Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

[sarah h]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Just more & more amazing with each new bit you do - it looks great!

[christo]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

I'm still in awe of Frances' new Avatar - such sweet work!!!!!

Christo

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Thank you all very much for your kind comments!

I've been really busy on the oven recently, but a bit fed up because there seemed to be diddley squat to show for it...

But today I discovered that if I climb onto the oven and over the fence into our neighbour's garden I can actually see the oven from BEHIND!!

Of course my first thought was to share the view with you lot. The second pic is a beauty shot from the side, not because there's any progress, but just because I felt like it.

Btw, if any of you think crawling into your oven to clean the inside of the dome is uncomfortable, try doing a couple of hours of mosaics half way up an oven with your head down between the base and the fence, your hair tangled in the fence wire and your nose about three inches from the little fiddley tiles... I'm surprised its turned out as well as it has, I couldn't see what I was doing half the time. The other half I was clutching my head going, gosh I feel so dizzy.

There's simply no end to the fun you can have with an oven, is there?

[sarah h]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

So you're having fun - believe me, your results make it more than worthwhile!

Hope you're not ever planning to move - how could you ever leave that oven??!!

Sarah

[Wiley]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Absolutely stunning work! Say, is that a base for a BBQ I see on the grassy area?
Wiley

[krosskraft]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Frances its looking wonderful! I agree that I hope you never have to move. I suggest you contact the newspaper in your town and get them to come write a feature article on you and your WFO. The town needs to know they have an artist in their midst! This oven reminds me of the beautiful sweater you knitted and posted on the forum.....such intricate colors.

Anyway, I think its funny that its too cold to cook outside in the winter. It is absolutely too HOT to cook outside here in the summer. We folks are like surfers.....having to go to the parts of the earth where the weather is conducive to surfing. Here in Louisiana we are just starting to think about cooking in the WFO again. I am going to cook out there this week.....am getting my sourdough fed and ready to go!

[gjbingham]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Cool, cool, cool! I've been thinking about you and your mosaic for the last 4 (or so) months. After Chit-chat, this was my first (and last) destination for the night. Great to see that it turned out so well. Truely, a one in a million oven!

Talk to you soon-ish.
G.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Hey George, thank you! I feel honoured.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Absolutely stunning work! Say, is that a base for a BBQ I see on the grassy area?
Wiley

Sorry its taken me so long, but the anser is yep, its for a BBQ, grill, fireplace thingy. One day maybe...

The idea is that it will match the oven somehow. The entire rather short and sad tale of my BBQ can be found here:
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f38/...land-2901.html
(To be continued)

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

I suggest you contact the newspaper in your town and get them to come write a feature article on you and your WFO.

This, of course, is where I really wish I'd got planning permission before building my oven...


But no, I'm not planning ever to move from here.

I do sometimes wonder what will happen to my oven when I do have to leave, maybe as a doddery old lady going to an old people's home. What will the new owners of the oven think of it... children, grandchildren or a family of strangers. Will it increase the value of the house or is it too unusual? I can hear them saying "Oh, we'll just stucco over all those garish colours then it'll look ok..."

So anyway, looking at the nearer future, lots of rain here, and some below freezing temps due soon. Gaaahh, I wanted to finish before Winter! .... it'll be really really really really really really interesting to see how this lot holds up to freeze thaw cycles. Yep I can definitely feel some faint stirings of curiosity there.

And here are some pics. From the front the oven looks almost finished in some places... I like to think it looks as if its been covered in a jewelled blanket.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Two more shots of today's progress - not much of a difference compared to the last ones really, but after an entire day out in the cold I feel I deserve to post something.

Actually, looking at it now... there isn't all that much left to do, is there? Another couple of sessions maybe.

....and what the HECK am I going to do with my free time once I'm finished??

[mfiore]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

....and what the HECK am I going to do with my free time once I'm finished??

You're welcome to come to Michigan to help finish mine!!

[krosskraft]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Its looking great. I think you need to teach wood fired oven lessons in your home, or you could teach mosaic lessons in your home! Or you can write a cookbook.Have you tried "Rachlette" yet in the oven? Forgive me if I misspelled that word. Someone served it to us once in Switzerland....isn't melted cheese on toast or something?

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Mike, I'd love to!!

Krosskraft, I love raclette! It is melted cheese on potatoes... and we eat it a lot, with a raclette set where everyone has a little suacepan and melts their own cheese at the table. But I don't think it'd work in the oven. The toast Hawaii recipe I posted a while ago uses Raclette cheese though, and that works really well in the oven.

[Frances]

Re: Pompeii Oven in Switzerland: the Saga Continues...

Right, from now on I'm only taking pics of the bits that are still uncovered... Just a little bit of green left to do there and a fair amount of red.

And here some details of little bits that were still white yesterday