Posted by Michael Blaha, May 26th , 2008.
I’ve been enjoying the latest newsletter articles by Coenraad Rogmans over at House Alive!. In the article, Building with Sand, Straw and Clay, Coenraad talks about the many variations of the magical mixture of these ingredients. There is a spectrum of ratios that create different variations of these base materials. Including cob, light clay, wattle and daub, bale walls, bale cob, earthen floors, plasters, renders, and paints . Within each application one would use a different ratio for a particular result. Say for instance you are working on a cob wall with built in niches. Ianto Evans teaches about corbel cobs. Cob with long stocks of straw for added tensile strength. Another is light clay, a mixture of straw tossed like a salad with the dressing being clay slip, or watered down clay. Or for an earthen oven a sand clay mixture. You can see how versatile it can be!
Continue Reading…
Posted by Michael Blaha, March 19th , 2008.
My goodness. It’s so funny I can be this giddy about something like this. My new best friend is the local landfill. I’ve been a fan of dumpster diving for a long time. There are so many things people throw away that don’t need to be ‘filling land’. I wanted a old electric water heater, or at least the metal tube inside, for my SolUnit Rocket Stove so I visited the dump. I wanted permission to look around and permission was granted. “May I re-purpose a old electric heater?” “Go ahead.” said the landfill scale operator. “And the wood pallets?” “Have at it.”
Wow. Junk. Treasures. Resources. Free mulch for landscaping, lumber, pallet wood for building or burning ( most pallets, have 3 good 2×4s in ‘em). Brand new plywood with a few screws in them. I can’t believe what people throw away. Don’t even get me started on the metal pile…
I have been so sick of spending money at stores. Paying a premium for everything, plus tax. Forget it! I can be more resourceful than that. And it’s so much more rewarding. If I ever get bored or just want to be outside, I go pull nails and all of the sudden I have dimensional lumber to use. For free. Happy dumpster diving!
Posted by Michael Blaha, June 18th , 2006.
Twigs carefully placed together to create a whimsical space near the bald spot at Carleton College. This sculpture was made with Willow, Buckthorn, and Dogwood harvested in Carleton’s Cowling Arboretum and McKnight Prairie. Artist Patrick Dougherty and Carleton staff, students and volunteers constructed it in October of 2002. On the plaque next to the sculpture it says it will have a expected life-span of two years. Now in 2006, four years later, it’s still standing - though some of the walls are bending over. I like how this space creates a fairy-tale landscape in contrast to the brick and mortar campus.
You can see more pictures at the Twiginometry exhibition » and check out what Patrick is up to at Stickwork.net »
Posted by Michael Blaha, June 1st , 2006.
Photo taken by Soare.
Wikipedia is a great place. I was reading about natural building and found a link to a natural building material that I had never heard of before called “Chirpici“. It looks like light clay in forms dried like adobe brick.
“the chirpici bricks used for construction are made out of clay, with straws and manure and are baked in the sun before they are used. The result isn’t as hardy as regular bricks…”
Posted by Michael Blaha, May 30th , 2006.
Sculptor - Sarah Machtey, Photograph by Mark Piepkorn
Natural Building Gallery - A Sculpted Cob Wall in a Straw Bale House
Over the years I’ve searched the internet far and wide for natrual building resources and inspirational photos. Particularly photographs of natural building construction processes. Mark Piepkorn has collected over 500 photos of natural, alternative and traditional buildings in his Mud and Twigs Gallery. If you haven’t seen this gallery yet, you will feel like you have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
