Over our rehearsal weekends, the great guys and gals of GSM built a terrific stand for the oven in the kitchen. It measures 36 x 38 and is placed into the ground about 8-9 inches deep. We filled the the top of the stand with good ol' dirt and then laid brick on top, all of which will work as a heat and fire wall. We will hopefully be getting new (and even) bricks for the top, but here are a few shots of the stand:
The next step was to start on the actual wooden frame of the oven. In many of the resources that I am using, they suggest using a wood frame first so that the the clay has something to grip on to and you can avoid cave-ins. When you fire the oven for the first time, the wood frame will burn out of the inside, leaving the clay structure behind. An excellent suggestion was made that we should use willow branches for this structure because they are very flexible and will not leave much of a residue behind when it burns out. We started with a simple cross frame and added cross supports on the bottom to keep the round shape. I found that eye-balling the size of the oven is not as easy as it looks: some actual math is involved to make sure everything is the right size and you leave space for clay to be added on in the future. Once the cross pieces were in place, it was time to weave! We wove the branches much like you would if you were making a basket, starting at the bottom and working our way to the top, all the while alternating thickness of branches and which way the branch was woven. Here are a few pictures:
We have a little bit more to do at the top, and then the frame is done! The next step is putting the clay on, and there is some debate over what we should use. We have some great artisan clay to work with, or we were thinking or trying to mix our own using mud, sand, and a little bit of concrete. More to come!
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