting is very easy, but in the ancient times one had to be a master to control the process (as no computers or machines were available to monitor temperatures etc.).

The other way to make the serpents would be the embossing, this would also result in much lighter serpents, as they would be hollow in the centre. Embossing squirmy serpents out of sheet metal is not an easy task, one needs some practising and the seam has to be carefully planned.

In modern day, I would just buy factory made light walled copper pipes and batter them into serpents and afterward gild them. If it has to be fully golden, then make golden tubes first out of the sheet.

The fourth step would be attaching the serpents around the circlet and then testing the weight balance, to see how it sits on the head and adjusting and adjusting until it would sit perfectly. If the decoration is located mostly on the frontal part of the headpiece, you might need to add counterweight to the backside of the headpiece... maybe a strip of lead, hidden inside the circlet.

After adjusting is done, it is time for the final step, the finishing. Whether it is paint or gild, you clean the piece carefully of all crease and residue first. Cleaning precious metals, casted copper, silver or gold, one might need to submerge the entire thing into acid to remove all residue from casting.

After the final layer, you let it dry/cool and then you polish it and apply decorative gems, if any.

And your headpiece will be ready for use.