Artistry with Clay and Lime with Athena and Oso Steen

During this six-day workshop we will cover the essentials of natural and earthen plasters and dive deeper into the more specific finishes for your home. Each participant will have their own practice panel to start of learning these methods with ease and repetition. Then, we’ll move onto applying finish plasters on the interior and exterior of the new cabin we’ll have built in June (see 4D workshop).

This will be the third time we’ve hosted Athena and Oso Steen.

This workshop will cover a large range of natural wall finishes including:

• Simple clay & lime basecoats

• Smoothed and polished clay finishes

• Clay paint

• Lime finishes & fresco

• Stabilized exterior plasters

This course is suitable for both beginners and experts. You will learn everything from the basics such as finding soil, how to compose a mix, and applying that mix all the way to fine finish techniques of polished clay and lime. You will leave with a confidence and understanding of how to coat walls in your own home with beautiful, creative finishes.

During every workshop we make time for specific issues related to individual situations. This usually includes a careful look at different climates and regions, living with families or in communities, dealing with the building code, physical and financial challenges, appropriate technologies and more.

About Athena and Oso

Athena Steen grew up building with clay and adobe. She loves creating sculpted spaces that connect form with function, and walls rich with pattern, texture and color. Through the Canelo Project, a small non-profit organization, Athena and Bill, her husband, have been teaching workshops for over thirty years, in strawbale construction and earthen building. Focused on simple, low-skill, low-cost methods that build community between people, culture and nature. Co-authors of “The Straw Bale House,” “Small Strawbale,” and “Built by Hand,” Their influence in the natural building world has been widespread. When Athena does not have her hands in the mud, she also enjoys publishing and designing books.

Oso, her son and co-teacher for this workshop, has been immersed in natural building, including working with clay. He has built several clay-plastered strawbale, adobe, and timber frame structures from start to finish. He is an excellent hands-on teacher.