Mud bricks

Camp Virtus has already seen the rise and fall of one clay oven - with the second one in the making. One of the things we have decided to change is the structure of the oven itself, not made of clay according to the wattle-and-daub technique, but out of clay bricks. What we did not know was how difficult it is to make clay bricks. Though the term mud brick suggests that very soft clay is used, such a technique proved impossible to implement as the "bricks" lost all shape when forced out of the mold. Using harder clay mix is on the other hand hard work, especially to push out from the mold. The last resort option was the make the bricks by hand - not so compact and not so large, but hopefully usable. We shall see this week how they have dried...

Mixing clay by feet with sand and dried grass

Footwork

Preparing the clay base of the oven

Empirical projection of the clay brick oven

Brick molding

Works and days at Camp Virtus

As promised, we started working on the new bread clay oven at Camp Virtus, as the first attempt had failed due to errors in design (it was too tall and required too much fire wood), improper technical solutions (the wattle structure that prevented clay from shrinking evenly, leading to cracks) and the order of operations (the oven was built before the roof, thus exposing it to both rain and too strong sun).

Last Saturday we thus proceeded with destroying the old oven and building the timber structure of the roof. There was also an attempt at making clay bricks, for the base and part of the clay structure, but this proved a rather difficult task in itself, from clay extraction, mixing, shaping, pressing into molds and then removing the bricks from the wooden molds. We only managed to make eight viable bricks and we still don't know how they will dry by the next work session. Which will be soon :)

the burning of the first oven

clay modelingg fun

preparing the bench and the timber posts

clay brick molding

clay bricks

measurements

hard team work

the posts in place before sunset

the roof structure after nightfall

Rebuilding the clay oven at Camp Virtus

Though out "Bread of the ancestors" project did not get funded by Com'On Cluj, we did manage to attract a consistent donation of wood and timber so we can proceed anyway! Thus this Saturday, September 17th, from 12 la 6, we will be at Camp Virtus again for a bit for experimental archaeology. We shall start with building the roof over the oven, as this will protect the structure from rain and too strong sun and will allow it to dry slowly and nicely.

Though not dressed up as Dacians or Roman, we will be glad to receive visitors and explain the experiment. You can volunteer to help, you can donate, or you can just check it out. The other attractions available are bow and arrow target practice and sales organized by our partners from Atelierul de istorie - unique handmade objects inspired by the Dacian and Roman civilization.