Customer Reviews

you will find yourself looking at the dull, flat walls that encase our daily lives as being opportunities missed, and armed with this book you will have the tools but, perhaps more importantly, the motivation, to remedy that Review by Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Movement - from Permaculture magazine

Review

The first book on natural building I ever read was Becky Bee’s book The Cob Builder’s Handbook. What was so refreshing about it was that it was a building book written by a woman, and it was as intuitive and accessible as it was technical, and much of it read like a cookbook in its descriptions of the materials. This same spirit has gone on to pervade the growing natural building movement; a playful, intuitive and inspired rethinking of the creation of shelter that does much more than just keep the rain off.

Using Natural Finishes looks at the range of ways one can finish the walls of natural buildings, mostly cob, but it also looks at strawbale, at how moisture works in buildings, and where natural plasters are and aren’t appropriate (you wouldn’t use clay plasters in the shower for example).

This is a practical workbook, full of well-illustrated ‘how-tos’. It covers lime-based and clay-based plasters in considerable detail, and the accompanying photos do a wonderful job of communicating why you would want to choose clay plasters over gypsum or cement. They have a wonderful texture, a softness on the eye, give a room different acoustic properties and, as many of the gorgeous photos that bring this full colour book to life, look good enough to eat.

While this book is not the same as standing, trowel in hand, alongside a craftsman, it comes pretty close. Having luxuriated in its stunning collection of colour photos, and having been inspired by the authors’ writing style, you will find yourself looking at the dull, flat walls that encase our daily lives as being opportunities missed, and armed with this book you will have the tools but, perhaps more importantly, the motivation, to remedy that.
(Posted on 30/07/2010)