LIGHT CLAY-STRAW AND WATTLE AND DAUB
Saturday, March 15th | 9:00am-3:30pm
Presented by Joshua Thornton, timber framer and natural builder
and Ali Lam, timber framer and natural builder
- Joshua's upcoming natural building workshops www.naturalbuild.ca
- GOING GREEN light clay-straw and wattle and daub handout - coming soon
- Presentation on Clay-Straw and Wattle and Daub- coming soon
- Video on Clay-Straw and Wattle and Daub - coming soon
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| Clay-Straw |
The Grand House Cooperative was pleased to welcome Joshua Thorton and Ali Lam to lead a workshop on Light Clay-Straw and Wattle and Daub. Light Clay-Straw and Wattle and Daub are two natural building techniques that make use of local materials and are gaining popularity for their non-toxic properties and relative ease of construction. Clay straw is an infill technique similar to straw-bale construction except that it requires the use of forms and the straw is loose and coated entirely in clay. Wattle and daub is an ancient building technique that involves plastering on top of woven branches.
The first half of this workshop included a presentation on the two techniques, including the rationale behind natural building, and pictures of several beautiful timber-framed examples that Joshua has built. For a copy of the presentation please visit here-coming soon).
The second portion of the workshop was a hands-on session, which involved building two different mock-up examples of light straw-clay and wattle and daub construction. Participants first made the clay-slip, which was mixed with the straw which was then used as infill for the first mock-up wall. For the second mock-up wall, cedar branches were woven as the wattle. Plaster was then applied to both of the walls. For pictures of the process and the workshop please click on the photo above.
>> Books
Sunshine, Paula. Wattle and Daub. Shire Publications, 2006.
Lawrence, Robyn and Laporte, Robert and Laport-Baker, Paula. Econest: Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw, and Timber. Gibbs Smith, 2005.
