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Marian Wood writes in response to Heather and gorse (April 2009) alternatives to straw in cob.
My cottage at Cottwood near Riddlecombe (between Ashreigny and Dalton) has far more bracken than straw as a binder. It was built about 1820, one of a development of 12 detached cottages on the edge of a wood.
Before I knew much about cob I remember hacking a doorway through a cob wall at Indiwell, Swimbridge, it was a good metre wide and consisted of the local stone ground very small and mixed with mud and not much else, it was as hard as concrete and took me ages with a hammer and chisel. It could have dated from 16/17c and was topped later with a more conventional cob mix.
Email : outofthewood@live.com
Dartmoor Arts Summer School 2010
Buckets of Earth Art Materials
Founded by renowned sculptor Peter Randall-Page in 2006, the school takes place in and around the absolutely stunning location of Drewsteignton, Dartmoor, with private woodland and historic Devonshire barns making up the classroom spaces for students.
'Earth Art' students will be given a comprehensive understanding of earth materials, a free hand to be ambitious and the scope to experiment with a material we often take for granted. This course is taught alongside other disciplines such as Drawing, Painting and Iron Casting. Spatial Structures also form part of the programme as well as Photography and Film-making.
Earth Art Course
Dates: Sunday 25th July – Saturday 31st July 2010
Tutor: Jackie Abey, Jill Smallcombe & Rupert Johnstone
Course Description:
This course is a unique opportunity to explore the sculptural possibilities of earth materials. Techniques and approaches to ceramics and cob will be looked at from first principles:
Learning basic techniques of both disciplines
Looking at scale, texture and form
Making a series of objects, which can be fired at the end of the week in the cob kiln.
Exploring the use of found materials examining their effects when combined with earth and how they react if fired.
As the week progresses, participants will be encouraged to develop their ideas and will have the opportunity to work on group project and individual pieces.
For further information about all the courses: www.dartmoorarts.com
For details of other Cob and Lime courses you can also contact:-
Kevin McCabe www.buildsomethingbeautiful.com
J & J Sharpe www.jjsharpe.co.uk
Mike Wye www.mikewye.co.uk
French Earth Builders visit Devon
French visitors outside Jill’s summerhouse
Early in July DEBA members were visited by a French earth building group ‘Pierre et Masse’ an association interested in the rural heritage of West Normandy.
They stayed in Drewsteignton, a typical cob village on the edge of Dartmoor. During their stay they visited Kevin McCabe’s beautiful cob house at Keppel Gate where they joined in a cob workshop. They spent a delightful afternoon with Chris Shapland at his 1820 cob villa in Dawlish where Chris gave them an informal talk about some of the problems associated with cob buildings. They found the slides fascinating and relevant to some of the repairs they are dealing with in Normandy. Jan and Jerry Sharpe kindly invited the group to their new cob house in Merton and I was able to show them round my 16 century cob farmstead. It is always interesting meeting people from other countries who have a similar passion for earth building and we all really enjoyed discussing the pros and cons of repairs and new build using cob.
Many of the earth buildings in Normandy use the same mass cob techniques we employ here in Devon.
This is a quote from the Pierre et Masse leaflet :-
‘The technique of unbaked mud walls in “bauge” (cob), known locally as “la masse” is particularly found in our houses. This technique is very specific to the zone close to the Marais (marshes) but is also present in the Rennes basin, as well as Eure and Loire. ‘
‘We have lots of ideas as the local Chateaux, Manors and Churches have been widely studied during the decades, but with very little structural work on the rural buildings.
It is apparent to us today for the urgent need to start and try to reproduce this knowledge through visits, training and exhibitions’
For more information about ‘Pierre et Masse’ :-
e mail: pierreetmasse@free.fr
Blog; http://pierremasse.hautetfort.coms
Heather and gorse
During my work on cob buildings, I have often wondered why other fibrous material other than straw wasn’t used in the making of cob. It appears that other plant material was used. During repair works to the walls of a house in Woodbury, it was noted that instead of using straw in one of the sections of wall, a mixture of heather and gorse appeared to be providing the bulk of the fibrous material. This would seem a logical choice of material as it would have been in plentiful supply on nearby Woodbury Common where furze (gorse) cutting would have been undertaken and may have provided a cheaper alternative to straw or hay. It must have been much more difficult to handle and mix with. The thorns of the gorse were still sharp and left me with splinters. It certainly would not provide a suitable alternative of the bare-footed cob fraternity.
It would be interesting to know if any one else has found similar material used in cob.