Get Muddy! Make Earth Art
(Page 3 of 4)
October/November 2007
By Kiko Denzer
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An Earth Plaster Recipe
- One part “clayey” subsoil
- Three to four parts sand
- Just enough water (too much causes slumping and cracking)
- One half part fine fiber, quarter inch or less is best for detail work and thin plasters, but anything works, from cow or horse manure; to chopped grass or straw; to horse or human hair.
Mix all of the above in a wheelbarrow, bucket or the like, using your hands, a shovel or power tools. Remember, it’s easier to add water than to take it away! I make my plaster a bit wetter than peanut butter, and adjust as I go. The finer your materials, the finer your plaster. Remove coarse materials by sifting through a window screen or quarter-inch hardware cloth.
Then smear the mud on by hand, with masonry trowels or any other tool you can think of. You can go up to about a half inch thick before you’ll start having trouble with cracks and slumping. For more thickness, apply multiple coats, add longer fiber and give it some textured surface to “grab” onto. Try texturizing with small sticks or reed mats, mason’s lath, coarse burlap glued and pegged on, twine wrapped and tied around nails, etc.
Use circular strokes to smooth the surface. Try different tools for different effects — from deep finger and hand prints, to subtly undulating strokes of your palm. Wood gives a softer finish, metal a harder polish. A tool held perpendicular to the mud will make a ragged line, but at a low angle, it will make a clean line. Scratch or carve in a design using forks, knives or spoons — experiment! Adjust the recipe “to taste.” See “Get Muddier!” below for more details.
Get Muddier!
Books & Printed Materials
Dig Your Hands in the Dirt: A Manual for Making Art Out of Earth
by Kiko Denzer (Hand Print Press, 2005)
Details on Denzer’s earthen mural projects.
Build Your Own Earth Oven
by Kiko Denzer
Combine the utility of a wood-fired oven with the ease of earthen construction.
The Hand-Sculpted House
by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith & Linda Smiley
Everything you need to know to build an earthen building, including plasters.
The Last Straw Journal
Detailed information on various techniques and materials can be found in the following back issues: Issue #43: “The Case for Clay,” Issue #33: “Earth-Cement Plaster” and Issue #29: “Selecting Lime Products.”
The Natural Plaster Book
by Cedar Rose Guelberth & Dan Chiras
Guelberth also operates the Building for Health Materials Center, which supplies plastering tools and materials.
