Bone House progress report

Believe it or not I went to the Bone House yesterday to take some pictures of the latest progress.  Upon first notice, the most noticeable change is the garden and outdoor yard area.  While it is true we are having a drought here, you'd never know it by the flourishing garden alongside bushes and trees that are big and green with new growth.  The devastation from last years fire is barely noticeable to the untrained eye.  It's beautiful and lush as the corn towers over my head, the herbs and other vegetables are growing like weeds!

The outside of the Bone House and the studio look pretty complete too, both buildings are large by Dan's usual standards and give off the sense of having been here for a long time.  Perhaps it is just the look of the wood, but it feels very old and wise ~ this place that Dan, all the wonderful volunteers and the crew have nurtured for well over a year now.

Bone House back view

side of studio behind the bone house

The inside has changed the most, the downstairs 'Phoenix Rising' floor made entirely from cut pieces of Honduras Mahogany, Walnut and Pine is complete!  It is stunning.  Linda's son George drew the design onto the floor from a previous drawing done by Jared Gamble and then Linda the cut the wood out with a band saw. My favorite part about this is the beautiful 'black' color from the wood, it looks so much like a tile of some sort I had to take a closer look.  It is mind blowing how anyone can make all those pieces of wood 'fit'....make it work into a cohesive piece of art!  The hours and hours that it took for the crew to cut up small pieces of wood is also mind blowing. We are talking weeks and weeks of very tedious work, but it is worth it as it is an original piece of art that leaves no reason to fill up the house with too much superfluous STUFF.  You see, the entire house IS the art.  Dan is a visionary.  He isn't a home builder as much as he is a visionary Artist who also happens to care an awful lot about the environment, waste, and helping people to help themselves. His medium is 'homes'.  His work of art.  The Bone House is a testament to the creativity that resides within him.

Here are a few more pictures of the latest progress.  Go to the Flickr page to see a slideshow or individual pictures of each project.  Here is the link to Bone House set of photos. Five pages worth!

above: 1. bone 'tile' kitchen counter.  2. 'Phoenix Rising' wood floor  3.  sliced bone floor 'tile' on steps
4.  tile mosaic in the downstairs 'bottle cap bedroom'

And in other Phoenix Commotion news:  Both Linda and George are literally breaking ground on their Phoenix Commotion House/Art Studio that they will share together, so look for posts about their progress in the near future!   Linda has been on the 'crew' for the last year + , working hard at the Bone House.  George is her son, with 2 children of his own, and both are artists so I cannot wait to see their place when it is done!

Josh, who has been Dan's 'main man' has also bought land and will be working away on his own home very soon.  Josh is also going to start his own Phoenix Commotion here in Huntsville.  If Tod and I are able to buy a lot next to Linda and George, Josh will be our building Mentor.  As it stands, right now, Dan is going to be George and Linda's mentor.  Their property is right across the street from Eric's house, which if all goes as planned will also be finished this year.  So, lots going on and I look forward to being a better reporter here!

He Did Build It, And We Did Come

Resilience is a beautiful thing. This is no news to those already involved in this phenomenon of brainstorms, reinvention, and rebirth we call the Phoenix Commotion. These dwellings, crafted with sincerity, screws, and sheet metal, have been expanding the minds of the nation’s freshly opened eyes for some time now—some would say for months, others would say it is but a new vehicle for that same echo of stewardship and creativity that has resonated through countless civilizations and our very hearts ever since a being was capable of care for those around them and the earth beneath their feet. It is a pulse of compassion and community, an echo of that both sustainable and pastoral, that small but unmistakable voice that compels you to build a shelter within which love and hospitality can incubate and bloom into a cherished home, giving warmth to all that enter its doors. And that delightful voice did finally trickle its way into twelve little Kansan ears. More specifically, ears from Lawrence, Kansas. I suppose that’s where I come in.

I am Matt Gifford, and I was given the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful project that has taken root in Hunstville, Texas, along with a rag-tag crew of dreamers with golden hearts and wide-eyes. Together we were six students and/or recent graduates from the University of Kansas:

Ryan Kuster – ’09 KU grad. Bee dissector. First-level Thai speaker.

Young Han Lester – English/Education student. Epic storyteller. THE Swiss Army man.

Emily Hane – Poli Sci Student/Creative Writer. Trip orchestrator. Super-cute sneezer.

Stevi Ballard – English major. Highway wrangler. Late night beat writer.

Chris Worley – Environmental Studies student. Dunk-slammer. Immaculate napper.

Myself – another ’09 KU grad. Metal-smither. Fast talker. In this case…narrator.

From Left to Right: Young Han Lester, Ryan Kuster, Stevi Ballard, Emile Hane, Chris Worley, Sir Daniel Phillips, and myself (Matt Gifford)

Organizing this endeavor was the lovely Emily Hane, having seen the Commotion’s work in a September issue of the New York Times. It is to her whom we all owe the fortune of this experience….thank you! Once she made contact with PC and let the rest of us know what all the buzz was about, we were hooked. We had to have more. We had to be a part of this.

So, we waited for the right time, deciding to head down during our spring break (being March 14^th to the 20^th of this year, 2010), and piled into the extremely intimate space of a donated Durango (courtesy of Stevi Ballard’s family….thank you guys!), and crawled out of the then-snowy Kansas plains towards the tropical promised land of Texas. As the mile count did rise, so did the temperature, adding even more teeth to our widening smiles.

With us, we brought gifts of recycled materials from the eastern Kansas area: collected bottle caps and wine corks from eight local Lawrence bars and restaurants, and seven seed bags full of cattle bones for the Bone House. We had scapulas, rib cages and femurs galore. We even nabbed a skull or two.

We didn't bring near all of this, but you get the idea.

We arrived to the open arms of Ms. Kristie Stevens, Commotion administrative guru and kitchen muse extraordinaire at the surprisingly expansive and delightfully eccentric Smither Company Real Estate, aptly dubbed, “Crazywood.” This was to be our new base of operations, where we would meet to strategize and pow-wow for lunch and dinner. John Smither was also generous enough to provide us with an OUTSTANDING lakeside bunkhouse just outside of town where we could lay our heads. To him we owe a considerable amount of gratitude (many thanks, you snazzy man you!)

A little view from our bunkhouse

After a wonderful first day of touring the Commotion’s previous projects and meeting and greeting all the friendly faces of the crew, including the mythical Dan Philips himself, we were divvied into two teams: one to take on the reconstruction of a garden bed from some charred remnants of a tree from the original Bone House layout, the other migrating to the workshop site to begin the massive undertaking of reorganizing and salvaging some TLC-lacking materials.

We constructed the stump-perimeter garden next to the Chevron stand.

It soon became our daily routine to stick together as one group, break bread at the bunk house, then proceed to the aforementioned workshop to keep with the reorganizing. This apparently used to be Dan’s residence, but due to increasing momentum of the Commotion, and consequently, increasing donations, this site had become a storehouse for many generations of metal, tile, wood, and glass. We spent many lumbar-bending hours enacting triage on what was still usable and stacking tiles and stacking tiles and stacking tiles. One had to keep thinking, “It’ll all get it a home someday. It’s worth it.” Hopefully they’ll make their way to somebody’s floor or walls or ceilings or entire backyard (we were convinced you could tile Dan’s entire yard with it all). A whole lotta tile, it was.

This chandelier may be old news to some, but it still blows my mind every time.

After throwing together some lunch back at Crazywood, we would make our way back to the Bone House, where we became in charge of filling all the holes we could in the mirror-mosaic studio. It was great to swing from the rafters and be a part of something which we had all read so much about and drooled over innumerable hours online. It was like walking right into a photograph, which I learned do not do the real constructions justice. Also, we made sure to leave a few Kansas shapes in the mosaics. See if you can find them.

Ms. Hane, arduously....working....on some pressing matter.

We managed to find some time early one afternoon to slide back to the workshop and make a piece of art for the house, as such a task was issued as a challenge from Ms. Kristie. Aptly enough, we decided to make a phoenix to mount somewhere around the property. It was made from an old school desk frame, piano keys, and other random stuff we found about the premises (and lots of wire). The effort was spearheaded by misters Worley, Kuster, and myself, although the entire team helped out with the project (Team work makes the dream work!) Dan PROMISED it’d be in Architectural Digest, so we’d better see it in there soon, or he owes each of us twenty bucks. We’ve got our eyes peeled, Daniel.

Presenting the new mascot for the Phoenix Commotion.

Detail of his vicious, but well-loved wing

Smile pretty now (clever girl....)

But, before we knew it, the time had flown out from under us, and we were due back to Kansas in a few days. So, we sadly said our goodbyes (over a few beers at the Stardust Room, why not) and headed back to the snow packed plains of Kansas. And, as if the gut feeling of, “No! Stay! Stay here!” wasn’t enough, we had the lucky opportunity of driving back through what was declared blizzard conditions passing through Oklahoma and Kansas. We literally crawled (at least as literally as possible in a vehicle) back home, our average top speed an eye-parching 35 mph. I declare, the fates were indeed trying to convince us to stay.

Oh, and it just so happened that all the snow melted about a day after we arrived home. What beautiful timing.

So what did this previously-described group of rag-tag dreamers take away from all this? It’s a little hard to put into words. To me personally, it was overwhelmingly a sense of confirmation that a solution is out there. We are blessed to live in this land of plenty, but too often the world treats the plenty as if it holds no repercussions—that somewhere someone isn’t going without so you might go with more, that there aren’t hectares of trees being cleared daily, that the planets temperature isn’t rising, and that people don’t feel like squatters in the one place they shouldn’t: their own homes. It’s too common in our society today that people hold no intimacy with where they live or the objects they own, which contributes immensely to the waste we produce.

This isn’t to say that Dan Phillips has all the answers (though he has my vote in 2012), but the ideologies of hard work, creativity, resilience, resourcefulness, responsibility, community, and humility that he and the other Commotion folk promote through everything that they do is enough to make you get butterflies. Their efforts have refused to be put down, and they are turning so many heads out there because what they are practicing actually makes sense. There’s a certain brilliance to it that just feels right, and I think people are finally picking up on it.

Being amongst the minds and hearts churning in Huntsville makes me believe it is possible to have a positive influence on where the next leg of the human equation will span, to help preserve and beautify a place for our kids to grow and learn and prosper—and to be a part of this team makes you feel very, very good inside, and we (I’m sure I speak for the entire group here) can’t thank them enough for the experience. Kudos to you all, from the bottom of our hearts. Keep building, and stay beautiful.

"Ya'll come back nah, ya hear?"

floor progress

The downstairs floor is shaping up. Made by cutting slices of Hungarian Mahogany, Redwood, Pine and Bamboo the pieces are then broken up and tile adhesive is used to affix it to the floor. As with the bottle cap and wine cork floors, grout and resin will be applied over this for protection and highlighting.

The design of the floor will morph into a Phoenix. As you can see on the left, a feather has been made from redwood. The bird will be on the east side of the kitchen ~ photos below are on the west side ~ kitchen in the center of one long walkway with doors on both ends to outdoor studio and front of the house.

pieces of pine cut and ready to be used on floor

view facing west to the front door

center of kitchen walk area

view from upstairs landing

Josh's cabinetry job in the upstairs bedroom

Cob Workshop with David Reed Part II

David Reed will be hosting a cob workshop at the Bone House March 28. I asked David to tell me a little bit about himself, how he got interested in cob and what exactly IS cob?

Q: the obvious question is: what IS cob and how is it possible that it can withstand heat and moisture?

David: Cob is a very ancient medium used to build homes and structures, it consists of a mixture of clay, sand and straw. The earliest use of cob can be traced back to Yemen and the city of Shibam which is called the Manhattan of the desert in terms of age, Shibam is mentioned in the bible. It was used throughout the UK in many a regal homestead and can still be found there today as it has had an explosion in rebirth.

The ingredients are as important as those of any creation, the clay must be very sticky and thick, preferably local to the build site, the sand must have a rough silica content as this helps the sand particles lock together as opposed to a smooth silica content which will roll apart like stacking marbles into a pile. The straw must be clean straw with very little moisture content, preferably just turned from green to tan. The straw acts the same to cob as rebar acts to concrete: it gives it tensile strength as well as lateral strength. When compared to the strength of concrete, on the Newton scale concrete rates at 2-3 Newtons, cob rates at 1-2 Newtons. Obviously not as strong as concrete but pretty close for a sustainable medium. It is this slight difference that allows cob to stay more flexible as opposed to concrete in an event such as an earthquake or floods.

The heat resilience is based on the natural resistance of earth to burn. This kind of works the opposite for thermal gain, the mass of the walls in conjunction with the sun helps to absorb and hold in the heat on cold days and then repel the heat on hot days. With cob ovens, this is the perfect effect. Heat the cob up and it holds the heat for hours. Moisture is only an issue if it is allowed to be present or to penetrate the cob. Typically a water repellent ingredient is used to prevent moisture penetration; lime is the preferred natural moisture blocker, and this, added into an earthen plaster will prevent water from infiltrating the cob and the more layers you do almost guarantees it.

Q: is the cob oven built differently than a cob house?

David: In ingredients no, in build yes. In a cob oven there is need for specific functionality so the way an oven is built can vary from a home in a couple different ways. The oven needs to retain as much heat as possible so the structure is layered to allow this more efficiently. In a home a mixture of cob is made then applied in a thickness typical of 16-18 inches, in a cob oven the thickness is typical of 6-8 inches. Then of course the home has framing aspects as well at windows and doors.

Q: when and how did you get interested in building with cob?

David: I have always been intrigued by building methods such as Log Homes, Yurts, Tipi's and even Subterranean homes, but after being introduced to a more sustainable and earth connected type of building I realized my spirit was trying to reach me in any way it could and it used those building methods as a primer of sorts. I lived with a communal group in Florida, learning to eat better and communicate in truth as well as living and growing in a large group of people all with their own hang ups but united in our effort to drop the societal learned lies and be real with each other. We built housing structures on the 16 acres of land we lived on using reclaimed materials from abandoned drug houses in the nearby city, we would form "demo crews" and go demolish a home for the materials as per agreements made with the home owners. This was my first lesson in reclaimed building and communal living.

I was first introduced to cob as a application to straw bale about 3 years ago. I took a straw bale class in Butler, Tx. from a natural builder named Nick Moser, I learned how to build a straw bale home from the ground up, this woke me up to the possibilities of natural building.

1/4 turn spiral stair designed by David for Dr. Craig Sommers
new cob home

I scoured the net for information on as many topics as I could find. After learning what I could and attending some webinars and seminars, I was asked to come help a guy in Bastrop named Dr. Craig Sommers, frame in the second story of his cob home; we had been introduced by Gayle Borst of Design Build Live out of Austin Texas. I live in Houston and you have to understand this town is not like other towns in Texas, it is very money and fashion and oil based, there are people here that want to build naturally but the odds, as well as building code are really high against it. I called around to try and find any natural building groups in my area and found none, there are a couple great permaculture groups, ( I wanna thank those guys at Last Organic Outpost ) and Dan Phillips wonderful work, but nothing geared towards natural earthen building.) Gayle and I had emailed back and forth about the possibility of starting some type of group here in the Houston area, and passed on the contact with Craig.

finishing up the 2nd story frame, David and Craig

I was thrilled to be able to be part of a full cob home build workshop, I spent 37 days at Craig's place and learned a lot about what it takes to live sustainable. I converted to vegetarianism while there, I, along with a couple other people, built this home by sinking cedar tree trunks into the ground for corner posts, framing up his window and door bucks, rebuilding some old doors he reclaimed, and framing up his second story to prepare for the first floor cobbing. Christina Ott from Barefoot Builder came to teach the cob workshop for a 7 day course, this woman is a gold mine of natural building knowledge as well as a powerful spirit. She is also going to be our instructor for the 10 day owner builder workshop in October at our place in Hempstead.

The connections and friendships I have made since beginning all of this has been extraordinary to say the least. The opportunities to further my skills also have been presenting themselves in ways I would never have noticed before. I am glad for this type of lifestyle as it is allowing me to truly give my children a solid and secure future here on this planet, in truth they are my driving force, and teaching them to live in connection with this planet and the nature on it and building beautifully sculptured homes for them to live in as well as the knowledge of how to do it themselves is by far more in line with the responsibility of a parent and friend and a human.

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I asked David to share what current projects he is working on. Here is his reply:

1) Building my own website (New Jura Building) based solely on natural building and not just off grid living as is the forums main focus.

2) Design and consultation with John Matznick of GreenTechFusion on a couple of sustainable container homes he has planned for the Conroe area. I have submitted some simple designs based on his and his wife's ideas and they are in the process of submittal for permits. I will be doing some of the hands on build with John and teaching some unskilled college persons how to frame up these builds, and to utilize and install rainwater catchment, grey water diversion and reuse, and maybe some composting toilets but I am not sure about the latter.

3) I am also working with Kevin Rowell of The Natural Builders, as well as many other natural builders to create a volume of downloadable PDF's based on natural building building techniques drawn or illustrated in step by step form to be able to empower the builder and non builder alike. Conventional building has its technical manuals and they are very hard to read for the lay person, we are trying to come up with one for the natural building process that is easy to read, understand and easy to follow so that anyone may instantly see the steps necessary to build their own whatever even if they don't speak English.

4) I have the cob oven with you guys March 28th

5) April-May I will be attending the Mariposa Ecovillage in Amarillo Tx. for 2 months of a 6 month Natural Building Summer Camp where,"we will craft a village of nine eco-cabins of various methods and materials to act as mini-model homes and lodge where people can stay when they come to visit the ecovillage, or if they are interested in natural building and just want to experience staying in one. To facilitate the construction of these demonstration units we are putting together a "Natural Building Summer Camp", bringing together paying workshop participants, work-trade apprentices and expert teachers for an extended learning experiment combining the best aspects of a fully supported multi-project building site and a community workshop environment."

This event is sure to be a blast as I will be heading the woodworking teams for a couple of the build groups in this summer camp.

6) June I will be back in Hempstead were I will be hosting some work traders to come live on my land and help get it in the necessary shape it needs to be in to host the 10 day owner builder cob workshop in October. We will be building a 4 person composting toilet house made from re-purposed wood pallets, a shower house also made from wood pallets and finally a workshop kitchen house also from pallets. We will then install the recycled urbanite stem walls in preparation for the cob walls to go in, and install the round wood timber framing for the roof structure.

_______________________

As you can see, David is passionate and fully committed to learning as well as teaching others about self sustainable living. Thank you David, it is inspiring to learn more and see what one man can do! We look forward to meeting you when you come to The Bone House in March. You can find out even more about self sustainable living on David's Off Grid Homesteading Forum.

Cob Workshop with David Reed Part I

March 28th David Reed of New Jura Natural Building will host a Cob Oven Building Workshop.

In collaboration with Dan Phillips and The Phoenix Commotion, we will be holding a cob oven workshop March 28th from 10am to 6pm in Huntsville Texas at the world famous Bone House.

In this workshop you will learn how to build a cob oven and then fire it when finished. Earthen ovens are simple, low-cost and fun to build. Ideal for baking bread and pizza, earthen ovens are beautiful as well as functional, making wonderful additions to any home garden or patio. Dress to get dirty, wear shoes that you don't mind getting trashed. A 6'x8' tarp would be handy to mix the cob on. We will get started at 10am and go through some preliminary cob philosophy as well as some history.

At around 1pm we will break for lunch, David will be serving a delicious vegetarian meal, something simple and light to keep you full of energy and not bogged down. A handmade salad and some grains and legumes. You are more than welcome to bring your own lunches or to go grab a lunch. We will resume the cob oven at around 2pm.

We will have some fun activities for any children that attend such as making adobe blocks and cob sculptures.

The price for this event is $100 per participating adult, the deadline for registering is March 21st. We are taking registration fees by PayPal. Click here to sign up.

Part II: More about David Reed, cob, and self sustainable living.

Phoenix Commotion Forum is up!

Happy to announce the Phoenix Commotion Forum is up and ready to go! You are cordially invited to join the new free internet forum created by The Phoenix Commotion. Here you will be able to connect locally as well as internationally with others who want to be part of the The Commotion by exchanging knowledge and ideas. Dan Phillips and members of the Phoenix Crew will be weighing in on questions and comments that range from sustainable construction and deconstruction to land acquisition and creating relationships with municipal entities; all in the interest of inspiring and educating people about about building with recycled and reclaimed materials.

Included in the forum:

Construction: foundation/framing/plumbing/electricity/roofing/flooring/walls and ceilings/heating, cooling, and ventilation.

Materials: collecting/storing/new uses and experiments/ identifying problem materials

Property: purchasing and zoning

Connect Locally: connect with people where you live

General Forum: affordable technology/municipal relationships/ legal and tax info/ job and volunteer opportunities/ funding/ events

Drop by and write a post, we'd love to hear what you think!

then and now, the bone house continues

the old bone house pre-fire

While I personally have not been working at the Bone House as of late, I do still drop in and keep abreast of the progress as well as interesting tidbits of news that is happening in and around the Bone House. Check in on Facebook as Kristie does a great job of relaying news and events there, as does Tod when it comes to projects/events and workshops, all posted on the website.

Yesterday I dropped by and was happy to see that the bottle cap floor has been grouted and cleaned and ready for Dan to coat it with a polyurethane finish. The metamorphosis that takes place during the installation of the cork and now the bottle cap flooring is astonishing. Each step brings out another layer of patina, texture and beauty. While I loved how the raw floors looked when just cork and caps were glued down, after grout has been applied and cleaned, everything just 'pops'. The cool thing is you can use any color grout you want, adding to the overall flavor of the entire room. For the bottle cap floor a light charcoal grout has been chosen, giving the room a nice cool feel.

unsealed, grouted bottle cap floor

bamboo floor/cut tiles

The third downstairs bedroom floor as noted in the previous post, is comprised of donated bamboo [above]. Now that the floor has been laid its time for the detailing to get started: that being the cutting of more bamboo into 'tiles'. The tiles will morph out into the front entryway and then bump into the sliced redwood pieces which will cover the kitchen floor. As you can see in the pre-fire photos [top photo], there are two steel stools at the kitchen bar. The stools once inhabited Goolsby Drugstore which was located on the corner of 12th and Sam Houston Avenue and closed in the early 80's. While I couldn't find any information about the store online, you can practically taste a chocolate sundae just looking at these candy caned relics. Very cool that Dan had extras in storage so he could replicate the original kitchen bar area!

today's bone house kitchen bar area

upstairs landing/office area

Bob's garden grows

And, as you can see in the photo above and below, the yard is slowly turning into an organic garden and food prep area. Yep, in just another month we are having David Reed host a Cob Oven Building Workshop. (interview with David coming next week). In the photo below an outdoor kitchen area is underway. It is hard to see in this photo, but Dan has placed two huge Chevron Signs on top of the kitchen structure. Surely this will serve up interesting table talk after say a cob oven flat bread pizza has been fired up and food and drink are served, perhaps on Dan's outdoor bone furniture...