Endlesss Possibilities with Bamboo

Making bamboo cups and hosting a workshop so that everyone could have a re-useable, easy to distinguish drinking cup. Carving and burning bamboo gives some really neat effects!

A bamboo bowl

bench built by Nick Mattson

the 'Pigglet" stool

offcuts used for a garden border fence

even a ladder!

bamboo balls!

Rammed Earth Column

Alright, pop quiz, so what can you make with steel pipes, and some scraps of plastic corrugated roofing?

okay, okay, and a bunch of duct tape?

Answer: A fluted column form for a site-based, rammed earth experiment!

After reading all the books I could find on the subject and doing small batch tests with the local soil, I design the mix to be 16 : 3 : 1 (site soil, mason's sand, cement) for the optimal compressive strength and a finish that I won't have to plaster yet still withstand the elements.

We weren't entirely sure if the whole thing wasn't just going to collapse actually when we took of the form the following day. But it worked great!

I even threw in a couple layers of varying colors and textures

and sculpt a cob cornice at the top

A huge light reflector serves as the roof and gives a 3" overhang around the whole thing.

It's located at the entry of the Garden of Earthly Delights,

at the BRING Planet Improvement Center

and supports the beautiful reclaimed metal gate built by local metal sculptor, Jud Turner

Village Building Convergence 2010

Welcome to the Village Building Convergence, a true gem about Portland and one of my personal favorite things about the city.

Each year, an organization called City Repair puts on a ten-day festival of community building and place-making, often using natural construction to do so. It's wonderful, 25 sites all across the city welcomed community members to join in playing in the mud while creating beautiful meaningful relationships and simple projects along the way. I was honored to be one of their guest instructors this year and participate in many of the activities throughout the week.

A cob bench from a previous year, being wholesomely enjoyed

An intersection painting, brings neighbors together in the street and helps slow down traffic with it's thoughtful design. There are many of these throughout Portland, how many have you seen?

A cat palace, built last year and led by my dear friend Eva Miller,

and this year she's building a Chicken Palace.

What lucky animals in the urban place!

She also led the renovation of the City's first legal Light Clay-Straw Retrofit.

And it came out great!

Here's a detail picture of the wall section for all you builder nerds

My awesome new friend Fezzo who was my housemate for the week.

and his bright red kilt that we dyed together mid-week.

This project was my favorite--an outdoor classroom at Madison High School. The timberframe and main cob walls had been built the previous year. Now we are adding strawbale ampitheater style seating and some bamboo and sculptural cob.

I have never seen as enthusiastic cobbers as here!

What a huge batch!

Rachel gets into it

Beautiful lime finishes from the prior year

Wetting down the top of the wall so that we can add to it this year. An amazing attribute of natural construction, that it is forever mendable and able to be rehydrated and continued.

Sebastian works on a bamboo detail.

Casey lays out the bale seats.

Then the seats are cover with slip and cobbed together, making it very strong.

We sculpt a sun at the center point of the top

Many, many people are involved with making it happen

Across town, at another project site, I lead a plaster workshop.

We are applying the final coat of plaster on a cob bench built the previous year.

Ellen has a great time finishing the project, she has put a lot of energy into the transformation of her backyard into a food forest sanctuary and community garden. She can't wait to enjoy using the bench!

So excited for next year, please check out www.cityrepair.org for more info, and see you there!