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Romans

Rome was an influential and powerful nation rich in arts. Hidden in small and stuffy workshops behind main shops, craftworkers turned bronze, clay, stones, gems, glass, wood, marbles, animal bones, ivory, cloth, leather and other materials into beautiful and useful objects.

Many can earn money by just being Fresco painters, stonemasons, mosaicists and carpenters. Their jobs require decorating places, ranging from making mosaics on floors of aristocrats' villas to painting Fresocoes on public buildings. They are usually commissioned by the emperor himself. Cameos and mosaics were both popular during the time of the Empire. Before the time of the Empire, Roman craftworkers extracted their knowledge from Etruscan art and from Greek pottery, painting and sculptures. Hence, Greek and Roman sculptures were often mistaken to be either. Craftworkers passed on their skills to their sons.

Paintings
Roman paintings provide a wide variety of themes: animals, breathtaking views, scenes from everyday life, portraits, and some mythological subjects. Most Roman paintings were found in Pompeii, the town that was preserved under volcanic ash. Roman paintings were done on wood, or as frescoes on walls. They painted straight onto wet plaster sometimes so that the pigments of the paint stays in the structure of the wall.

Mosaics
A mosaic is a pattern on picture that is formed using tiny pieces of glass, marble, etc. Mosaics were found on the grounds of Roman houses. It was extremely popular.

Making mosaics wasn't easy. The mosaicists had to cut sandstone and marbles into equal sized cubes called tesserae using hammers and chisels. Then, they design a pattern. After that, they carefully place the correct tesserae into a layer of mortar on the floor. When all is done, they polished and cleaned it thoroughly.

Glass
Glass-blowing was developed in the first century BC. This was an important technology breakthrough. It may have started in Syria, but it spread quickly across the West. Glass was made mainly through blowing, sometimes craftmen combined it with old moulding methods. It was easily available and cheap, making it an everyday item throughout the Empire.

Sculptures
Roman sculptures came mainly from two materials; marble and bronze. Most of the sculptures recovered were marble ones because they used to melt bronze statues into coins or war equipments. The technique of carving friezes was started by the Greeks. Most of Roman statues and sculptures were portrayed in the same style as Greek ones.

Stereotype marble statues required tools like hammers and chisels in the rough carving. An abrasive emery stone is used later on to smoothen the edges of the statues. This causes the edges to be rounder, making it look amazingly similar to the real object.

Bronze sculptures were made from a method called lost wax casting. This technique is done by casting a mould in a thin layer of bronze, so the sculpture is not entirely solid.

Artists make the base/skeleton of the sculpture with wood, then covers it with clay. Until then, this is the complete model. Later, a layer of wax is poured on the model, followed by a much thicker layer of clay, which is the mold. Before the clay dries completely, nails are placed in to hold the shape of the model when the wax melts. After the wax melts, there would be a small empty space between the mold and the model. Molten bronze is then poured in to that empty space and settles. After the bronze solidifies and cools, the clay mold would fall off, leaving a bronze statue. It is not hollow until the clay inside the sculpture is removed, which can be done through scraping clay out from an opening on the bottom of the statue. So there you have it, the way to make a bronze sculpture.

Cameos
Cameos are pictures carved in layered stones. They often portrayed important or influential people.



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