Book Shelf: The Hand Sculpted House

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The Hand Sculpted House Cover

I got this book in preparation for a week long natural building workshop I’ll be attending in early August. This is written by pioneers of the American cob renaissance Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith, and Linda Smiley. Just getting into the meat of it, but could not help but post about it. So far it’s inspiring and empowering. I’ve been thinking about the cost of buying a house now a days. Even the fact that most of us have no say in what goes into, or the design of, our homes. Common “wisdom” would caution us against being an owner/builder and even worst building out of mud. This book however puts it very much into perspective. The current way of building is relatively new in comparison to how humans have built for many centuries. Also our over use of resources, deforestation comes to mind, is completely avoidable. Over %40 of building materials for new homes ends up in landfills.

Cob is a mixture of clay, sand and straw. These combined form a very strong and insulating structure. This allows for less erratic temperature changes throughout the day and night. Coming from a pottery background I was immediately attracted to the idea of sculpting my own home. If you have ever been inside one of these structures then you know what it feels like to be hugged by a home.

In short. Go read The Hand-Sculpted House and call me so we can build something together.

2 comments

  1. This book has been on my to-read list and I’ve heard many great things about this book and the passion it’s instilled in people for natural building. Where will you be taking your natural building workshop? Is it around L.A.?

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