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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

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