I am an amateur mosaicist with zero training at all, so my works are not perfect enough to be made for a mighty Emperor in Constantinople, but I did my best! It is a satisfying but at times tedious hobby haha.
MY ROMAN EMPIRE MAP MOSAIC:
I am not really sure why I chose this era, probably just because I love the Komnenian era and this is the peak of the Empire’s boundaries in that time. The mosaic is about 30×20 in inches or 76.2cm x 50.8cm. It came out better than I expected.
JUSTINIAN MOSAIC:
I started this mosaic back in September 2018, but it sat unfinished a long time. It was an ambitious undertaking for a first ever mosaic. Finally, I completed it. It’s not perfect, it has some flaws, but it’s finally done! It was a long process though!
It started off small, with some pencil lines on a piece of wood. I had never done this before – I still don’t really know why I suddenly decided to do it. I just started thinking about it, looking at sites that sell the pieces, and finally I just ordered them to try. I made the mosaic on a wooden board, it’s dimensions are about 30×20 in inches or 76.2cm x 50.8cm
Learning to work with the tools was a challenge and stones never cut exactly the same way. I just learned as I went. I never had any training or anything. The glass pieces constantly get everywhere too, mini cuts on my hand were a common side-effect.
One can see the outline coming together here, this was the easiest most fun stage of the project
I kept working on it….But then there was the face…I actually started and realized the shape was wrong. I honestly made a mistake and had not planned the face properly. Truly I was afraid to even try to finish it. So it sat incomplete for years.
The hardest part was the face, I had to try to draw a really good outline for the eyes and eyebrows to make it actually seem like Justinian! I used this outline to finish the project.
It was a long project, for years I wondered if I ever would be able to finish it. But I did!
shadowsofconstantinople.com 