Monday, May 2, 2022

To spiral or not to spiral



As we built up on the inside of the dome of the Temple of Imperfection Mark noticed a discrepancy in height across the circumference of the courses. We wondered if we had been building in a spiral . 

As we followed our eyes around the top stones it was surprisingly difficult to decide.  It turned out it wasn't a spiral, but it did get us wondering about morphing the coursing at this phase of the coursing of the dome, into a spiral


The spiral has the advantage of not having to do that kind of 'last stone' fitting on each row. The stones are merely added one by one, and next to each other, never leaving any gaps to fill at the joining of each circle

But is it as strong? That is the question.




In the end we decided to continue with circular coursing. We laid the stones along the uneven course, gradually getting thicker, to raise the lower side of the circle , and gradually lower on the other side of the circle, to bring the stonework to level.