Frosting (decorative Arts)
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Frosting is a decorative effect named after its resemblance to the appearance of
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
. It involves making very small marks in a surface so that it appears matt rather than polished, and in glass opaque rather than optically transparent. It is often used for glass for bathrooms and toilets, but may be used on many materials and created by many processes.


Examples of ancient Egyptian steles

Eventually
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian steles became more than just statements about a topic or events, and became a means of decoration. Later period steles were made in dark stone, some approaching a light or deep black. The twin steles of
Nectanebo I Nectanebo I ( Egyptian: Nḫt-nb.f; ; died 361/60 BCE) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, founder of the last native dynasty of Egypt, the 30th. Name Nectanebo's Egyptian personal name was Nḫt-nb.f (Nakhtnebef), which means "the strong one o ...
, his Decree of Nectanebo I, made into two steles, and mounted in
Naucratis Naucratis or Naukratis (Ancient Greek: , "Naval Command"; Egyptian: , , , Coptic: ) was a city and trading-post in ancient Egypt, located on the Canopic (western-most) branch of the Nile river, south-east of the Mediterranean sea and the city ...
and Heracleion, are made in such a manner. The lunette scene of shallow, to medium sunken bas relief, as well as all the
Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...
are made with a frosting technique. The highest effect can be seen on a stone of a dark background color. High quality examples of frosting with lighter backgrounds probably exist in Ancient Egyptian art or culture.


Modern frosting techniques

Frosted glass for decoration is probably the most popular use of the frosting technique; it is also a major production style of the light bulb. Additionally, the term is used in
woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked b ...
, and is a process for adornment of coins, by ''frosting''. File:Stele of Tchia-E 7717-IMG 2594-gradient.jpg, Egyptian stele honoring a scribe, (using the scribe hieroglyph),Wikimedia Commons: Scribe hieroglyph
/ref> the presumed honoree of the stele File:Alexander the Great.jpg, Frosted hieroglyphs in a cartouche and scene parts, sunken incised glyphs, low bas relief File:Musee_national_-_alexandrie_scribe_cubique.JPG, Block statue (Egyptian) of dk
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
, (use 2nd click for High-Res), with ''scene and hieroglyphs'' in "frosted technique" File:AG relief en creux 1 Pc040477.jpg, Frosted hieroglyphs and
cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...
shown on medium-gray and white stone, Egypt of Pharaoh
Senusret I Senusret I (Egyptian language, Middle Egyptian: wikt:z-n-wsrt, z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt, Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 ...


See also

*
Cameo (carving) Cameo () is a method of carving an object such as an engraved gem, item of jewellery or vessel. It nearly always features a raised (positive) relief image; contrast with intaglio, which has a negative image. Originally, and still in discuss ...
* Glossary of woodworking terms * Frosted glass


References


External links


Stele of Naukratis, being retrieved. (Plus ''synoptic write-up'')
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410215949/http://www.franckgoddio.org/Sitemap/Project/ProjectArticel.aspx?ProjectName=CanopicRegion&Layout=B&XmlDocument=0002.xml , date=2009-04-10 Sculpture techniques