Joseph spent a few days with us for Spring Break, 2004. His class had been studying the Roman Empire and he had been assigned to research and make a Roman Road. He spent a lot of time on the computer doing research and selecting pictures that he thought he would use.
He already knew how widespread the Roman Empire was, so he decided to look at roads in both Italy and in England.
He decided that his road would be one that the Romans built in England.
For the container we decided that this clear Kleenex box would work nicely turned on its side.
First he traced the new bottom of the box on a piece of printer paper. Here he is testing his pattern inside the box.
Here he's adjusting it a bit. He used the pattern to draw his base on a piece of matboard, which he cut out and painted brown. Then he drew his road running at an angle across the base.
From my Soils and Stone drawer he selected some rocks that were sold with Christmas villages.
Based on his saved pictures, he decided a mixture would be better than one solid color.
He coated the road with glue and poured on his rocks. Here he is pushing them into place with his brush.
He added some rocks and moss on either side of his road, then tried out his scene by sliding it into his container, but decided it needed some water.
Maybe something like a little waterfall, he said. He used Sobo glue to make the water since he knew from previous projects that it dries clear.
Here it is; now it just needs to dry.
He noticed that there were some bare spots, so here he's making sure that the road part is completely covered with rocks.
Here is Joseph's Roman Road!
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