Natural Plasters & Earthen Floors
2023 Canelo Workshop
Natural Plasters
and Earthen Floors
"Buildings, too are children of Earth and Sun."
— Frank Lloyd Wright
Natural Plasters with Clay & Lime Finishes
Spring 2023 Workshop
This workshop is full with a waiting list.
A 5-day workshop teaching Natural Plasters and Finishes including polished clay, water-resistant Tadelakt and Earthen Floors.
It will cover the essentials of natural and earthen plasters and dive deeper into the more specific finishes for your home. Each participant will have their own practice panel to learn these methods with ease and repetition.
This workshop will cover a large range of natural wall and floor finishes including:
- Simple clay & lime basecoats
- Smoothed and polished clay finishes
- Clay paint
- Tadelakt – a water-resistant lime plaster from Morrocco
- Lime fresco
- Stabilized exterior plasters
- Earthen floors practice, from floor base to finish
This course is suitable for both beginners and experts. You will learn everything from the basics, such as finding soil, how to compose a mix, and applying that mix, and then the more advanced practices, such as water-resistant lime tadelakt. You will leave with a confidence and understanding of how to coat walls in your own home with beautiful, creative earth finishes.
* This course begins with orientation and dinner Sunday evening 6pm, April 23 and ends Friday at 5.30pm April 28, with a morning class.
Daily Workshop Schedule
- Arrival previous evening, April 23, dinner included at 7pm, introductions at 8pm,
- 24 April – Learning Base Coat and Levelling
- Clay and Lime overview and theory
- How to use Hawk & Trowel
- Practice applying and levelling
- Laying floor base
- Lime basecoat
- Finish clay layer
- Second floor layer
- Canelo Site tour
- Tadelakt
- Cay polish
- Clay paint
- Oil floor
- Exterior Plasters
- Finish Tadelakt
- Explore other mixes
- Workshop finishes 5pm with dinner and breakfast following morning provided.



