Go gaga over the Game of Thrones jewellery

On her finger was a golden ring with an emerald the size of a pigeon's egg, on her head a matching tiara," Game of Thrones fans will probably remember the description of the jewellery worn by Cersei Lannister, when her son Joffrey first takes the Iron Throne, after the king's death. The vivid descriptions of the costumes and jewellery in George R.R. Martin's wildly popular books are brought to life in the HBO series, and eagle-eyed fans would have noticed the exquisiteness of each piece of jewellery, be it Joffrey's 'golden' crown or Daenerys Targaryen's dragon brooches.


The Steensons Workshop and Gallery. Image by Avril-Ann Braganza

While the initial concepts were conceived by Game of Thrones designer Michele Clapton, the execution of many of these prominent pieces took place in an unassuming jewellery shop along Northern Ireland's Causeway Coastal Route. On display at Steensons Jewellers are components of the original prototypes. Although not all of them are for sale, the Steensons have a licence from HBO to make and sell a range of Game of Thrones brooches.


The brooches, chain of office for the Hand of the King, Sansa's pendant, the Lannister lion pendants and House of Tyrell roses. Image by Avril-Ann Braganza

Among the pieces at the store is the Chain of Office for The Hand of the King, as pictured around the neck of Jon Arryn, in the episode where his body is laid out in state. The creation of the half-metre-long bronze chain of solid brass hands—weighing over 200g—involved computer-aided design (CAD), hand carving, casting and riveting. Dan Spencer, who has taken over running the Steensons from Bill Steenson (his father-in-law) and who worked on it from start to finish, tells us, "It took two weeks to create; we carved each of the 35 'hand shaped' units by hand and then cast them into bronze. It costs £3,200 to make at the time, but we underestimated the work involved in this piece—it should have been closer to £5,000".

Three fantastic pieces for the Tyrell characters include rose belts for Margaery and her grandmother Lady Olenna and a stunning rose brooch worn by her brother Ser Loras. Each petal was rolled and shaped by hand, using copper clay. Brass wire helped create the delicate vine detailing and a mould of real rose buds was used to cast the beautiful silver bud details.

Of particular interest are Joffrey's crowns, only visible digitally for now. Made from brass and silver, it took 10 days to finish each of these. While Bill Steenson made the first crown, Dan Spencer made the second (which was used for his wedding) as well as Margaery Tyrell's wedding tiara. Joffrey's 'golden' crown was made in sections painstakingly hand-cut from a 5mm brass sheet. The cut antlers were filed by hand to round off the sharp edges, bent and shaped to give them a three-dimensional look and then textured using a bur tool, similar to a dental drill.

The Steensons' workshop. Image by Avril-Ann Braganza

The main headband was made from a brass strip, shaped and textured in the same way as the antlers. Finally, the crown was highlighted with amber gemstones to catch the light and give the piece a rich and royal character. "For his wedding crown," Dan tells us, "we used silicone moulds of real rose buds, to make wax models of each rose, which were then cast into silver." The price of making each crown was £3,500, but Dan says they would be much more valuable now.

If you loved the neck piece Margaery wore on her wedding day, you'd be interested to know that the necklace was created using CAD software, cast in sterling silver and plated with rose gold. It is hand-set with five oval and round moonstones, three blue topaz and three cubic zirconia. Instead of a hairnet, Sansa received a sterling silver necklace, plated with rose gold from Ser Dontos.

Clearly this quaint little workshop is really good at the game of royal accessorizing!