Light straw clay insulation and clay plaster in a country cabin in Bahama, NC.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Pickard's Mountain
We're looking forward to teaching a series of workshops at Pickard's Mountain Eco-Institute in Chapel Hill this spring. Pickard's is where be built our first cob building and hosted a wonderful workshop four years ago.
Here's a link to an early blog post on our first project at Pickard's.
Here's a link to an early blog post on our first project at Pickard's.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Chapel Hill Cob Workshops 2013
I'm pleased to announce that Greg Allen and I will be instructing four cob and natural building workshops at Pickard's Mtn. Eco-Institute outside Chapel Hill, NC this spring!
Here is a brief outline, follow the links below for more information.
This photo is from last year's 7-day cob workskop in Durham. These workshops will be in a more rural setting, at Pickard's Mountain educational farm and sustainability
learning center. Pickard's is where Greg and I held our first cob workshop four years ago, and it's exciting to building there again!
Contact Mike at mpmcdono@yahoo.com or (502) 381 5004
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Happy New Year!
With the turn of the new year I'm encouraged by ever expanding interest in ecological building. There is clearly a surge of interest in building small, and using local, minimally processed materials. It's exciting! I'm looking forward to documenting the projects of my colleagues and I on this blog as the year unfolds.
The 2013 workshop schedule will be posted in the next few weeks, so check back. We are offering multiple workshops in Durham/Chapel Hill, and likely other locations including Tennessee and New York's finger lakes.
This photo was taken in the house we built in Durham and it's one of the best pictures I took this year. I feel like this photo captures the building's warmth and cheerful feeling.
The bathroom's walls are finished with a lime plaster, which is water resistant, tough, and has a charming hand made texture. lime can be used over various substrates, and in this case it's the final layer on a stud, lath, and plaster wall.
The ceiling is tongue and groove pine, and the shower is ferrocement. You can read about building the shower in detail in an older post on this blog.
The 2013 workshop schedule will be posted in the next few weeks, so check back. We are offering multiple workshops in Durham/Chapel Hill, and likely other locations including Tennessee and New York's finger lakes.
This photo was taken in the house we built in Durham and it's one of the best pictures I took this year. I feel like this photo captures the building's warmth and cheerful feeling.
The bathroom's walls are finished with a lime plaster, which is water resistant, tough, and has a charming hand made texture. lime can be used over various substrates, and in this case it's the final layer on a stud, lath, and plaster wall.
The ceiling is tongue and groove pine, and the shower is ferrocement. You can read about building the shower in detail in an older post on this blog.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Interior plaster
Natural plasters are great for creating hand made finishes on conventionally built walls. Plaster has more soul and fewer toxins than paint and doesn't require highly finished drywall.
This purple plaster is made from dried pottery clay, lime, sand, wheat paste, and a small amount of chopped straw. It will dry to a less saturated, lighter purple gray in a few days. Below is the opposite corner of the room, and mud room.
This purple plaster is made from dried pottery clay, lime, sand, wheat paste, and a small amount of chopped straw. It will dry to a less saturated, lighter purple gray in a few days. Below is the opposite corner of the room, and mud room.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Earthen Acres Addition
This week Greg and I worked on the addition to Danielle's cottage at Circle Acres. She built a unique two-story cob cottage two years ago after taking our first workshop. Her building was truly tiny, with an interior space of 8'x8' on each level.
Here is a photo of Greg laying the earthen sub-floor at the back door threshold. They've added a substantial but modest living room, and a cozy little kitchen. The addition is built with a hefty pine frame and strawbale and light straw clay infill. You can read all about the construction of the cottage at Earthen Acres.
Here is a photo of Greg laying the earthen sub-floor at the back door threshold. They've added a substantial but modest living room, and a cozy little kitchen. The addition is built with a hefty pine frame and strawbale and light straw clay infill. You can read all about the construction of the cottage at Earthen Acres.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Outdoor Kitchen
Here are a couple photos of the outdoor kitchen I built at the Food Literacy Project in Louisville, KY last year. I asked them to send me a couple recent photos because I wanted to see how it's looking these days now that it's no longer a beat up work site. It looks pretty good!
The Food Literacy Project is a non-profit partner to a sustainable vegetable farm on historic acreage in Louisville, KY. They run a variety of programs for Louisville youth that center on the field-to-fork experience of harvesting fresh vegetables and cooking...now in their beautiful outdoor kitchen!
The Food Literacy Project is a non-profit partner to a sustainable vegetable farm on historic acreage in Louisville, KY. They run a variety of programs for Louisville youth that center on the field-to-fork experience of harvesting fresh vegetables and cooking...now in their beautiful outdoor kitchen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)