A use for old jars in a cob fill and other ideas.

Unless the Lord build the house...

Fun with filling holes

I had to fill this strange gap between posts and here is how I did it.
I made a mix of clay, sand and cut straw and then laid jars like brick.
There will be a window that open above it (where the board is nailed over the opening).

Light clay straw to plug holes over door. Not big enough for a bale!

A 3 inch pipe and some jars make a need little day light bulb in my office wall. Add colors for fun.
The hole above has an outdoor solar light thingy..it lights up in the dark and charges from the outside..
I call it "poor man solar".

Here is my champion light clay straw mixer and cook...my daughter Emmi!

Getting ready for mud!

Unless The Lord Build The House.....

Getting ready for clay slip layer. Adding clay-sand plaster outside is known as render...inside it is called plaster?????? Whatever! We are about ready.

Using light clay straw on a vertical fill.

Unless the Lord build the house.....

Adding light clay straw to fill in holes

 before we add the overall layer of clay.

Adding light clay straw to cover a post. Light clay straw is just straw mixed with clay
I made this mix with more clay so that it would have more molding ability.
I formed it into cylinder shaped, or log shaped lengths first,
and then built the lengths in a stacking fashion.
Note the burlap covering the post and window edges. This will
allow for the wood to shrink without disturbing the clay.
However I think the light clay straw would do okay
even without it. It retains a certain flexible tolerance because of all the straw in it.

You can see the stacking pattern if you look closely.

We used the same light clay straw mix between the rafters.

Weed-eating around the house again....strawbale style!

Unless the Lord build the house......

Weed-eating around the house again....strawbale style!