The Hand-Sculpted House
A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage
Coming across this book nearly a decade ago changed how I thought about the basics of housing.
So of course what better place to share than here?
Has anyone out there tried it?
Have you ever visited or stayed a night in a cob cottage?
Have you taken a workshop you can recommend?
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April 5, 2010 at 10:40 pm |
Just put it on hold. Thank you!
April 6, 2010 at 3:23 am |
see, now i didn’t even know what this was until clicking on the cae mabon link. really incredible. why aren’t we all doing this?
April 6, 2010 at 3:26 am |
i’ve placed it on hold at the library, too. really surprised there were so many copies in my library system! i think i’ll make a “books” category in the sidebar.
April 6, 2010 at 2:38 pm |
Can it have squared doorways?
April 6, 2010 at 4:04 pm |
I haven’t taken a cob building workshop, but I took a strawbale building workshop from these people and really enjoyed it:
http://www.caneloproject.com/
I LOVE cob because of how creative you can be with it and how your hands literally shape everything, but one thing I found out is that building with cob takes a long time (you can only add on like 5 inches a day). Strawbale goes up pretty quickly and you can still do a lot with cob after the bales go up – make benches, niches, etc. After I found that out I started leaning more towards strawbale. But, I still LOVE cob houses.
Thanks for posting this!
-Kristen
April 7, 2010 at 9:27 pm |
i am so madly in love with this book. picked it up today and have been fantasizing ever since. it moves me. both the concept of building from the earth, with your own hands, as well as the creativity/intuitive potential. my wheels, they are a-turnin’.
April 7, 2010 at 11:17 pm |
Sweet! Glad to spread the inspiration.
Thanks for the link to the Caneloproject Kristen – what fun would it be to travel to one of their workshops!
Gonna go sleuth around to see if I have other books to recommend – we’ve got quite the library in my household!
April 8, 2010 at 4:00 am |
This is brilliant! But I think strawbale + cob makes much more sense. I don’t know anyone who has the kind of time to build a home at a rate of 5″ per day! But I do love how organic the designs could be. Must get this book! Thank you!