The first two bumpas we did the boxing (formwork) rather
crudely: when we took it apart Jo (my youngest son, BTW) was
not happy. He decided on an new improved version, which you
can see him employing here: the verticals are screwed to
lengths of curved plywood, so they remain intact, in
sections. This worked *very* well.
That's the third, "multiple door" or "teaching" stupa
This gives you a better idea of the bumpa form.The bits of 2 by 2 are screwed to plywood which is (temporarily) nailed to the "cushion" below. The floppy 2 by 2's are held in place with a plywood ring around the outside (screwed, again)
Then sheetmetal is placed inside, tacked with a few little nails. Suddenly the whole structure has become totally rigid. Now it's time for lots of reinforcing steel.
You can see the form left in front to create the door. Here we are just about to start the inner skin of boxing.
Which is now in place: more sheetmetal held in place far more crudely this time, as it just the inside.
Once the sides are done, we had to create another set of forms for the roof. These we did without any nails, all so it would be easy to take it apart through the rather small door once the concrete has set.
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