Late 16th Century Belt

Tintoretto Portrait of a Lady

Over the last several months I have been haunting the jewelry sections at my local craft stores and beading shops. My goal has been to find supplies to make a new belt. There are plenty a beautiful pieces on the market right now,  just not what I was looking for. Being picky with my design also gave me time to research pieces.

The two principal styles of belts worn by middle to upper class Venetian woman  between 1550 and 1600 could be thought of as jewelry more than accessories as we see them today. The first style wraps around the waist and has a tail dangling down the center front of wearers' skirts. Style number two also wraps around the wearer's body, but does not extend down. It appears that wealthier women would have a large "belt buckle" while the middle class would simply hook the two ends together. I already have 3 belts with dangling pieces, so I decided to try the second style.

Cross from the late 16th century.
Gold with Enamel work, emeralds, and pearls.
Royal Collection RCIN 9051

the next big decision was materials.

The idea of emeralds is appealing because of my role in the SCA as an apprentice. Hazel Forsyth discusses the use of emeralds in 16th and 17th century jewelry in her book The Cheepside Hoard: London's Lost Jewels. Emeralds at the time were coming from the New World.  During the conquest,  Spain established mines I. Columbia to pull out precious ore and emerald. The emeralds were  then sent back to the court of the king of Spain and were traded across Europe, specifically to Venice (FORSYTH 134-135). Emeralds are a soft gemstone and at this time were not cut with many facets.

Gold Pendant of a Centar.
Met Museum of Art, New York.
1982.60.381

Pearls and gold are two of the most widely used materials in jewelry from this time frame. Royal inventories, wills, and art are filled with these precious materials. Many Venetian brides are seen wearing pearl necklaces. Pearls are sewn into the clothing and embroideries of the day. There are even accounts of fake pearls being made in Venice from beads and fish scales.  My research on pearls lead to this astounding portrait of Elizabeth I's favorite, Lord Robert Dudley. His necklace here is made of what I am going to call pearl cages. This treatment became one of the focal points of my belt design because it is an easy technique for me to reproduce without skills in casting or metal work. It did not take me too long to realize casting gold pieces and insetting real emeralds into them was not going to happen with this project. I chose to do something I could safely do in apartment without spending our life savings on materials or equipment. Someday I will return to research metal work in more detail I hope. I originally played with threading beads onto eye pins, but I did not like the extra work of crimping off each set of pearls.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. 1560-1565
Painting attributed to Steven van der Meulen
Now Resides in Wallace Collection, Image from Wikipedia 

Construction of the Belt

Materials:
6 -7inch strands of freshwater pearls roughly 4mm
18-20  Green Czech glass "gems" roughly 1 inch long.
Gold Plated or Filled spacer beads and cap beads
1 jewelry hook
Large Pendant
Crimp beads
Nylon Coated beading Wire
Pliers

Step 1- Measure around your waist and down the point of the gown the belt will be worn with. Take this measurement and add 12 inches. This will be the length of your belt. To use fewer crimp beads you can make pieces double the length for step 2. I made a belt with 3 strands. If you make one with 4 strands of pearls expect to use 3 more strands of pearls.

Step 2- Wrap wire around a piece of open work on one side your pendant. Once lengths are all uniform again, you can crimp the wires again to secure them from sliding out using your pliers.

Step 3- Create your pattern. On my belt I used 2 gold spacer beads, one gold cap bead, green glass bead, gold cap bead and gold spacer bead to run all of my wires through. This will create an anchor point of your floating strands of pearls. Bead 5 pearls onto each strand of wire separately. Start original pattern again and slide all wires through your anchor pattern. When you pull the wires tight through your anchor pattern it will create "cages" of pearls.

Step 4- Repeat your beading pattern until piece makes your desired length.

Step 5- Finishing your piece. I prefer my belt look symmetrical. End pattern on  a repeat that will mirror  your beginning of the piece. Slide on a crimp bead and then your jewelry hook. Put your wires through the crimp bead and your spacer beads. Pull wires taught and crimp bead down. Hide wires in your beading pattern and trim excess.

Finished Belt