A clay oven made by hands and feet

This is a photo that Craig shows us of how our oven should look once it's finished. Holy smokes! Will we really be able to do this?

A small community of dedicated gardeners and I have re-claimed a bit of the urban jungle for our own.  We recently decided that the garden, just round the back of the block of flats in which I live in central London, would be even more special if it contained a clay oven like the kind used for baking pizzas.  
 
Fortunately we have a couple of pros, Craig and Louise, to help us with an otherwise daunting project. I've begun to document the process (We're more than 1/2 way through).

We level the ground where the oven will lie.

Craig fashioned the square shape of the base out of wood.

Esther and I coat the inside of the wooden base with vegetable oil so that the wood will separate easily from the concrete that will be poured in.

We fill the bottom of the base with rubble.

Craig and John prepare concrete to fill the rest of the base.

The base is leveled.

A layer of bricks are laid atop the base and its leveled.

Ines, Michele and Evelyn use their feet to mix clay with sand. The mixture will be used to create the dome of the oven.

This was my favorite part!

We form balls from the clay/sand mixture – lots of them.

John prepares the center of the oven by piling bricks and shaping sand over the top.

We stack and pat the balls around the center brick and sand shape.

And soak newspapers in water to separate clay ball layers.

After quite a few rings of clay balls a beautiful dome shape appears.

Expert hands repair the cracks.

Sarah sketches the shape of the 'door'.

The 'door' is carved out

I add some saw dust and hay into the clay-sand mixture for the next layer. We think its for added insulation.