Cylinder Seals

After many trips to the MET were spent admiring the collection of seals, Ben and I finally tried to make some of our own.  A cylinder is engraved so that it can be rolled into clay to make a recurring picture in relief.  Whatever you carve in will stand out in the clay.

This is an example of a Syrian seal where you can see the cylinder and the image it produces when rolled in clay.  

We spent an afternoon carving our seals out of small cylinders of wax. 

Ben had a very detailed idea for his seal.  He made a scene in an open book of two people sitting with their backs to a tree.  I just made kitties on mine. 

We drilled holes in the finished waxes so that we could string the seals on cords, then had them cast in brass.

They came out really well, and after some finishing work, we made some test impressions in clay. Awesome!!