Natural Plasters and Finishes

4 day workshop covering different techniques of plastering with earth and other natural materials

Join myself and Yoshi Makino for a 4 day deep dive into learning about natural plasters and finishes.  We will cover plasters that are appropriate for an earthen building, as well as plasters and alis's that can go over the drywall in an existing home.  This course will include both plasters made from found clay, including how to find and source the clay, as well as plasters from store bought materials.  We will apply plaster to an existing earthen structure, a finish coat over a light straw clay wall, a sheetrock wall in a standard house, as well as on sample boards.  We will also do some finer finishes including polished clay and lime, as well as sgraffito. 

WHEN

September 13th - 16th

  • Earthen Plaster on Rocket Stove

  • Workshop students plastering garden wall

  • Bottle details

  • Earthen plaster sculpture

  • Earthen Plaster Mandala

  • Colored earthen plaster

  • Earthen plaster on Light Straw Clay cabin

LOCATION: Potter Valley, Ca

This workshop takes place on the land where we live and share with several other families. There is a pond for swimming when hot, and a barn where we will share meals. There are dirt roads and trails for hiking after class, and plenty of places to camp, either next to the barn, or up in the hills.

COST: Full price- $600

Early bird discount- Register before August 1st - $550

All meals provided starting with lunch on Friday, through lunch on Monday. Much of the food we will serve will be from our garden, supplemented with other local, organic ingredients.

Camping available on site.

OTHER WORKSHOPS

  • Natural Building Camp on the Mendocino Coast

    May 24TH - May 28th

    This is a hybrid model of a cross between a workshop and a work party, with the focus on learning through doing. In the May Natural Building Camp we will be focusing on wall insulation, primarily in the form of redwood bark clay infill. We will also do some straw clay infill, mix a batch or two of cob, and other earthen building materials.

    WORKSHOPS DETIALS

  • Earthen Walls

    July 27th - July 30th

    There are many ways of building with earth to create everything from homes to ovens to garden walls to interior finishes. In this class we will use the same basic materials; clay, sand and fiber, to create a variety of different earthen building systems, including cob, adobe, Light straw clay, redwood bark clay, wattle and daub and earthen plasters.

    WORKSHOP DETAILS

  • Rocket Stove Cooker

    Details to come

    WORKSHOPS DETAILS (coming soon)