9-14 Jul 2012

After waving goodbye to the last 5 to leave this morning, we got back to working on the dome. Here's Dave cutting the ceiling planks around the edge of the dome - a very fiddly job cutting to match the angles of the dome and around the ceiling beams. I think he did a splendid job of it.

As for me, I got back to caning, caning and more caning. It's much easier now I can do a full circle, but it takes time. The little brown patch of fidobe is another tester I've done to try and get it so it won't dust every time the wind blows whilst trying to keep that lovely earth colour. I added a large tub of escayola to it, which is a more sticky version of yesso.

When it got too hot up on the roof I snuck down to do some bottle cutting. I know there are lots of ways to do this, I've been onto YouTube and watched all sorts of videos on the theme, this is our chosen method because of it's simplicity - all you need is a candle, cold water and patience. It's the perfect job when you need a rest.

Dave came down out of the sun and dug the hole for the black water pipe.

Because of the shrinkage I've done the next can and bottle wall in stages - these are the first two stages complete, awaiting the final stage when they're fully dry.

Dave covering the finished framework with the plywood. We were so close to being ready to fill it with cork, but just ran out of time. Never mind, there's always next week...

Fellow Wombles

Lastly, just wanted to say a huge thank you to all those fellow wombles out there - members of the Arboleas Garden Club, local bars and cafes and friends - you've collected a mountain of paper, cans and bottles for our interior walls and roof covering, you've been brilliant!

We may have enough cans and bottles for now, but we think we'll still need lots more paper. So please keep wombling!