Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Village Baker
Today we finished the chimney, and added the finishing touch to the face. The tile (The baker) and the mini stone tiles still need to be finished with grout. We'll probably use the gray color grout. I built up the wall another layer and added several batches of the perlite insulation. I have one more layer of the wall to go, then the dome will be completely covered with more perlite. It will be quite well insulated. The cement cap on top will pretty much signal circus time!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
La Ciminiera, and regal beauty
Monday, May 25, 2009
smokestack rising
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
burning down the house!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
The shape of things to come.
First the inside arch was built, then the outside. The chimney flue will be in between and atop the two arches. The dome frame is built out of plywood cutouts and door shims. The fire bricks will be built around this to create the actual dome. Then, the plywood will be burned out when it is finished!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
From Mesopatamia to Pompeii to Seattle
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Beauty and the Beast!
Monday, May 4, 2009
busy bees!
As you can see in the top photo, the bees have pretty much finished their work with these few condos. A few people asked so here it is again.
The female mason bee visits flowers to collect pollen for its young. She form a small ball of pollen and nectar in the back of the nesting tube and lays an egg on the ball. She then collects mud to form a cell partition and repeats the pollen ball-egg laying process until she reaches the mouth of the tube where she caps the end with mud. Starting the life cycle in the spring, adult males emerge from tubes first, but must wait for the later appearance of the females in order to mate. This event often coincides with the spring bloom. Females alone, begin founding new nests in holes to make a row of 5-10 cells in each nest. Females collect the pollen and nectar and lay eggs. Their short foraging range is about 100 yards from the nest. Activity continues 4-6 weeks and then adults die. During the summer, larvae develop inside the nests, make cocoons, and become new adults resting in the cells. With the onset of fall, the adults become dormant as they go into hibernation. These bees require some cold temperatures before spring in order to break their dormancy, and the cycle continues.
The shelf form, rebar, cement layer for below the hearth and shelf
Heavy with rebar and ready for the pour. Once again the concrete pros were on site. Fred and Andy spinning some mean mud while I try to keep it smooth. The next day we stripped the forms and patched and sanded a bit, it started to rain so we put the tarp up to cover the shelf that is curing with a coat of sealer. The dome is next!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)