Want to learn about building with locally sourced natural materials? OzEarth normally charges $250 for their weekend workshops, but are offering a special introductory offer of $90 for our weekend workshop, $50 for our plastering/rendering workshop or $120 for all 3 days. Children and teens (under 18) are free but must be accompanied by an adult. There will be a discount for Channel Living members, Woodbridge School Community (parents & staff) and Concession: $80 (first 2 days)/$40 (3rd day)/$100 (all 3 days). If Channel Living members or Woodbridge School community require a concession rate, please contact us as this is negotiable. These workshops will be at the new teaching shelter at the Woodbridge School kitchen garden, which faces north overlooking the beautiful D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Soup will be provided for lunch, prepared by the school cooking classes.

To register, email workshops@channelliving.org.au

Cob, bottle walls, wattle and daub – Sat & Sun 6-7th Oct - child-friendly (children free)

Cob is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw and water (similar to adobe). Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive. It is an ancient and beautiful building material that has been revived in recent years and there have been several double-story cob houses constructed in the UK in the last 15 years or so. 

Bottle walls incorporate glass bottles  as masonry units and binds them using a joint compound such as cob to result in a stained-glass like wall.

Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of  clay sand and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years, and is still an important construction material in many parts of the world. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction, and the technique is becoming popular again in more developed areas as a low-impact sustainable building technique.

In this 2-day workshop, you will learn:

• How to prepare wooden surfaces to meet cob surfaces
• How to frame up and weave a wattle and daub wall from green timber
• How to mix long straw cob for gross structure, and short straw earthen finish plaster
• How to apply cob
• How to cut bottles to be placed in a bottle wall
• Do's and don'ts of making a bottle wall

Lime rendering and plastering – Sat 20th Oct

Lime rendering and plastering is used to weatherproof external surfaces of the cob walls.

In this 1-day workshop you will learn:

• How to prepare an earthen surface for lime render or plaster
• How to mix limewash
• How to mix harling plaster
• How to apply a harl coat
• How to mix a finish plaster
• How to apply a finish plaster
• How to finish an external rendered wall

 PARTICIPANTS  FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS WILL NEED

• sturdy work boots
• work clothes
• long rubber gloves (lime plastering workshop)
• safety glasses (for lime and also glass cutting)

A bit about OzEarth

Chloe Wolsey has been building since she was a kid, starting with treehouses with pulley systems and bucket-lifts. She has renovated several homes and worked in a forge with Hot Creations, making multiburner stoves out of recycled VW parts.

During 2010, she taught at Cal-Earth, having previously helped build a triple dome in London for a primary school with Small Earth. In 2011, she co-taught a dome workshop in Melbourne with Permastructure. Chloe has also trained in Devon, with Mike Wye and Associates, in lime and cob techniques.With her partner Helen, she has recently founded OzEarth in rural Tasmania, to involve the community in natural building, permaculture, and appropriate technology. OzEarth’s current project is creating a pizza oven, cob benches and preparation areas for the kitchen garden at their local school. Upcoming projects include building enclosures, a native animal orphan centre, and an education building at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

Chloe is also a seasoned teacher, exhibited artist, published author of fiction, passionate gardener and former employee of De Hortus Amsterdam, one of the Northern Hemisphere’s oldest botanical gardens.

Helen Thomson is a classically trained professional singer gone bush. having gained a lot of experience in administration, events co-ordination, teaching, accountancy, grants management and performing under pressure, and having made her living from her craft in Europe for the better part of a decade, she’s realised the freedom that lies in living simply and doing for yourself. She gained her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2010 studying with Patrick Whitefield, and has been studying (and where possible, practicing) all things sustainability-related for a number of years in preparation for the launch of OzEarth. She participated in the Hounslow Small Earth triple dome build and the Permastructure Dome workshop, and is working side by side with Chloe on all things OzEarth-related.