18th day - end of 3rd workshop week

Today I will start with a picture from the small clay dome we built last year - the floor has been made and is drying and the entrance is getting a clay finish of a special kind. Gernot Minke has good experience with making clay plaster water resistant by mixing 8 to 12% of Bituminous emulsion (Bitumen that is water soluble) in the clay mix. Will be interesting to see how this works over time!

From Strawbale Dome Minke

Inside the dome there is a lot of work levelling the floor, we calculated 120 man hours for the floor, so hopefully we will finish it on monday!

From Strawbale Dome Minke

If we had a ready mix the work would be much quicker. We also need just the right moisture content:

From Strawbale Dome Minke

The facade is also very time consuming, a group of 4 people will have to work on the facade continuously for the whole next week if we want to have it finished. Here Edo is cutting out the circle for the window. He is not going to be here next week, we will definitely miss his expertise and tools...!

From Strawbale Dome Minke

And the highlight today: meat for lunch, at least for the few of us who are not vegetarian. Chicken cooked in closed clay pots. Delicious as always. The cooks František and Daniel are doing a great job. Good food is essential for a great group spirit. Here František is explaining the food he cooked:

From Strawbale Dome Minke

And as always - fun must be:

From Strawbale Dome Minke

During the weekend participants go for wine tasting, aquapark or are just relaxing. One more week to go to finish the dome... let's see if we can do it.