Day 20: Natural Building and Life Design

Joshua explains the process of plastering using wheat gluten as a paste.


Here's Laura playing in the sand-pile.


I'm digging sand to add to the plaster mix. A general plaster involves water, clay and sand.


We made a paste to add to the plaster so that it would be extra sticky. Here's Joshua mixing the paste.


To make wheat paste, you boil 4 cups of water. While the water is boiling you add 1 cup of glutenous flour to 1 cup of cold water. Then you add the flour into the boiling water and stir vigorously.
It smells a little like pizza dough!


Our electronic mixer broke, so Emi decided to use her feet!


A drill definitely would have come in handy, but hands come in handy too!


Mud Dancing!


Mud-Face-Painting!



Now we're plastering the dragon-stove.


Here I am using a yogurt lid as a trowel to smooth the plaster on.


The kids on the farm were anxious to help!
Add a little mud to the mix and Work is suddenly FUN!!

- Mariel

We also learned a little bit about natural paints. Joshua recommended his three favorite natural paints:
- Casein: paint made from milk. There's also a "lime casein" that's great for unfinished wood.
- Clay paint or Alis: This is what we learned to make using clay, sand, water and pigment. I can be used for many surfaces, including painting over latex paint.
- Mineral paint: Made from potassium or sodium silicus. Sodium silicate is great for concrete or similar surfaces.

We learned that pretty much anything that contain sugar or water can be mixed with pigment to create paint, i.e. eggs (tempera paint), or sugar water. Natural pigment is made with minerals, and of the minerals that can be used, Joshua explained that iron is the only one which is very safe, therefore it's pretty much the only option.

We also learned a little about plasters. Plaster is used to finish structures, i.e. on top of cob. It usually includes clay, sand, straw, pigment and water. Straw can be substituted for horse, goat or pig hair, or certain plant material like cattails. You can also add cow or horse manure, mica, crushed shells, volcanic sands, crushed glass, garnet, wheat paste, casein, or probably many other tigns.

Sealer is used if a plaster is dusting a bit and it can't simply be sprayed with water and compressed. A great sealer is linseed oil, which you can purchase at your local hardware store. You can also use a casein wash or a lime wash over clay plaster.

Here are some resources for further info:

Books: Natural Plaster Book by Cedar Rose Guelburth; Using Natural Finishes by Adam Weisman and Katie Brice; Natural Paint Book.

Joshua also recommended finding knowledgeable people through this website, or by locating the following people in our home regions:
- Maine: Amber Wigget (NE Kingdom)
- Central New York: Mary Golden in Honeoye Falls, or the Natural Building Colloquiumin the PeaceWeavers community
- Wisconsin: Deanne Bednar

-Nick