romanmosaicist

Blog now at romanmosaicist.com

I’ve moved my blog to it’s forever home at http://www.romanmosaicst.com There’s not much there but I will be posting soon! Lawrence

Experimenting with fused glass

Using the hammer and hardie to cut glass

Glass, cutting, grinding, polishing

Some years back I had some large smalti pieces so I thought I’d try running them through the electric tile saw I had at the time. I set the cut to be 4mm and this is the result. They were about 40mm x 10mm x 4mm (thick). Smalti is formed in ‘pizza’ that are roundContinue reading “Glass, cutting, grinding, polishing”

Hand cut tesserae or machine cut?

One major problem we have to overcome now when making copies of Roman mosaics is getting tesserae that are not all machine cut. Unless you have a hammer and hardie and have the time to cut from large tiles the chances are you will have to get in machine cut tesserae. There are two problemsContinue reading “Hand cut tesserae or machine cut?”

Cutting marble that won’t!

Cutting marble that doesn’t cut. Whether you are using nippers or a hammer and hardie, if the piece of stone you are attempting to cut is not cutting then move the stone further out from under the blades. Look at the drawing here, it is a front on drawing of a hammer over a pieceContinue reading “Cutting marble that won’t!”

Setting a geometric mosaic freehand

Setting a Roman geometric mosaic without drawing out a pattern. It is not a difficult as it sounds! I have run numerous workshops taking complete beginners through this process and they have all been able to do it. One thing you don’t need to do is to learn the underlying geometry. You need to understandContinue reading “Setting a geometric mosaic freehand”

Setting Geometric Patterns

Getting a good photo of a geometric pattern in a Roman mosaic is essential. You need to be able to work out the underlying geometry to understand how the pattern is put together. What you must also realise is that quite a few of the patterns that have been set in the mosaic itself doContinue reading “Setting Geometric Patterns”

What tools did they use?

Roman geometry/building tools currently in the British Museum. We don’t have any tools that we can say are specifically used for Roman mosaic work so it is a case of just looking at what has been found and seeing what could have been used in that work. What you must be wary of is assumingContinue reading “What tools did they use?”

Marking your cuts, does it make sense?

Does marking your material make for better cuts? It might at the beginning but it doesn’t do you any favours at all. This is something I see from time to time where people draw lines on the marble or smalti to guide them where to cut. By doing this you do not help your eyeContinue reading “Marking your cuts, does it make sense?”

What’s the pattern?

Deciphering a Roman geometric mosaic pattern can sometimes leave you with a number of choices. The pattern is distinct from the geometry, You can have the geometry of the mosaic worked out but still not be completely sure about the pattern. Look at the two drawings. On the right you can see by the wayContinue reading “What’s the pattern?”