[announce] 5/29 Natural Building, Earth Plaster & Sculpting Skillshop at jim mcdonald's

[jim mcdonald]

Hi all...   I'm going to be hosting a natural building workshop with Deanne
Bednar, who's undoubtedly one of our bioregion's great natural resources.
 We'll be learning how to sculpt cob (a type of clay plaster) indoors, which
makes this natural building technique a viable (and fun, and really darn
cool) option for people who live in your average run of the mill houses and
not limited to strawbale or other such earthy dwellings.  It's *really* cool
thing to know how to do... I know, though, that this email list is specific
for my herb classes and info, so please know that there'll certainly be time
during the event to talk plants while we've got our hands in the earth
(which seems rather fitting, no?)

jim


look here for many more cool pics of Deanne's work:
http://strawbale.pbworks.com/Earth-Plaster-and-Sculpting-at-Jim-McDonald's

*Earth Plaster & Sculpting Skillshop
at jim mcdonald's home herbal classroom in White Lake, MI
Saturday, May 29, 2010*

Earth plaster is an incredible aesthetic as well as a highly functional and
sustainable material.  In this hands-on class learn the essentials to be
comfortable using this medium many ways.

Earth is the basic material used in adobe, rammed earth & cob homes.  And
earth is the primary ingredient in strawbale wall plasters, earth ovens,
earthen floors, benches and sculptures! When simple local ingredients (sand,
clay and fiber) are mixed together, a very durable natural material is
formed which you can use as a sculpting medium or plaster to "naturalize"
your existing dwelling, or use in a future natural structure you will build.

In this workshop you will learn how to:

...Identify and locate the materials needed to make an earthen mix used in
natural building
...Make a batch of earthen plaster
...Learn techniques for applying earthen mix as a plaster and as a sculpting
medium.
...Receive materials so you can make a small earthen model at the workshop ~
or at home.


*Schedule...*
10:30 - 1 am Earth Plasters: how to identify soil, locate, mix, apply.
lunch
1:30 -  5 'ish.   Linger if you wish.  Earth Sculpting.

*Costs & Discounts*
$40 at the door (pre-register)  or
$30 if PREPAID by May 22, 2010
*Family or group discounts available, please ask.*

Online registration & payment
(Paypal is great)

*What to remember...*
Bring bag lunch to tide you over.
Wear clothes to get muddy in!

*Contact...*
Call Deanne 248 628 1887 or email: ecoartdb at gmail.com

*Location...*
White Lake, Michigan

*More information on Earthen materials & natural building...*
http://strawbale.pbwiki.com/Natural+Building+Strategies
 *
** Deanne Bednar* has been doing natural building since 1996, was a
co-builder of the Strawbale Studio & the Kensington Kid's Cottage and other
small structures. She has done construction with a variety of wall
techniques: strawbale, wattle & daub, light clay & compressed earth
blocks.  Working with earth has been a focus of her work which includes many
sculptural details !

"Direct Connection" & "Re-skilling"  are the  themes of her work:  Creating
a joyful relationship with the earth, stones, trees & plants of this place
to create buildings, soil for growing food ~ and coming together with the
community & friends to learn skills and co-create a future that is fair &
sustainable. She has a degree in Social Ecology, illustrated the
"Hand-Sculpted House" & "The Natural Plaster Book" , authored numerous
natural building articles, and taught art and sustainable future at the
middle school level for 28 years and sculpts with earth.

*New words... *
*"Plerk"* (Play + work !)
*"Skillshop"*  (Skills learned in a workshop format...only its fun ~ not
work)
*"Cob"* (an old english word meaning "rounded lump or mass" used in natural
building to refer to the shaping of clay, sand & straw into a loaf-sized
mass that could be thrown to the people making the wall out of it) So cob is
a shape, a building material & a wall construction technique. "We mixed cob
to make cobs for the cob walls of the cob house."

Thus we can now say we are creating a new "Vo*cob*ulary" !
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