Wiping Down The Base

I started this morning with the idea that I was going to use a rag and a bucket of slip to wipe down then entire oven in order to finish blending and smoothing everything out. Well that didn't quite work. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. Well I only got the base done today and I'll have to finish the dome and chimney tomorrow but, the technique worked great.

I chose a terry cloth rag to use for this. I figured it would hold the slip well and with it being a little rough it would help to smooth things out. Overall this worked pretty well. I would dip the rag into the slip and then begin rubbing and working the surface to smooth it out. All of the fill that I had used before was worked down and smoothed out to the point where I had a nice small lines giving me a little texture. I also rubbed the smooth areas giving me the same texture everywhere.

You can see in the picture that there is a difference in color between the base and the dome. What I did was to let the base dry after I rubbed on the slip. Then I took the rag, which was dry by this point, and I rubbed out the base again. This smoothed out the base very well and gave a nice consistent texture all the way around the base. I also found that by using a slightly damp rag I could rub the edges to a very nice and smooth finish.

So on one hand I'm happy how the texture of the base came out but, on the other hand I hate how sore and exhausted I am. I honestly thought this part was going to be quick and easy. Well I'm here to tell you no such luck. Well the next time I do this I'll know what to expect. I takes some pressure and lots of rubbing, squatting and bending but, in the end it was worth it.

I took these pictures just to show the difference in the texture before and after rubbing. The picture on the left is the base just under the door where the finish has been rubbed and the picture on the right is above the door where I haven't rubbed it out yet.

So for those of you who don't know I got the idea to use the rag from reading and watching shows about how indigenous peoples, tribes and cultures all over the world have built and lived in earthen structures throughout history. I found many of these shows and articles to contain many other great ideas. They demonstrated or talked about different slapping techniques with hands, boards and sticks to add and work clay. They discussed different building shapes and designs from single room hut to nine story buildings. They also discussed different finishing techniques used throughout history like the rag finish as well as using leather, hands, trowels, bundles of grass and many others. I thought the finishing techniques information was really pretty amazing. Also they discussed many kinds of coatings and plastering to protect the walls. If you get a chance I would recommend you watch and read as much as you can. I got a lot of ideas from these resources.

So tomorrow I'll begin on the dome and hopefully have it all done and ready for whitewash.