‘Timber-Earth-Shelter’ by The Daubers

What: Interactive sculpture
Where: Llangoed Village Hall
When: 26 & 27 April, 2025

Jo Alexander and Rob Thompson are exploring wattle and daub within a timber shelter frame - using Aberlleiniog clay, coppiced ash, hazel and willow.

They write: 

“The shelter "skeleton" in the Llangoed Village Hall garden is part of an ongoing exploration of wattle and daub, a traditional building method that combines a woven structure with a mud plaster.  This type of construction is typically used as an infill within timber framed buildings. It may also be employed in basketry and sculpture construction.

The main frame of the shelter is constructed with cleft ash poles from Aberlleiniog woods. The walls are made of  woven willow whips between uprights of coppiced hazel; this is the wattle part. A section of this has been daubed with a mix of Aberlleiniog clay, cut straw and water (horse or cow dung hasn't been used but is often a component of a daub mix, giving greater hardness on drying).  

The woven yellow band in the wall was formed using the basket makers Golden willow, Salix alba vitellina.”