2011 has been a year of yurts, w/two opportunities to try out this simple design of sticks and mud -- a more permanent adaptation of the traditional, portable, Mongolian design. One was for a friend and neighbor. The other was a workshop at Aprovecho Institute, as part of their sustainable shelter building series. Lots of people helped! Both were made with locally harvested bamboo and fir poles (arranged reciprocally to make a self-supporting, conical roof w/a central skylight, which I'm still trying to figure out how to cover cheaply...) If you click on the photo below, you'll go to a little . . .
Paper from Vegetable Fiber
This is one example of many projects found in the book The Best of Making Things - A Hand Book of Creative Discovery. Find out more about the book! You wil need: 8 strips of wooden lath (or cut a wooden yardstick) - small nails - hammer - window screening - staple gun - dry vegetable fibers (such as corn husks, onion skins, celery strings, sawdust, weeds, or straw) - scissors -blender - paper towels, napkins, paper bags, newspaper or tissue - dishpan - newspaper - sponge - iron. Make 2 wooden frames the same size (any size that fits in a dishpan). Staple a piece of window screen onto . . .
Learning by Doing
This is an exerpt from The Best of Making Things - A Handbook for Creative Discovery by Ann Sayre Wiseman. The phenomenon of of learning belongs to the child, not to the teacher. We do not teach a child to walk - one of many skill potentials in all beginners. At best, we stimulate discovery, desire, and curiosity; encourage and whet the appetite; provide space; and anticipate readiness to exercise the inevitable. Learning by experience is profound knowledge, more deeply recorded in the memory than theory or speculation. The most direct, immediate, and satisfying path to knowledge is . . .