How to make a embossed Vindonissa cingulum plate.

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

Hello,

I have the idea to post a tutorial to make, relatively easily, a embossed cingulum plates as some ones founded at Vindonissa (Windisch, Switzerland).

Some german artist have made those plates, but i think casting the pieces, and not embossing that as was made with originals.

I have used only "roman" tools, without any electrical tool. During the tutorial you will see that kind of tools.

First of all, you have to choose the design. I have choose one with some cercles intersecting, decorated with punctim and cercles embossed. Is something like that the one at the left of the picture:



First step is to cut brass rectangles from a sheet of 0'5 mm. The roman belp plates were very thin. The dimensions i have used are 5 cm of height, and 8 cm of wide. You have to think that the final wide will be lesser, because some material are rolled to form the lateral tubes.

Second step is to mark 1 lines at 1'5 of each side. Those are the material reserved to form the lateral tubes. These lines define a square of 5 cm of side.

Now, with a pen we mark two lines that join the corners of the square. The point were the two lines intersected are the center.