Rethink Your Life!
Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy 		The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art


Cob: A model building

Yun Que yunk88 at hotmail.com
Tue Jun 3 15:41:29 CDT 2003 

<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P><BR><BR></P>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>Cat here!  Michael love it!!  try leaving a copy of Natural Home in the bathroom, it's a slick publication that can be offered to <EM>Normal people </EM>without embarrassment! They can parooz it in private and come out all the wiser.  smile</P>
<P><EM>for the good of all </EM>Cat<BR></P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Priscilla Stuckey <PSTUCKEY at CALIFORNIA.COM>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: Priscilla Stuckey <PSTUCKEY at CALIFORNIA.COM>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>To: coblist <COBLIST at DEATECH.COM>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: Re: Cob: A model building 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 08:28:36 -0700 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Dear Michael, 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Communicate, communicate, communicate! Everybody in a household 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>needs to buy into a project, in my opinion, especially a big one 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>like a house. So your biggest job may be winning your spouse to your 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>cause--really paying attention to her reservations, being willing to 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>let her (and her opinions) be part of the process. In families, 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>anything but consensus can break hearts. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>In my experience, this process can be so time consuming that I'm 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>just as happy being single at the moment, making decisions about 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>housing without having to work them out with anyone else. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Good luck. And I'm enjoying your photos and learnings. Where are 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>you, BTW, that mud brick is an option? Can't be anywhere near 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>earthquake country. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Priscilla 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>At 6:05 AM -0400 5/20/03, puppetman at ix.netcom.com wrote: 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Hi Charmaine: 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Yes the materials are right off the puppet bench. I will be making 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>the front arches, the monolithic desk and the fireplace, out of 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>cob. However what started this whole mud building business with me 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>was learning to make mud brick in Africa. I wanted to try that 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>here. I have ordered up my Cinva Ram and the straight walls will be 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>made from compressed earth block. For the model, I have actually 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>been making each of the bricks and laying them up in a wall. This 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>process takes a lot of time and fuss but already it has yielded a 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>lot of things this newbie hadn't considered. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Thing 1. This building will take a buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunch of brick. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>When I had happened on the project in Africa we made some brick but 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>most of it was done. Now I realize why. It will take me and my 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>nephew the better part of a month just to prepare the material. One 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>of the interesting things I saw in Cotonou (In Benin) were building 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>sites where 10 story high- rises where going up. About a year in 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>advance of actual construction there where crews of about 4 men 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>(and two boys) who made cement block from single metal molds. I am 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>beginning to appreciate the human energy that went into hand 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>crafting these western style buildings. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Thing 2. The plastilene (modeling clay) in scale, seems to have 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>similar qualities to what I believe the earth mixture will have. So 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>I have been paying attention to how it behaves as I lay up my wall. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Walls taken too high too fast were wobbly and easily damaged until 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>I could tie it in with other parts of the structure. Suggesting 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>that I pay attention to construction process. The arches were 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>wobbly and would not hold their shape until I put a small buttress 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>on the outside of them. These observations bring up questions as to 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>whether a double course wall will be adequate without support. I 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>dug out some old masonry books and now have some examples of 3 and 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>4 course walls. I now have to decide whether I need my walls to be 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>1, 1.5, or 2 feet thick. Decisions....decisions.. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Thing 3. Cultural resistance. I expected problems from the township 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>building inspector but he is in support. I am getting the most 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>resistance from my wife and some close friends. A couple of 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>weekends ago, I mixed up some earth and lime into a nice little 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>plaster and made a test patch on a teeny 2 ft section of unfinished 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>drywall in what is to be our new family room. When my wife saw that 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>she went ballistic. She wanted me to "Get that dirt out of her 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>house!" and she also wanted to know if I knew what kind of dead 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>animals or bugs were in that sh--t. She made it perfectly clear 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>that she wants only sterilized stuff that comes from a store in 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>bags. Do you hear me bring it here in bags. (Perhaps I share too 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>much here... She really is a wonderful college educated, heartfull, 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>computer geek type woman.) And soooooo I convinced her to let the 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>plaster dry and see if it would be ok. I also convinced her that 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>nobody sterilizes anything before they put it in bags(including 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>your bread). And that bugs, bones and cow feces are just an added 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>bonus for which there is no extra charge and no labeling 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>requirements. The plaster got really hard and is really smooth and 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>is really stuck to the wall. And so it is sort of OK. She says, 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>"Kinda amazing really." What is important in all this is that that 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>the building in mud idea takes some getting used to. "Normal" 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>people have a hard time with it. The model seems to be a 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>concretization of the concept and a pretty clear indication that 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>there really is going to be a mud building around here. The model 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>has moved my wife from the "That's nice honey" stage to the "Where 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>are you going to put that thing? How big is it? What is it going to 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>cost us?" stage. The model has stimulated community input. Everyone 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>knows without community input there would be no building. (Unless 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>of course I put it behind the polebarn where we don't care what 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>mama don 'low.) 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>I have gone on way too long about my little model. It has been a 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>lot of fun so far. I don't think I would try this project without 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>one. 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Thanx for all your support; 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Michael Fitzgerald 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>Anthropologist/Woodcarver/Puppetmaker 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>-- 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>MSN 8 with <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMDENUS/2740??PS=">e-mail virus protection service: </a> 2 months FREE*</html>