purchase As you might suspect, a book with this title features many photos of barefoot kids happily stomping in the mud. Mud huts and mud pies conjure up pictures of primitive peoples and childish pleasures. But then you realize that the kids aren't in Africa, but in Washington DC, Chicago, Portland (Oregon), and Berlin. And they aren't all kids! Looking past the pictures of giddy, muddy fun, here is substantial and serious inspiration and practical lessons for artists, teachers, students, and designers, as well as builders interested in natural materials like adobe (and, more recently, . . .
Make a Simple Sundial: Measure the Earth, Discover the Cosmos
This book shows how to make an accurate sundial with just a bit of simple materials, geometry, and a map with information about your longitude and latitude. It also shows how a sundial is really a model of the relationship between the earth and the sun - and, by extension, between you and the cosmos. A few experiments help to see what's happening as if you were looking at the earth from outer space. Starting with a stick and its shadow on a sunny day, the books shows how to locate true north, how to feel the earth turning under your feet, and how to turn the stick into a small scale model . . .
Two-tier yurt with Bill Coperthwaite
Here's the lovely, two-tier yurt that Bill Coperthwaite helped us build in October of '09. (And here are my followup explorations that adapted the design by going back to traditional sticks and basket as well as incorporating earthen plasters -- simpler to build, and better performance and comfort in wetter climates.) It's on the grounds of the Ancient Arts Center near Alsea, just a long leap over a couple of ridges, into the next drainage south of us (the Alsea River). We finished the woven willow and mud walls in May of '09. If you want to come help, we'll be having more workshops . . .