The manifestation of a bread oven

Really great Sunday in West Haven this past weekend! By the time we got there (and I thought it was early - great wedding by the way John and Paula) Charles and Hakan were already scouting out logs to make the base for the notorious bread oven Charles has been planning.

What a wonderful thing to witness, and I can't believe it is the one time we went out there without the camera (there again, great wedding John and Paula....I'm blaming it on that). Luckily, we had our trusty iphones with us, and even though the quality leaves a bit to be desired, we got documentation. And here goes!

First there is a lot of chopping and notching of the logs and fitting them together like Lincoln Logs to make the base for the bread oven, or B.O. for short - wait a minute, that's not good.

Anyway, next comes the building of the platform. I love the way Charles pegged it with branches he found to hold it together and make it sturdy.

Then he added the North Carolina/Vermont clay mixture and then fire bricks on top of that. After came the building of the sand "half egg" that will be the form for the outer layers of clay.

After applying a wet layer of newspaper for separation, Glenn got in on the action and helped build up the outer wall. The interior sand form and newspaper will be removed after it dries and the door is cut in.

And Voila! There she is in all her glory. I think Charles is planning more layers, but this is where she was when we left on Sunday. I can almost smell the bread baking now....

And Leah was there also, back from her awesome New Mexico trip and working on that fabulous belt for me!

Welcome back home Leah!

Wedding Works in Progress

Just wanted to share a sampling of some of the objects the mergefest is generating. This is the ceremonial bronze chalice we are currently working on at Campbell Plaster & Iron. It's very exciting, because it's the first truly collaborative object we have worked on at the shop.

The concept was this - to find the definitive chalice form, fabricate it (which Glenn did perfectly out of plaster) and adorn it with

something in keeping with the"meadow motif". The cup has leaves from the canopy of hardwoods we collected, and the stem has meadow flowers, grasses and fern. We haven't decided on a patina, if any. And the little bronze acorns have been fun (and taught me about wax work) and will be laying around on tables.

And this is the belt our friend Leah (what a talent) is making out of copper wire for my dress. It will go all the way down the front and be beaded with dyed freshwater pearls my future sis-in-law Julie got for me (thanks Jules). Also, be on the lookout, some of Leah's "pods" may make an appearance at the 'fest.

And be sure to check out the Etsy shop of twobeans.

Fabulous work.

Leah and Charles are something.

And Charles....Mr.Charles. Well, he is the mix master bread baker in da hood. Oh, yeah! Not only does he make the BEST bread, but also the oven to bake it in, Check out the photos of "The Littlest Oven" that he made with some North Carolina red clay we brought back from my home town (you'll hear that story later).

Charles wants to mix the red clay with clay from West Haven and make a bread oven in the meadow to bake in. How cool is that!!?

We are very blessed to have such talented friends in our lives, and we'll keep you posted as works unfold.