Art lessons inspired by our ancestors

We’re rich! Dripping with gold and silver, gems and semi-precious stones the children at St Faith’s have been designing their own jewellery inspired by our Anglo-Saxons ancestors.

Taking inspiration from the arts and craft techniques brought to this country over 1000 years ago, Year 3 set to work creating the most stunning plans to make their own Anglo-Saxon brooch.

The brooches were initially sculpted in clay. Cracks were smoothed away using water, intricate pieces were scored and attached, features were cut away to create interesting shapes and marks were made to add pattern and detail.

After a week of drying, the brooches then began to really come to life as the painted detail was added. First a base coat of white acrylic was applied to give a plain background surface to work on; next the fancy detailed metallic coloured paints gave the brooches their shiny metal appearance. Finally, the brooches gained their ‘bling’ as the precious gems were inlaid (with PVA glue!)

As I’m sure you’ll agree, any fashion conscious Anglo-Saxon would be proud to be seen out and about with any one of these latest, most stylish, brooches of the season.