Natural Building

Earthen Hand Natural Building - Earthen Hand Workshops: A growing number of people are interested in natural building, earthen building, and permaculture techniques. Our workshops seek to empower people with information and hands-on instruction for a self-reliant, ecological lifestyle. We are dedicated to educating people about the possibilities of empowerment through ecological building. Workshops offered focus on skills and intuition that allow a builder to create within a natural harmony. Each day of a workshop includes hands-on training, discussion, and lecture. We hope that anyone who attends our workshops will continue to learn and teach technologies of global self-empowerment.

2 months ago Tracy Lewis asked for a new building in her garden after a few days of dismantleing and digging all the designs I was thinking of were boring so I decided to make something I never did before . Scale model 1:100 Reciprocating roofs are self supported structures the most famous is the one used in roundhouses , but there was no possibilities for a roundhouse as the space in between the path and the fence was more like a triangle and there was a massive glass south facing already in place. So looking on internet I saw a chinese bridge also a reciprocating structure and then made a model based on the surface I could use and the front glass it was a very strange shape. Then I decided to make a real scale model and test it , I just got a load of 2 by 4 from Mariela Bocanegra . With the model and the test placed in my workshop I invited Tracy to take a look and she fell in love with the idea . The real scale model test Mike couldn't wait to go up , it did feel really strong. In a matter of days Mike , Guy and Me where installing the roof structure in Tracy's garden it was pretty straight forward as I had practised a lot with the other models in two days we were working under a nice shade and the structure felt very strong thanks to some hardwood off cuts from a nearby timber yard all for free. The walls of the old structure and the two long windows where the last ray of light will fade in summer. The next step was the two side walls one was going to be hay bales but it was really thick so Me and Mike decided to reuse the walls of the old structure to close one of the walls it was on me how to finish it. Ana sticking together the bottles The other wall was going to be Cob and glass bottles . I was cutting bottles with a tile wet saw very easy, only had problems with australian wine bottles they were very thin . I made some test to see how were the colours of the bottles then decided to mix clear and coloured glass to get more shades it was looking good . So the bottle wall got started. The Cob was drying very slowly and after a few days it was very hard , Guy the expert in cob said that it was a very good mix I also kept a sample of each batch to see how it would dry . One morning I was wondering what could fit in this bottle walls and then saw this massive round oak frames Mike salvaged from somewhere and placed one on top of the half raised bottle wall , it did fit . From now on Tracy is calling the studio The Owl . It actually does look like an owl. The metallic flashings ara steel and aluminium beer cans With the owl theme some feathers are needed so there is the plywood cladding . The interior wall was taking shape as well but I needed some more wood so I took my postman bike for a ride around town and found gold , had to come back walking with my bike loaded with 5 metre long planks . Shelf made out a piece of old ship and mirror from a slice of a roten tree. In the evening we went to get some more clay and I went to the beach where I got an old piece of weathered wood probably from the wreck that can be seen in the horizon sometimes Tracy said it was a ship full of horses . I have started the decoration before the building is finished I can't help it!!! A washing machine door glass what a find !! It is a shame it didn't have the hinge or frame . The three front side windows made out of glass from a display cabinet was a really ingeneered work thank to the rain that was giding me on the leaky bits everything worked out After a week or two of 40 mph winds and rain finally could start with the lime render The lime did stick to the glass bottles incredibly well , unlike cement that washes off as it doesn't bond to glass. I have started the interior making the bed and finishing the walls . Ana mastering lime render. The bed is now finished!!!! Can't wait to sleep on it . The wood was treated with a mix of natural oils and waxes the smell was wonderful . Ana has started the last bits of lime render it is incredible how lime sticks to wet cob certainly those materialsl are made for each other as Guy the cob expert said .

Love cob houses, who doesn't the following are two of my recent favorites The Rogman Family Cob Cottage: Mek...

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Cob houses are an amazing way to build a house. In this simple guide I break down everything you need to know about building a beautiful cob home.

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We often talk about how well cordwood works and how it looks good and how it performs even better. Posting pictures of well built cordwood homes is a real joy and explaining how to build cordwood correctly is the nature of this blog. However, people have been asking for a post about mistakes made on […]

Learn step-by-step how to build a dry stone foundation for your cob house, and also how to apply natural hydraulic lime mortar.

Really enjoyable subtle details here in this hand-sculpted cob house...