Cob Ovens

Yesterday I spent the day building a cob oven at a one-day workshop. It was so much fun! I wish I had taken pictures, but instead I was in there, getting dirty. The base had been completed before we arrived, but we finished the base off with (building) sand and then a layer of silica. Upon this, we carefully measured and placed the firebricks that would become the cooking surface inside the oven. Then we calculated and formed a sandcastle on top, essentially - a form made of sand that would become the oven's cavity. Once the form was covered with wet newspaper, we began to mix cob and placed 3" layers of thermal cob (clay, sand, no straw) around the form. Covered completely, we went on to mix cob with straw and added another 3" layer. At this point, we were finished the workshop, but next week we can come back and plaster and remove the sand form. Oh, I didn't even mention the oven door. It's cute. I picked up the Kiko Denzer book, Building an Earthen Oven. It's an excellent book with lots of details and illustrations.

So now I've read lots about cob, gone on several tours of various cob buildings, and have gone to a couple workshops, becoming an active participant in building community and actually getting dirty. I feel like I'd be capable of building something myself, like an oven, and then possibly a bench. I just don't have an image of what I want the oven to look like when it's done... a frog? a bird? any other ideas?