Friday, September 25, 2009

Cob Bench takes shape

Our Cob Bench project at Evergreen Community Charter is taking form! Rains over the last week or 2 seriously interrupted our progress but little by little is it getting there. This week I worked with Tony on some final shaping. The above picture is the before work started on Thursday picture.
Here a detail of the foundation made of brick and urbanite with the cob seating area and the central "back rest".
Another shot of the bench before we began our final shaping work. Sculpting. The idea is that the bench will be in the shape of a bee hive.. albeit a bit flattened to facilitate it's function as a back rest and to fit a maximum number of sitting kids. Built into the central core is an arched space with a wooden door to hold the garden journal that the kids will, as a community, keep notes on the garden (what's blooming, which birds, bees, animals, etc they see.. and other observations. There is a bird feeder nearby and the raised bed garden too. Pretty cool!
The sculpting consisted of adding and subtracting cob and rubbing and shaping with water. Slowly but surely it took shape as we worked.
The opening is guarded by Sammy the Snake, formed of cob, who is the keeper of the garden journal. After the plastering is done, some elements of the bench will be painted. Sammy will be more defined when he gets a paint job!

Next step is the process of plastering the cob structure. It will be an Earthen Plaster and will put a finishing coat over the entire bench. Stay tuned!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That looks so cool. What a great project!

Flowers said...

Wow...Your cop bench looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing the procedure to create one. Your blog is an inspiration to beautify my garden.

Michael DeAntonio said...

I'm waiting for the finished result. Please keep us updated.

Maddy Montgomery said...

I just love your site. Such a wealth of information and motivation. My hubby and I have just started a one-year journey toward self-sufficiency, and we're sharing our journey in a blog. It is very exciting, and a bit intimidating at the same time. There is so much for us to learn. Thanks for sharing!