Come Join us for a Clay Oven Workshop June 8th

http://mudhenworkshops.blogspot.com

Last Year Participant Wes Fordyce Beauty

Short Film on Hopi ...Corn Planting

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

State Street Hudson House

 This is a simple renovation we did last year. I was particularly happy with the lime paint on the walls that brought such beautiful light to the place, specifically the north side of the house that had a light color building across the street. One theory is that the 3 dimensional quality of the lime crystals was  responsible for it, any other thoughts and or theories??

Lime Paint Recipe

One to one Type S lime  to H20
 2 to 5 % Acryl 60, (acrylic-polymer emulsion that is mixed with portland cement mortars, plasters, stucco, and concrete mixes)

mix well, paint with brush . It goes on thin and clear and dries opaque. Stores forever, don't let it freeze. You can mix  with lime fast pigments for pastel color. See earthpigments.com  for pigments and more
great recipes.


All appliances, bathroom fixtures and lighting came from our local Habitat for Humanity Restore and
Roger Hoffman our local "junk" dealer. (The exception is the kitchen goose necks that we fashioned from a common outdoor shade we got at the building supply store).

Keep an open mind when renovating and work with the most beautiful things you find rather than having a preconceived idea if you want to keep the budget down. I enjoyed the challenge.

“House of Earth”

A great article about a book Woody Gutherie wrote about the virtues of adobe building. Having always been a gutherie and adobe fan I had to post the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/books/review/woody-guthries-dust-bowl-novel.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Beautiful

 Check out this beautiful work done through the inspiration of 2 non profits in Africa,

http://africansolutions.org./  and http://www.happi-online.org/ I love it.

Clay Paint

 I am a real fan of bioshields clay paints, but I also love to make my own.

As per request for clay paint recipe, use as a starting point, refine

to personal taste as you would any recipe

Clay Paint 101

1 gallon h20

5 quarts kaolin clay or local sourced clay

4 quarts total combined of whiting,extra fine sand and/or mica

1 quart of flour or rice paste

slackened pigment for color if needed

whisk or beat with a plaster drill

all ingredients can be bought at a pottery supply house

If you have left over paint, which you should for touch up, dry paint

by pouring on a tarp and allow spill to dry completely before storing

always do a sample before painting an area, if paint cracks use more

sand or whiting

can thin with h20 if need be

buy Carole's book http://carolecrews.com/

check out
http://www.bioshieldpaint.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=93

http://www.earthpigments.com/

Thinking about summer workshops, request welcome.