August 16, 17, 2013
We came back to Terrapin to see our smaller domes relatively dry and set in search for a suitable place for our bigger one. This one has to be built in place and we found a nice, cozy spot for it inside one of the hen cages with a lot of rabbits around. As half of us set into building the dome, the other half started making the basket.
Kinnary and I were in the basket group and we started the tedious process of splitting bamboo for the basket for our smaller dome. A few grueling hours and several cut fingers later, we had our basic skeleton ready. We tied the ends together alternatively so that the basket would not lose shape as we started weaving it.
After lunch we mud painted each other's faces before working. Just when we were going to start weaving, the heavens started pouring down on us. It started raining cats and dogs. We quickly covered our structures and waited for the downpour to subside. But after a while, we realized that we were waiting in vain and the rain was refusing to go away. So after some hot tea, we called it a day.
The next day when we reached Terrapin, we were dismayed to see that half of the bamboo we had split had gotten blown away in the rain the day before. Quite a frustrating situation as splitting bamboo can take ages.
Jackson showed us some knots that can be very useful when tying or carrying bamboo. This included the clove hitch, etc. We got ropes and started practicing on pieces of bamboo and ourselves. After that we did some soil testing by putting soil in a jar with water and shaking it up. The first layer to settle is sand, second is the silt and third is the clay. We labelled the first layer and let them set.
We made a huge mud mix and started our day. We switched roles and so it was my turn to go into the chicken shelter and work on the dome. They had already finished quite a bit and also put in bottles sticking in like perches. So along with a bit of foul odor and our rabbit friends we started working on it. We finished till the cylindrical part ends and cut out the two doorways. We put in the platform inside for the second story and also made the ramp for it. As the rabbits kept biting our ramp, we covered it with the brown rope after soaking it in water. This saved it from their gnawing as well as gave it a nice look.
The bamboo has been split for the basket. We should start hopefully by next week and also finish our big structure as we have a field trip on the weekend. So looking forward to that and loads of fun as it'll be our last week before workshop. Also we somewhat start on the wall next week and see if we can start plastering. So a lot to do!
We came back to Terrapin to see our smaller domes relatively dry and set in search for a suitable place for our bigger one. This one has to be built in place and we found a nice, cozy spot for it inside one of the hen cages with a lot of rabbits around. As half of us set into building the dome, the other half started making the basket.
Kinnary and I were in the basket group and we started the tedious process of splitting bamboo for the basket for our smaller dome. A few grueling hours and several cut fingers later, we had our basic skeleton ready. We tied the ends together alternatively so that the basket would not lose shape as we started weaving it.
After lunch we mud painted each other's faces before working. Just when we were going to start weaving, the heavens started pouring down on us. It started raining cats and dogs. We quickly covered our structures and waited for the downpour to subside. But after a while, we realized that we were waiting in vain and the rain was refusing to go away. So after some hot tea, we called it a day.
The next day when we reached Terrapin, we were dismayed to see that half of the bamboo we had split had gotten blown away in the rain the day before. Quite a frustrating situation as splitting bamboo can take ages.
Jackson showed us some knots that can be very useful when tying or carrying bamboo. This included the clove hitch, etc. We got ropes and started practicing on pieces of bamboo and ourselves. After that we did some soil testing by putting soil in a jar with water and shaking it up. The first layer to settle is sand, second is the silt and third is the clay. We labelled the first layer and let them set.
We made a huge mud mix and started our day. We switched roles and so it was my turn to go into the chicken shelter and work on the dome. They had already finished quite a bit and also put in bottles sticking in like perches. So along with a bit of foul odor and our rabbit friends we started working on it. We finished till the cylindrical part ends and cut out the two doorways. We put in the platform inside for the second story and also made the ramp for it. As the rabbits kept biting our ramp, we covered it with the brown rope after soaking it in water. This saved it from their gnawing as well as gave it a nice look.
The bamboo has been split for the basket. We should start hopefully by next week and also finish our big structure as we have a field trip on the weekend. So looking forward to that and loads of fun as it'll be our last week before workshop. Also we somewhat start on the wall next week and see if we can start plastering. So a lot to do!
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