did
you know you can build a city with the dirt
under your feet?
well, a
city might take a while, so maybe start with
an earth oven?
we began
yesterday with soil
assessment and simple testing
techniques
for getting useful mixes
of sand, clay, and fibrous binders for
various
applications of cob, brick, and
mortar. today we got a feel for firing by
feeding the flames
in this outdoor
dome oven, heated it gradually and
then
baked
pizzas
with sauce, sourdough crust, and toppings prepared by
sarah.
after lunch,
we mixed
cob
in a tarp, balled it
up, and laid it in course by course
around the damp sand domes we'd
shaped.
we were only making scale
models so it was ok to cheat a little, as
our work would later be undone, dust
to dust; we and everything around us
has already been recycled endlessly.
we posed for class
pictures (1
& 2),
then with time left over were free to
goof.
deanne defaults to spritely
energy,
but this might have been the first time we
really saw her bust loose as she tore into a
little freestyle
sculpting with unmitigated joy,
putting a smile
on a clay face--and mine, too.
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