Clay Basecoat Plastering
Clay Basecoat Plaster Workshop in Patagonia, AZ
With Athena Steen & others
This is unique one-off opportunity to learn how to plaster strawbale walls with our specific basecoat plaster. It will be a hands-on learning experience as we plaster our friend’s strawbale house with our typical high-fibre clay base coat during the weekend.
Our basecoat is clay-rich and made with high fibre, typically straw. It has many uses including:
- Leveling and covering uneven bale or adobe walls, in preparation for finer finishes;
- Shaping and sculpting curves;
- Durable and weather-resistant exterior coat when smoothed.
This is a great opportunity for beginners, or those wanting more practice and increase skills on an actual building.
Consider also signing up for our 3-day Introduction to Natural Building Workshop taking place immediately after this workshop on November 11-14 at the Canelo Project.
- Dates: This course begins Saturday Nov 9, at 9am and ends on Sunday Nov 10 at 5pm
- Meals: are not included in this workshop. Please bring your own lunch both days.
- Accommodations: Are not provided in this workshop. There are a couple of options for local accommodations in Patagonia, AZ. There is the local Stage Stop Inn or a few AirBnBs. Alternatively there are a few private campsites in town.
- Deposit: Full payment of this workshop is required to register ($150)
Workshop Syllabus
- How to mix basecoat plaster by hand
- Application and leveling techniques as we cover walls with basecoat plaster
- Continue basecoat application and leveling
- How to plaster as a professional team with specific roles in process
Instructors
ATHENA STEEN comes from a family of well-known Native American potters, sculptors and artists. She grew up building with clay and adobe, and loves sculpting spaces and walls like giant pots. Connecting function and form, she plays with texture, color and line to create beautiful pattern and design. In the early 80’s, she built her first small, off-grid, passive solar house out of straw bales, believing she invented strawbale construction. Her influence in the world of natural building has been wide-spread.
For over 25 years, as directors of the Canelo Project, she and Bill Steen, have been teaching workshops in strawbale, natural plasters, earthen floors, earthen ovens, straw-clay blocks, domes, vaults, cob, etc. While incorporating many commonsense tools and techniques from other countries, their focus remains on simple, low-cost, low-skill methods that build community.