Yesterday I led a cob bench workshop for my friends Meredith and Steve. Inspired by the City Repair movement up in Portland, they wanted to offer a nice place for people in the neighborhood to sit and congregate.
Our bench is build right on the sidewalk and I think it will become a neighborhood landmark. This is a neighborhood where people are replacing lawns with food gardens, and redwood fences for bamboo. Lots of nice, conscious folks around here, so maybe this will be the start of another round of community building.
I had posted to our homeschooling newsletter for this free workshop, and was hoping for some strong teens. Instead I got five girls: three eight year olds, one six and one five! At first I was a bit discouraged, expecting them to last less than an hour, get bored or too tired, and drag away their parents.
Not a bit of it. These kids worked SO HARD, and they worked well, actually contributing a lot. I loved working with these families. It was just about the most fun I've ever had cobbing.
I'm very happy with the design and proportions and the whole feel of the bench. We were lucky to have two sets of excellent clay soil (you can see the bottom layer of black clay peeking out the bottom). In a few weeks we'll plaster the bench and it will be even prettier!
No comments:
Post a Comment