Making appliqués for a Lorica Cuirass Musculata cold castin

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Original Roman Gorgons on armor


My cold cast appliqué



Authenticity alert! I should have carved a negative image into stone with a hammer & chisel, melted down a few gold bars and poured the molten metal in... sorry but, that's just a wee bit beyond my abilities so I had to go with a more modern equivalent... cold casting.

To make the molds I softened the plasteline clay in the microwave for about 60 seconds and then pushed my small gorgon broach into the clay and engraved myself some wings, along with a small eagles head, and a snake ribbon under the chin (all of which are standard motif for a Roman Gorgon), using the wood clay tools in the images below.

Unfortunately, pretty much no one seems to make the appliqués necessary to copy standard Roman Lorica motif ( I found one set of Gryphons but they cost nearly $200 alone)… so, I needed to make my own.