pizza oven becomes a kiln

[david s]

Wow, all hand rendered . So is this the staging area for your kiln?

Yes probably, but also a general work area. Main thing was to cover the kiln before the wet season arrives.

[william]

Hi David
This is a little late in your project, but for rendering your mix is very close to this link I put in, I have made a mix very close to what you have with a clay and fiber addition and with a little practice you can throw the render on and trowel it as shown. It is great for vertical and some what overhead application I have used it to make vertical rock work on my property.
Bill

[david s]

Thanks for that William. Unfortunately that product is not available to me. Also unfortunately it does not provide the recipe. My brew, partly to save cost was to use 50% Rockote PM100 bagged render enriched with a little more portland cement and 50% 3:1:0.25 silica sand, portland cement and powdered clay with AR glass fibres, fine polypropylene fibres and acrylic fortifier. I used this brew consistently for the build except for the interior plastering which was the same brew without the AR glass fibres.

[william]

Hi David
I don't use that either I posted it to show the hand throwing of the mix, I also made my own version with three parts sand one part portland 1/2 part fire clay and lime and small handful of fiber it was sticky enough to throw for vertical applications and also to carve.
Bill

[david s]

Thanks William,
As a ceramics teacher I'm fairly familiar with how clay sticks to a ceiling when flung vertically. I did try that technique on my dome interior however it is quite difficult because the interior curves are quite tight and you have to hit it perpendicular or the mix wants to glance off. I was dropping too much with that technique so abandoned it in preference to hand trowelling. I'm well above head height now but if I were to do it again I'd hire some concrete spraying equipment.

[david s]

I'm somewhat embarrassed by how long this project is taking. But as usual once it has achieved its primary objective, sheltering the kiln then it slips down the list of priorities.
Here is its present state, I still need to do the floor.

[UtahBeehiver]

Nice little accent to your build. Assuming this is your ceramic work.

[SableSprings]

I think you could have set this down anywhere in Barcelona and the next day the tour buses would be coming by showing off the newly discovered lost work of Gaudi! Awesome work David...hard to believe it's a working piece of art for you and "just a cover" for the kiln...thank you for sharing this with us.

[Gulf]

Great job! David. I've been looking forward to a finished pic of that structure. That was a very interesting project to me.

[crisp]

I'm somewhat embarrassed by how long this project is taking. But as usual once it has achieved its primary objective, sheltering the kiln then it slips down the list of priorities.
Here is its present state, I still need to do the floor.

You shouldn't be embarrassed how long this amazing project is taking, you've put a lot of thought into that. Thats one cool canopy and I love the roots holding the little oven/house. When you pull the cord, does a bell ring? Awesome work.

[david s]

You shouldn't be embarrassed how long this amazing project is taking, you've put a lot of thought into that. Thats one cool canopy and I love the roots holding the little oven/house. When you pull the cord, does a bell ring? Awesome work.

Yes, I cannibalised a brass bell and bracket so it can be rung with the cord. Cosimoto is in the bell tower holding his ears.

[david s]

My folly aka kiln temple aka intergalactic explorer is finally finished. I used concrete pavers for the floor, but because they're in a radial pattern i had to cut both sides off each one to get a nice fit. I decided to wet grout them and because they're so porous it was impossible to clean the mortar out properly. My solution was to grind them back a bit and then hit hem with the concrete polisher. I was very pleased with the result. Because this is a workshop area I didn't go too far with the polishing, but a couple of coats of sealer has made quite an attractive floor I think. That gargoyle is Mother Teresa by the way. The other two are cardinal Pell and Pope Francis

[leetheldc]

David that is an amazing piece of art true craftsmanship hats off to you. you could of got away with the polishing if you would of sealed the pavers before you grouted them to make them non pourus, then you could just grout them like wall tiles easy clean up, but to be honest them pavers look better for the polishing like marble well worth it! roughthly how long did the polishing take just by interest?

[david s]

After grinding back half a dozen high spots I polished the whole lot with a #50 which took around an hour all up and wore out one pad.
i hadn't thought to seal the pavers first, that probably would have worked well, I'll keep that in mind

[Gulf]

David,

Wow! I have been looking forward to seeing the finished project. That is amaizing. Ferrocrete is an interest of mine that I haven't persued, yet. And, probaly wont on the scale that you have. Thanks for starting this thread and keeping us up to date.

On a side note, Lee is right about sealing the pavers. I applied the floor splits to my dome and then later pointed them. A carefully rolled on layer of sealer to the exposed faces, before pointing, made the cleanup a lot easier.