Jul 31, 2010

Bottlecap Mural - caps needed!

The current cap collection

I'm going to take a break from the history of the place to describe a future project.  For those of you who know me, I get my heart set on something and then can't let it go.  If it's something time-consuming, requires lots of little pieces, and I've never attempted anything like it before - that's the project for me!  Thankfully, I've managed to finish most of my projects associated with the cabin, and they've all turned out fine.

So, for this crazy project, some history.....    I have a distinct memory from my childhood of running my hands over an adobe wall decorated with bottlecaps.  The caps had faded, some were dented, and the pattern was pretty simple.  I don't remember if I saw this in Tucson (when I was really little), in the Albuquerque area when I was a bit older, or in visits to the Santa Fe area.  I mentioned this to my sister, and she says the image rings a bell for her also.  I know that there isn't anything like this in Albuquerque now, but I did see similar things in Sonora, Mexico when I was in grad school.


A search on the internet didn't reveal anything like my memories, although this patio, barn entrance, and road repair have a similar rustic 'feel'.  I found other examples of bottlecap art online.   Molly B. Right creates portraits from flattened caps and the detail and expression she obtains is phenomenal.  Her aged caps are overlapped and adhered to a substrate, giving the portraits a lifelike color palette.  This mural in Portland utilizes a hexagonal grid, and provides a good level of detail when seen from a distance.

In any case, I've decided I want a bottlecap mural on my cabin, and I've the perfect place - the north-facing exterior wall where I plan to have a deck in the future.  I've decided to go with a traditional mud plaster (earlier posts show the currently exposed adobe walls), and the caps can just be pressed into the wet mud when the plaster is put on.  I will likely make 12" 'tiles' of caps temporarily adhered to paper for simplicity of installation.  


The plan is to plaster the exterior the summer or fall of 2011; in the meantime, I'm collecting caps, thousands of caps. I have a few ideas for images, but I won't make a decision until December 2010.  By that time, I should have an idea of what color distribution I'm getting and I can estimate how many caps I would have by next summer.  That's the plan. 

To all my friends and family, please save your caps!  Email me for more collection/shipping info.  Thanks in advance for your beverage consumption.

Jul 28, 2010

Plaster Adventure

Although the "shell" of the cabin is done, the interior finishing work is not.  Of all the rooms, the living room was most complete.  The brick floor was laid by Doug Ring over 15 years ago and the windows have been in for a long time as well.  The adobe walls have been in various states of rough coat plaster for close to a decade; some parts of the room had no rough coat at all.  The picture below shows an area with some of my father's "creative" rough coat.  The burnt adobes on the lower portion of the wall will be left as is - perhaps sealed for more color in the future.  

Before plastering

After some research and suggestions from my sister, I decided to apply a natural clay plaster to the living room walls.  My sister had used American Clay to plaster her finished basement and I really liked the look.  I had my heart set on the 'Porcelina' finish, which is supposed to be the most difficult to apply, but it was soooo beautiful.  To prepare for the plastering, my contractor, Kenny Sutton, kindly and patiently applied a rough coat of mud over the bare adobes and my Dad's creative rough coat experiments.  This past June, my sister, nephew, husband and I met at the site with the goal of finishing the plaster, and the room.

The first coat of clay is an off-white color - a big difference from the mud rough coat.  The picture below shows us plastering away.  It wasn't a difficult process - just a series of movements that are new.  The hardest part was keeping the coat thin (only credit-card thickness) because our mud coat was a little too sandy.

First clay coat

Below we are adding the final coat (the darker color). This coat was supposed to be even thinner than the first, (business card thickness) but we weren't too careful about that.  This coat went up quickly because the first clay coat was so much smoother than the mud coat.  Because the photo shows the plaster wet, you can't tell what it looks like finished, but trust me, it's beautiful!  The overall look is similar to Venetian plaster.  The walls look like velvet and they are soft to the touch.  The plaster made a huge difference in the atmosphere of the room - the color is a very soothing grey/beige called Chacolatte.

Final clay coat



We managed to avoid any major aches or pains from the repetitive movements and high reaches, but we couldn't avoid the blisters.  I thought it was great that my husband and I had matching blisters - how romantic is that?

Jul 25, 2010

Ghost Dog Orchard

About three years ago, I consulted with my sister about what to plant in front of the house because it is quite a big space.  I’ve always wanted a garden in the front, but wanted to consider other possibilities. I don’t remember much from our conversations except that she wanted cider apples and I agreed it would be a fun experiment.  Little did I know.   

Ghost Dog Orchard before trees


Because the house is designed to be passive solar and the orchard would be in front of the house, I decided to train the trees into espalier form.  This would maximize the number of trees, but minimize the shadows falling on the house in cooler months. The trees are planted in four rows running north-south.  Apples and pears are being trained to a double U form, whereas stone fruits are being trained into fan shapes.



Because I live 1500 miles away from the house, the process of planting the orchard was somewhat absurd.  For best selection, fruit trees should be ordered bare-root in early spring (and I needed very specific varieties). But, trees planted in the fall transplant better.  Another sticky wicket is that espaliered trees must be pruned and trained extensively their first two years.  So, I ordered my trees at home, pruned, trained and nurtured them in 1 gallon pots for seven months, then wrapped them up tightly and drove them cross-country to NM in the back of my pick-up.  Fifteen trees in 2008, 13 in 2009.  Crazy? You bet.



The process began early 2008 when I ordered my first 15 trees- all dwarf apples and pears.  I requested the smallest trees possible because they must be cut down to 18” upon arrival.  The bare-root trees arrived in March and they were spectacular.  (I highly recommend Trees of Antiquity)  the trees were amazing, the selection is fantastic, and the people are great).  I was nearly heartbroken to prune them down to size:

Apples before pruning
Apples after pruning

After the trees were transplanted, they were tied to bamboo poles which were tied to wires.  The wires and posts are temporary and will be removed when the trees have their final shapes, about five more years.  If you squint, you can see the bamboo poles on the wires.  After two years, the trees are still small because they are pruned so often (about every two months) and 1/4 to 1/3 of the recent growth is removed each time. 

The orchard in winter, very quiet.

As the trees grow, the new branches are covered in chicken wire cylinders.  For the most part, branches that escape are allowed to be eaten by deer (next door neighbors, they sleep across the fence) as a form of natural pruning.  In the following photo you can see where deer have browsed above the chicken wire.  Apparently they don't stretch their necks because foliage above head height is untouched. 

Deer damage 2010
 

The trees below show two stages of growth.  The tree with the diagonal branches will be left to grow 'as is' until the branches are long enough to pull into a 90 degree angle.  Pruning the tips of these branches will cause two side shoots to grow and these will be grown at a 45 degree angle The second tree has reached this stage on its left side, but not yet on the right.  Once the final shape is reached, the tree is allowed to grow to its final height (6-8 feet).  Side branches are removed and shoots are carefully pruned multiple times per year. 

Apple tree, 1 year after transplanting
Apple tree #2, 1 year after transplanting

So, at this point, 2 1/2 years into the process, a few of the trees have reached thier final shape, about half are halfway there, and the rest are being very stubborn.  Stubborness seems to be a varietal trait, because all the specimens of a particular variety behave the same way.  This is comforting because it makes me feel that I'm not causing the problem. 

More updates later....

Jul 24, 2010

Location, location, location

To begin the story, you need to know about the setting.  Catron Couny is an interesting place. The Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts merge somewhat in this area. In addition, the geological complextiy, elevational gradients and relatively high numbers (for a desert) of rivers and streams make for a biologically diverse area. In other words, views are amazing where-ever you go, the birding is fantastic and there are interesting animals and plants everywhere.
Back view of the house

To get to the house, you have to drive, and drive, and drive.  Thankfully, it is a beautiful drive from any direction. This part of the country is pretty isolated; it is a four hour drive from any large city (Albuquerque, Tuscon, or El Paso), and once you get there its nice and quiet. 

Passing the Very Large Array on the drive from Albuquerque 

The house was began in the 70's by my father.  He started the magazine Adobe News back then, which over the decades has transmuted into Adobe Builder and the Southwest Solar Adobe School.  He designed the cabin and built it with the help of friends and students through the early 90's.  At the point when I took over the project, the house was the shell that you see below.  It looks nice (and it is), but to stay there is still an exercise in fancy camping.  All the electricity is in, but the plumbing was not finished.  The adobe guarantees a level of climate control (along with a fireplace in winter), but the creature comforts weren't there.


The house in 2005

Forthcoming posts will describe the history of the site, construction progress, future projects and the growth of the orchard and garden.  See you soon..


Barbed wire ball in a juniper tree outside the house

Jul 7, 2010

Hello!

Please be patient with me as I set up this blog. The first few posts will be historical info to get everyone up to speed with the various topics I'll be covering. I'm working on collecting and editing photos, digging up facts and trying to organize the whole thing into something coherent. Check back in a few days for more.