So I got this wild hair last Tuesday to rebuild Pompeii's forum. Why? Who knows. Saw some documentary while eating cold pizza and went "yep, gotta do that". Grabbed my sketchbook first thing Wednesday morning.
The Starting Mess
Dove straight into research chaos. My kitchen table looked like a paper bomb went off:
- Printed satellite images from tourist websites
- Library books with coffee rings on the covers
- My terrible sketches of columns looking like bent spaghetti
Spent three hours just trying to figure out where the damn Basilica went. Turned out I'd drawn the bakery instead. Classic me.
Building Disaster Zone
Scrounged materials from everywhere like a raccoon:
- Popsicle sticks from nephew's craft bin
- Old modeling clay hard as concrete
- Gravel from driveway that the cat kept knocking over
Got clay stuck in the carpet around Thursday noon. Wife walked in barefoot and yelled "seriously?!". Had to scrape it out with a butter knife while she tapped her foot.
Cut my thumb carving tiny pillars. Blood got on the Comitium model. Looked kinda authentic though - Roman politics am I right?
The "Finished" Hot Mess
Finished at 2AM Friday. Looks like Pompeii after the volcano hit it again. Bits falling off everywhere:
- One temple column leaning like the Tower of Pisa
- Forum pavement slabs mismatched like bad bathroom tiles
- Random extra building that definitely wasn't historical
Cat jumped on it immediately. Now there's furry "gladiators" in the amphitheater. Couldn't even get mad - improved the realism honestly.
Took photos under crappy kitchen lights. Shadows make it look even more janky. Posted it anyway. Some archaeology nerd already commented "the Macellum was northwest actually". Yeah well my version has better parking.
