Boxing in or puzzle building as I shall now call it

There are time I wish I had a nice regular recess into which I could fit a stove. I did have slightly romantic images in my head of finding a nice brick arch or evenly staggered bricks that I could leave exposed to add a nice solid touch to the stove fit.

Instead I find bashed about old bricks that need boxing in somehow. I knew this was always going to be a bit of a pain, but not quite as much as it's turned out to be. Since the bricks aren't flat or square, I have to cut and size each section as I go. I started at the top, with the closure plate, and then moved down the sides. This is the plate and first bit:

And from there I carried on down either side until I had this:

The idea is to make each side match fairly closely and to be even at the bottom. Since the chimney was built on a Friday, or looks as if it was, the lower edges are 1/2" off level. This means I will have to re-cut the left hand board to allow a bigger dollop of adhesive behind the last board. At the moment it's all just hanging in place as the vertical bits are screwed to the wall, and they then hold the horizontal bits up whilst the adhesive goes off.

Until the stove arrives, and it's now been ordered, I'm not going to risk cutting the closure plate. If I get it wrong it's not the end of the world as I'll just make another, but it's best left until I have everything in place.