Fibula

Steel rod with bone and brass beads.

Lessons learned:  For this purpose, 1/8-inch steel is much too heavy.  Shaping it required a lot of annealing and forging.  The rod is also too stiff, making it difficult to clasp and unclasp, and pressing on the bow of the fibula in the process puts a lot of pressure that I fear will eventually crack the bone beads, even though they're not packed together.  And, of course, I wasted a lot of time enlarging the stringing holes on each bead (except the small smooth brass ones).

The bone beads are from an inexpensive packet I got at A.C. Moore.  The brass ones are from Crazy Crow.  Actually, the smooth brass beads are copper-plated.

I would like to try again with a thinner steel, in 1/12 or even 1/16-inch if I can find it.  I also wanted to incorporate fewer metal beads and some animal horn ones.