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!

La Ciminiera, and regal beauty

We are closing in on the finish with just a few things left to complete. The bricks will continue up to the top of the flue and the blocks will lay up a couple more rows. The inset on the face of the chimney is for a few special tiles to be added soon!

smokestack rising

The bricks are slowly but surely being build up the face and around the chimney. The blocks are also being built up a few more layers with a minimum of about 4"of insulation poured in the gaps. Looking good!

burning down the house!

Fitting in the last of the very custom cut bricks we completed the dome. Sanded, shaved, and sawed our way to a finish. We lit a fire to burn out the ribs and to check for any possible leaks.

igloo, beehive, and lazio gets a kiss!

Click on this one for the romance!

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!

From Mesopatamia to Pompeii to Seattle

Refractory mortar recipe handed down from the Romans. :')
3 parts silaca sand, 1 part portland cement, 1 part lime, 1 part red fireclay and water of course


The template drawings for the plywood ribs used to build the dome. They will be burned out once the dome is finished.

Beauty and the Beast!

Don't forget to zoom in on this one!!

Mother's Day weekend will slow things down a bit. With a couple of hours here and there we will resume the following weekend.

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!