olaf fowles

Josh Hoffman wrote:Yeah, wow, these books are selling at outrageous prices! Of course, they are not in the local library.

i've long been pining for a copy of Christopher Alexander's A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art: The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets... a 300usd paperback and upwards of 2.5k for a hardcover.

sigh. one of these days!

Jim schalles wrote:Here is the recipe and basic instructions I learned from Ryan Chivers during a tadelakt workshop this spring in Portland.  (http://www.artesanoplaster.com/ryan-bio.html)...

i can personally attest to this. i also took a workshop with ryan, oh about 10yrs ago now, and since i have successfully built 4 showers.

just a small thing to add (that's actually HUGE): timing. tadelakt is all about timing. each coat needs to dry, 'a little bit'; it should feel damp, cool, but not wet or tacky, before applying the next coat. personally, i believe that this is because we want each coat to stand up, stay thick, until the moment that we start to compact by polishing. this results in more visual depth and dimension in the finish. as well, applying consecutive coats too soon will cause slippage and very likely cracking. how long does it take for each coat to dry... that's pretty much impossible say, as the drying process is a result of situational variables: substrate material (notably the rate at which it absorbs/holds moisture), humidity level, wind, and so on.

one more small piece of advice: give attention to where differing types/thicknesses of substrate occur. gaps, even hairline, will almost certainly result in cracks. and different materials with different absorbing rates will dry differently. for very complicated projects, it is best to make a 'mental map' so that the slower drying areas are left longer than those which are drying relatively faster.

final note: i strongly encourage anyone who hasn't previously had hands-on experience applying tadelakt to start with smaller objects, like terra cotta tiles and clay balls. the risk/reward is kinder on such pieces. experimentation is welcome. but most importantly, there's rapid feedback, both positive and negative. as well, it's a good opportunity to try out different colors for the Real Thing. plus, little tadelakt stuff is awesome

enjoy!

In my honest opinion, The Nature of Order is THE seminal work of Christopher Alexander, the brightest designer/thinker of our generation. Yes, A Pattern Language deserves full and undivided attention, as it has formulated a truly powerful way of thinking about 'things in space'. But... well, The Nature of Order is on another level entirely...

Nothing is out of bounds, nothing is beyond consideration; a cup, a car, a stool, a fence, a handle, a roof... In this series, Alexander searches for, and finds, the signature of beauty. The section on the 15 Properties on its own is a monumental achievement.

FWIW, I've attended, and presented, at a couple international pattern language conferences; there is an admittedly small, but awesome group of people continuing to explore and develop Alexander's ideas. Perhaps most-notably is Building Beauty. In fact, they hosted a webinar on The Nature of Order. It was pretty great. Each weekly meeting would discuss a section of the books, as the group read-along through the series. Here's their link: https://www.buildingbeauty.org/

As you can probably tell, I absolutely adore Christopher Alexander's approach to design. Indeed, I intend to host workshops so that more people can come into contact with this methodology, include it as another tool for design. So, if you ever want to talk more about any of this, yes please

Allo everyone!

For starters, I'd like to say that several members of our team have enjoyed Permies for years and years now; notably, rocket mass heater stuff (tangent: we built one in a previously abandoned house in Detroit, Michigan. So, thanks for that!).

Now (well, four years ago...) we've relocated to north-central Portugal, where we have begun regenerating a lovely piece of land while reviving its abandoned granite village. Since arriving, we've already gotten settled; established homes, cleaned the land, observed the seasons, improved water in the landscape, equipped a workshop, and set a conceptual roadmap-design for the project. Finally, we're ready to host workshops and courses; mushroom cultivation and natural birth are coming up this month, and our very first Permaculture Design Course on our new land will go down this June! Exciting times... no doubt about it.

Our five-family collective is made up of farmers and growers, a soil microbiologist/landscape architect, an herbalist, a permaculture engineer (he's been building solar batteries lately), finish plasterers (clay, tadelakt, scagliola), carpenters, builders, a midwife, musicians and dancers. Oh, and five children... Phew a;)

And so, on behalf of the team, it's a pleasure to be here. I'll do my best to check in from time to time, add whichever two-cents I can rummage up.


See you around,
Surplus


ps. Here's a link to our website (but I beg of you to be kind, the website is shamefully out of date... we've been busy IRL!): https://www.surpluspermaculture.org/
pss. If anyone has any suggestions on where to promote for permaculture courses and workshops online, please do not hesitate to share them