Roman Villa , Part 2

With the basic cardboard form completed I started on the texturing. For this I use a locally made epoxy putty called Emerkit. I have used this stuff for nearly 30 years and it is one of the few epoxy putties that is safe to use with your bare hands.

The first texturing that had to be done is on the front of the main villa structure, behind what would eventually be inside the pillared arcade. This has to be done first because once the arcade roof is put in place, there is no way to get at that surface again. Similarly, once it is completed it has to be painted before the pillars are fixed in place, because it will be impossible to paint in there.

I applied a layer of putty across the face of the villa and across the face of the servants quarters and then began to push the detail into the surface. First is the double arched doors in the centre of the large front of the villa, with a stone frame. Then a window either side of the door, one with wooden shutters closed and one with them open. To provide some variance to an otherwise plain wall, I put a small band of stone across the bottom. 

Then I carve a door and a single window on the wall of the servant's quarters. Here I stop working on this building while the material dries. I try to limit work to one face at at time, otherwise it is all too easy to ruin the work just done by putting my fingers on the uncured surface.

I then started work on the stables, covering the end wall and short interior wall of the structure. One of the things I like about working with ancient structures I that I don't have to be precise. I can etch cracks in the stucco. I can model an area of bricks exposed where the stucco has broken away. This gives character to the structure.

With these faces textured I have finished for the night. The material will cure over night and I can get onto the next phase tomorrow night.