We host events and classes, workshops on a variety of topics, with an emphasis on natural building. In order to offer the best learning opportunity, workshop enrollment is typically very limited, so early registration is recommended. DBL Partners are given priority notification, then announcements go out to our e-newsletter list. Learn how you can become a Volunteer or Donor Partner or subscribe to the free DBL e-newsletter.
For student prices or work-trade opportunities, please email us. We will do our best to work with highly-motivated individuals so that cost will not prevent anyone from attending our workshops. The number of student and work trade registrations may be limited for each class or workshop. For registration less than 24 hours prior to the event, or to make a non-online payment, please call 512-478-9033.
Not interested in hands-on right now? Check out our events and classes page.
Saturday, March 7, 9:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Earth Plaster Finish Coat Workshop
Instructor: Tempe Sikora of Rarest Bloom
Location: North Central Austin Residence
Fee: $75, including lunch
Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Limit: 10 people
Registration and payment required
Learn how to mix and apply beautiful clay plaster finish coats to interior walls and ceilings. These earthen plasters bring an amazing look, feel and sound to a room.
Natural clay plasters create a look and feel unmatched by conventional painted drywall. Earthen plasters have gained in popularity in recent years, especially since the introduction of premixed powdered forms available bagged and in a variety of colors. For those who prefer to create their own plasters from local clays, endless color and texture possibilities exist, and costs can be minimal. This workshop is designed to begin or add to your ability to create a beautiful interior finish coat of earthen plaster. You will learn how to mix and apply two specific plasters designed for the walls and ceilings of a new room that was converted from a garage. We will be plastering on the earthen base coats over cob and light clay straw walls, primed drywall walls, and a reed-matted ceiling. Additional color and texture options will be discussed as well.
Tempe Sikora, our workshop instructor, specializes in specialty natural plaster and paint application as well as custom European faux finishing. She is also an accomplished photographer. Tempe works primarily in the Austin area as well as in northern California, and her beautiful work can be viewed on her website, www.rarestbloom.com.
Fee for the workshop is $75 and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, coffee and tea will also be provided. Enrollment is limited to ten people.
Saturday, March 14, 9:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Earthen Floor Workshop
Instructor: Frank Meyer of Thangmaker Construction
Location: North Central Austin Residence
Fee: $75, including lunch
Experience Level: No previous experience required
Limit: 10 people
Registration and payment required
Natural clay soils can be used to create durable, beautiful, healthful floors. Learn how to select materials and build these unique floors. Discuss techniques for final finishing and sealing.
There are many flooring options on the market that claim to be "green." While some of this is "greenwashing," there are actually some products that offer considerably more sustainable features than the conventional carpet and sheet vinyl. But it is difficult to get greener than an earthen floor. When properly finished and sealed, earthen floors offer beauty and durability while delivering superbly on sustainable features such as:
During this workshop you will learn what type of materials to select and where to get them, the steps involved in creating an earthen floor, and how to finish and seal. Building an earthen floor is a multi-step process that requires some drying time between steps. During this workshop we will install all but the final thin coat of clay, but you will be introduced to all steps in the process. Fee for the workshop is $75 and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, coffee and tea will also be provided. Enrollment is limited to ten people.
Earth Plaster Workshop
Saturday, January 31, 2008
Austin, Texas
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
$75 / person
Limit: 10
Description
Come learn about earthen plasters and how they can be used in both natural and conventional buildings, including application to existing drywall walls. These non-toxic finishes nurture both your home and Mother Earth, and they feel great to work with! The morning portion of the workshop will be in-depth on materials and techniques, and in the afternoon you'll get hands-on experience applying a base coat plaster to a cob wall and a finish plaster to gypsum drywall.
The workshop instructor, Tempe Sikora (rarestbloom.com), specializes in specialty natural plaster and paint application as well as custom European faux finishing. She works primarily in the Austin area as well as in northern California.
The site of the workshop is a private residence in East Austin. Fee for the workshop includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, coffee and tea will also be provided.
Interior Clay Plaster Workshop
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Austin, Texas
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
$75 / person
Limit: 6
Earthen (clay) plaster creates a beautiful, rich, healthful finish for interior walls and ceilings. The wonderful acoustics and feel of these finishes add to the desirability. While finish coat clay plaster is now commercially available and installation can be somewhat pricey, for the do-it-yourselfer who makes their own plaster from local clay, it is dirt cheap.
In some cases a single finish coat can be applied to a wall, but in most cases two to three coats are required. This workshop starts with step one in the plastering process - the first coat, or scratch coat. Participants will learn how to mix and apply a basecoat of earth, sand and chopped straw, in preparation for the finish coat(s). Sources and selection of materials, and how to prepare wall and ceiling surfaces will also be covered.
We will apply this basecoat to interior light-clay walls and over an existing damaged ceiling at a home in north-central Austin. Techniques and skills learned could also be applied to the plastering of other types of surfaces, such as straw bales, cob, earth blocks and more. Subsequent workshops at this location will cover earthen plaster finish coats and earthen floor construction.
The instructor will be Gayle Borst, director of Design~Build~Live and a consulting architect in sustainable design. Fee for the workshop is $75 and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch and all necessary workshop materials and tools. Water, coffee and tea will also be provided. Enrollment is limited to six people - Please register immediately. Workshop location and details will be provided to registrants.
Working With Juniper Roundwood Workshop
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Austin, Texas
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
$75 / person
Limit: 12
Description
We in Central Texas are very fortunate to have access to one of the most beautiful, durable woods for use in building – ashe juniper. Commonly called "cedar," this often-maligned tree is a blessing for those of us in the natural building world. It can be milled into beautiful slabs for uses such as window sills or headers; or better yet, it can be used in its beautifully flowing irregular shape for arbors, garden gates, balustrades, trellises and much more.
Using natural, unmilled wood, or roundwood is not only unique and beautiful, but it is a sustainable thing to do in that it uses a regional material that is generally consider a waste wood, transportation fuel and costs are minimized, and milling energy is avoided. Working with roundwood is much different from working with rectilinear milled wood.
This workshop, led by Austin’s premier natural builder and craftsman, Frank Meyer (thangmaker.com ), will demonstrate the types of tools and techniques involved in working with this sculptural material. We will construct a porch arbor on the front of a charming, 1930's era, central Austin home in the Rosedale area.
Fee for the workshop includes a healthy vegetarian lunch, water, coffee and tea. Enrollment is limited to twelve people, so please register early.
Introduction to Natural Building
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Austin, Texas
9:30 am - 1 pm
$50 standard registration / $25 for enrolled students (15 years or older)
Limit: 40
Presented by Gayle Borst (stewardshiparchitecture.com), Texas registered architect, LEED AP, natural builder
Habitat Suites Hotel (see map)
500 E Highland Mall Blvd
Austin, TX 78752
Description
Natural building utilizes minimally processed, nontoxic materials and systems in a manner appropriate for the climate, site and intended use. It incorporates primarily regionally-available natural materials rather than typical high embodied energy, processed commercial materials. This is one definition of natural building, but it doesn't reveal the limitless creative, aesthetic, and functional possibilities that natural building presents. Imagine opportunities for:
Whether your tastes are contemporary or traditional, your building needs residential or commercial, or your budget large or small, there are natural building solutions that can match and exceed conventional building practices.
We introduce you to a variety of natural building materials and systems, with an emphasis on those appropriate for Central Texas. Through slides and words, we will explore:
Come learn how beautiful, functional, safe, environmentally-responsible natural building could be part of your life. Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or would hire professionals for our natural building project, this introduction is designed to inspire your journey.
Applying an Earthen Plaster Finish Coat
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Austin, Texas
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
$75 / person
Limit: 10
Description
Make and apply a finish plaster for a cob wall, practice finishing trowel techniques. Learn to make 1-2 natural paints you can apply to drywall or earthen plaster walls. Mix and work with lime plaster, and create a fresco sample.
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