[Cob] but wait! RE: OK, this is a heart throb for me

[Dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine Taylor]

On Jan 28, 2007, at 2:48 PM, Charles Trella wrote:

Ron et all . .
  done by hands whose skills and artisanship far exceed my own. To own 
and live in one of these would be nirvana for me.
  It is my dream to build some form of alternative low impact home and 
life for my retirement in either NH or some NE quadrant of the US state 
near the mountains.
   Chuck
++++++++++++++++++++++
  But wait Chuck... no reason you can't make a small hut or even a  
comley dog house with all the artistic talent you DO have.   And you 
will learn more as you mess with the clay  too.

  Many years ago I envied the gorgeous cob benches I saw, and started 
making a cob garden bench of my own while I lived at a rental house.

It was so much fun, I learned a ton, and  the peacefulness of mixing 
the clay and  shaping the arms and back were hours well spent.
I remember that time fondly, and having people come and want to sit on 
my "bench"     BUT BUT  my  SKILL level was  pretty low!  I ended up 
with a cob "couch" shape, and it was big, lumpy  and not perfect at ALL 
  in my mind.. others saw my pictures of it, and a man in UK later told 
me it was  my cob couch that inspired him to begin  building...go 
figure.

   I think one of the best things you can do is to make a small 
structure, even if it is a 6' long curvey privacy wall with glass 
bottles for light to pass.

  Nothing says you cant try and experiement  just for the FUN of it.  
Even a tiny 4' -6' diameter round 'hut" for storing garden tools is 
worth doing.

post script: When I moved my landlady made me KNOCK my bench down..I 
could not  bring    myself to do it, and got a friend to  do it for me, 
and return the clay back to the earth...

Charmaine Taylor Publishing
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
PO BOX 375 CUTTEN CA 95534  USA
Tel:  707-441-1632
New Books-DVDs-CDs on Natural/House Building