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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 20:24:00 GMT
The oldest traces of plaster renders are 9,000 years old, and were found in Anatolia and Syria. We also know that 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians burnt gypsum in open-air fires, then crushed it into powder, and finally mixed this powder with water to make jointing material for the blocks of their monuments, such as the magnificent Cheops Pyramid for example. The ancient Egyptians used models of plaster taken directly from the human body.
The Greeks also used gypsum, in particular as window for their temples when it was of a transparent quality ("selenite gypsum"). The writer Theophraste (372-287 BC) described quite precisely the fabrication of plaster as it was done at that time in Syria and Phenicia.
The Romans cast in plaster many thousands of copies of Greek statues.
Plaster of Paris. Throughout the centuries, expertise was gained in many parts of the World with gypsum calcinations. In the 1700's, Paris was already the "capital of plaster" ("Plaster of Paris") since all the walls of wooden houses were covered with plaster, as a protection against fire. The King of France had enforced this rule after the big London fire literally destroyed this city in 1666. Large gypsum deposits near Paris have long been mined to manufacture… "Plaster of Paris".
Isn't google great?
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Post by saisri on Mar 30, 2006 20:29:56 GMT
Yes, it is ;D.
It has an answer to almost everything, doesn't it?
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 20:31:13 GMT
Yes it does ;D ;D
Are your hands tingling?
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Post by saisri on Mar 30, 2006 20:43:18 GMT
They are getting lots of heat waves Have you had your dinner?
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 20:44:42 GMT
I'm eating it now ;D ;D ;D
Can you guess what it is?
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Post by Ole on Mar 30, 2006 20:57:53 GMT
Salad ;D ;D What do the rabbit say when you eat his food ??
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 21:01:25 GMT
Nothing......it just twitches its nose ;D ;D
What is the last movie you watched?
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Post by Ole on Mar 30, 2006 21:05:53 GMT
Crash, tought it was very good actually
And you ?
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 21:14:47 GMT
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ;D
When did you last watch tv for longer than an hour?
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Post by Ole on Mar 30, 2006 21:21:40 GMT
Can't remember ;D All my time seems to go at this forum ;D ;D What do you like to watch on tv ??
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 21:26:04 GMT
Nothing........I haven't got one ;D ;D Can you play any musical instruments?
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Post by Ole on Mar 30, 2006 21:34:25 GMT
No i can't.................don't whant to scare people away ;D ;D
Do you ?
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 21:45:47 GMT
Bass guitar (but not very well : I used to play piano but I haven't for a few years now. How many winter coats do you own?
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Post by Ole on Mar 30, 2006 21:53:25 GMT
I think i got 4
How many rain-coates do you have ? ;D ;D
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Post by stef on Mar 30, 2006 22:02:34 GMT
2........one for winter and one for summer ;D ;D ;D What was the last book you read?
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