From Romania with Mud, and My In Person Workshops in Adelaide.
Build an Earthbag Dome with Me, or Learn Cob, Adobe and Clay Plaster?
Hello dear Mud friends.
I hope your July was as edifying as mine! My clay plaster and cob workshop in Romania was such a beautiful experience. I can’t express how fulfilling it was for me to be able to share thirteen years of mud building knowledge and skills, and watch the participants’ eyes light up as they realised just how much they could do with the right mud mixture.
“We have adobe bricks in our house in Bulgaria,” said Helen, on the first day. “Can we use this?” She pointed at the slobbering pile of clay plaster she was knee deep in.
“For sure! You can use it as a mortar or a render. It’s exactly the right thing for the job,” I replied. “We’ll make an adobe brick too, so you can see how versatile this mix is. And we’ll also create a bottle wall here,” I pointed at a space at the side of the barn. So you will see how to turn this,” I pointed at the squelching brown morass Helen was stomping, “into cob.”
“A bottle wall there?” Said Kamilla. “Oh, wow!”
For many years I’ve been a one-woman show creating mud worlds. That was powerful and good. But this month it felt nourishing to the core to contribute to someone else’s place—the right person, too—and to leave my muddy mark, to fuel other mud beginnings, to feel the seeds of mud wisdom moving outwards. It was a culmination of thirteen years’ hard-won experience.
From Romania with Mud
For those who like a story, I cover my whole Romanian voyage and the clay plaster workshop in my latest Nature of Freedom Substack, here.
My Next In Person Workshops
I have just two more workshops planned this year in Southern Australia, but we need four more sign ups before the 21st August to make this happen.
25th- 29th October: Earthbag Dome Building Workshop.
In this exciting workshop we will be attempting to build a small earthbag dome from scratch.
What Will You Learn?
What kind of dirt you need for earthbag building.
All about the sacks, the wire and other earthbag building materials.
How to create a suitable foundation for earthbag houses.
How to build a stem wall.
How to fill and lay the earthbags properly.
How to tamp the earthbags properly.
How to maintain structural integrity with the walls.
The importance of tying in.
How to insert window holes and door frames.
How to create a dome.
How to protect a dome from the elements.
1st-4th November: Cob, Adobe, and Clay Plaster Workshop.
People always underestimate the importance of understanding how clay works, and how to mix it to create all sorts of building materials. In this workshop we’ll learn the difference between render, mortar, adobe and cob.
What Will You Learn?
How to forage for clay in the land around you, and understand when you have clay.
How to test your dirt.
The difference between clay plaster, cob and adobe.
How to mix cob or clay plaster for optimum results.
The function of each ingredient in the plaster, and which ingredients to add for different outcomes.
How to add the various layers when rendering an earthbag house, stone wall or straw bale home.
How to repair and maintain clay plaster.
Techniques for sculpting the plaster into...well anything!
How to use Japanese trowels.
The art of burnishing.
How to use sponges to create beautiful finishes.
How to embed things like mirrors or tile into the plaster.
How to build structures from cob.
Join the workshop or learn more details here:
https://www.themudhome.com/clayplasteradelaide.html
IMPORTANT: These workshops can only go ahead if enough people sign up in advance, so if you are interested, please don’t leave it late.
The last date for the early bird price is 21st of August 2024 by which time we'll be clear if we have enough people. We need just four more!
I very much hope to see some of you there. Mud hugs,
Atulya
We have been building large in ground water tanks with earthbag quite successfully. Our last one two weeks ago was almost 50,000 liters. Earthbag is versatile!