Syllabus & Schedule
Below is a draft syllabus, serving as a foundation for learning but not cut into stone. Teachable moments will emerge & we will grow to meet the challenges & opportunities of each day together.
The approximate daily schedule throughout the week will be:
7:00 Yoga- every other day (guided outside)
7:45 Breakfast
8:30 Morning meeting
9:30 Hands-on learning and demonstrations
12:30 Lunch & Siesta
2:00 Lecture
3:00 Resume hands-on learning
5:30 Clean up
6:30 Dinner
8:00 Evening program or free time
So much to look forward to...
Sunday, July 2
Morning: Brief introductions and site orientation
Screen clay soil
Make clay slip
Chop straw
Mix and apply clay base coat plaster
Morning talk/demo: Surface preparation, lath, and adhesion coats
After lunch talk: Personal introductions
Site rules, hazards, and body awareness
Schedule and pedagogy
Building tour and history
Afternoon: Clay base plaster mixing and application continue
Mix lime base plaster
Mix clay plaster for sgraffito
Assemble wooden floats and hawks
Evening: Athena’s slide show/Canelo videos
Monday, July 3
Morning: Lime base plaster
Begin sgraffito project
Assemble wooden floats and hawks
Clay base plaster continues
Morning talk/demo: Tools of the trade
After lunch talk: Building with lime
Lime-clay plasters
Afternoon: Base plaster mixing and application continue
Relief sculpting on cob wall
Prep materials for finish plaster
Evening: Michael’s slide show
Tuesday, July 4
Morning: Clay finish plaster
After lunch talk: Understanding and choosing plaster types
Calculating materials volumes
Afternoon: Mix and apply clay finish plaster
Second layer sgraffito
Relief sculpting continues (
Mix lime plaster
Evening: fire circle
Wednesday, July 5
Morning: Clay finish plaster continues
Final layer sgraffito
Second coat lime plaster
After lunch talk: Testing clay soils and evaluating plaster ingredients
Afternoon: Plaster recipe development and testing
Relief sculpting continues
Evening: Slide shows
Thursday, July 6
Morning: Tadelakt
Sgraffito scratching
Continue sculpture and relief
After lunch: Building design for successful natural plasters
Plaster maintenance and repair
Dealing with challenging plaster situations
Afternoon: Tadelakt continues
Sgraffito scratching
Evening: fire circle
Friday, July 7
Morning: Finish plasters and sculptural details continue
Making clay paints
After lunch: Analyze and test plaster samples
Evaluation and closing circle
Afternoon: clean up site and tools
Evening: Celebration of space