Fieldstone Bell Tower - The Plan! (part 1)

Hirst Arts is awesome. “How awesome is it?” you ask.

Very!

For one thing, it’s like making your own Lego bricks. Need a brick? Make a brick. Problem solved.

Of course you can just go hog wild and make lots of parts. I’ve done that too. It’s fun, actually! There is a lot of pleasure in mixing up the plaster, pouring it into the molds, and then removing a fully cast brick. Once you have a big bunch of them, you can spend (and I have) endless hours dry-stacking them, trying out different combinations without ever actually building anything. But this time...

This time we’re going with a plan, which is where I get back to Hirst Arts being awesome.

Wanna know the plan?

Here it is: The Plan

Bruce Hirst – inventor, owner, operator, and all around good guy not only has these incredibly flexible terrain-making tools and a vibrant friendly helpful community, he also has plans for various projects, including the bell tower.

Now his bell tower plan is specifically for his bell tower gothic mold, whereas I’m making a fieldstone version, but for the most part, the basic bricks remain the same.

Lets count them up, shall we?

The corners each require 13 1” blocks, and 7 .5” blocks, 8 1"x1/4", and 2 1/2"x1/4". 4 corners equals 52 1” blocks, and 28 .5” blocks, 32 1"x1/4", and 8 1/2"x1/4"

There are 4 sides to the tower as well, but only 3 of them are the same. The side with the door will be slightly different.

The 3 sides require:
2" x3
1” x5
.75" x2
.5” x4
1"x.25" x6
.75"x.25" x4
.5"x.25" x4
Alcove top x2
Alcove body x6
1" Arch x4
.75" Arch x4

The front side requires:
2" x2
1” x7
.75" x4
.5” x2
1"x.25" x2
.75"x.25" x4
.5"x.25" x2
Alcove top x2
Alcove body x6
2" Arch x2
1" Arch x0
.75" Arch x4

This equals a total of:
2" x11
1” x74
.75" x10
.5” x42
1"x.25" x52
.75"x.25" x16
.5"x.25" x22
Alcove top x8
Alcove body x24
2" Arch x2
1" Arch x12
.75" Arch x16

That's a grand total of 289 blocks!!! How am I going to get there? That will be answered in Part 2!