By Deanne Bednar
Nature provides a variety of inspiring materials that can be useful for crafting traditional and useful things. What a joy it is to learn, year by year, a bit more about the qualities of the natural world by foraging and co-creating with nature.
Creating With the Earth Itself
Foraged clay and/or sand subsoil can be shaped to be an earth oven, an interior or exterior wall, a bench, and so many other useful things. Subsoil can be used as an earthen plaster over strawbale walls, or even over an existing wall in a conventional house. Earthen sculptures can emerge from the walls...a niche or shelf, a visual representation of a mountain or tree. Free-standing works of art can be sculpted into a frog, a finger labyrinth, or a model of a future house or hut. Stones, sticks, seed pods, and other nature items can be embedded to add interest. There are limitless opportunities for creating with this media.
Gathering the materials, mixing, and considerations for use
Gather: Dig away the topsoil to find the subsoil below. It is usually, at least where I live, a lighter color and composed mainly of sand and clay. I like to do a few simple tests to see how it's going to perform as a sculpting or building material.
Test: Worm test. A small amount of subsoil the size of a marble can be wet enough to bend over your finger. If it bends, there is clay. If you can feel grit, there is sand! Then make a test ball or shape about 1-2 inches across, and let it dry completely. Does the surface hold strong? Is it quite strong in compression strength when I try to break it? Another test could be to try making a sample of how it will actually be used.
Mix: I usually screen the soil through a ½” screen for bigger forms (like a bench or earth oven) or a 1/8” screen for smaller sculptures and earth plaster. A ¼” screen can be used for things in between. The goal is to have an aggregate that is big enough to be strong and structural, yet small enough to work for your particular project. Water is added to a consistency which works for the application. I usually mix the water and subsoil in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp.
Cording with Natural Materials
I like to make corded string or twine by twisting a strand around itself, then twisting it around another strand. These two “double twisted” strands can be quite strong, depending on the material used, and there are many materials that can be used for this cording technique. It is quite hard to describe, but quite easy to do. There is a great video on Youtube (youtube.com/watch?v=6YLAIg3mgo). I mostly make a strong cord for my glasses, bracelets, and small rope to tie up things like sage and lavender bundles.
Gather:
I usually harvest the dormant plant, and I also like to just try out a variety of things throughout the year that might “cord.” The qualities I am looking for in a plant material that will work for cording is that it is “strong when dry,” and the fiber has some length...at least a few inches, but hopefully much longer than that.
Process:
Dogbane (in the milkweed family) is one of my favorite cording materials. Harvest when the plant is dormant and dry...in the fall, winter, or following spring. You’ll know it’s dormant because the leaves fall off and the stalks are dark brownish purple. There might still be long, thin pods still attached with silky white milkweed “down.” I cord with the inner bark of dogbane, and there are various ways to remove the outer bark, which is stiff, like shellac. The inside “pithy layer” is discarded. (But I bet we could come up with a use for it, right?)
Daylily leaves are a material I’m also fond of using to cord. I harvest in the fall when they are brown and laying on the ground. (Could I harvest them earlier in the season when they are green, and let them dry and then use them? Ooh, sounds like a good experiment!)
Corn husks are pretty good, accessible in the fall, strong enough, but somewhat hard to roll and twist. I rip them into 1/8 strips to cord.
Paper napkins ripped the long way into 1/2” strips can be rolled, twisted a bit, and then corded. Fun! What else might you discover that will make a useful cord?
Thatching with Foraged Phragmites (reed grass)
Phragmites are some of the most enduring of natural materials with which to thatch a roof. We learned the basics of this ancient craft from a Danish thatcher who taught the core building team at Strawbale Studio how to apply the reed to a small structure. These roofs are expected to last 25 to 40 years, depending on the quality of the reed, the application, and the weather situation. I oversaw the thatching project at the Kid’s Cottage at Kensington Metropark in 2007. It is 17 years old now and doing well. Strawbale Studio's thatched roof is 25 years old!
Harvesting: Reeds are collected during the dormant time of the year when the ground is frozen and the reed fields, which are often in wet areas, are accessible. We hand-harvest the reed with serrated sickles. A permit from the DNR/DEQ was obtained and the seed heads are left in the field. Each bundle is about eight inches in diameter, tied with two strings, and cut to a five-foot length.
Storing: Reeds can be stored in a tipi shape and covered by a tarp or stacked flat in alternating directions in a barn or indoor space.
Application: Originally, we were taught to apply the reed bundles by attaching them to purlin, horizontal poles, placed every foot on the roof rafters. The details on thatching are beyond the scope of this article. Basically, they are attached to the roof in overlapping rows, starting at the bottom of the roof. Many resources, including process videos and information can be found at strawbalestudio.org/about/thatching.
Foraging Wood for Round Pole Projects & Spoon Carving
Small structures can use poles from trees on the land that are felled, then debarked, and notched or lashed to create a framework. Maple trees are a favorite of mine for small buildings because they are abundant here in lower Michigan, grow straight, and are a relatively soft hardwood to notch. For spoon carving, my current favorite wood to use is staghorn sumac. It has beautiful contrasting growth rings, and an elegant yellow green iridescent color. When it is cut and fresh, it is soft and easy to carve, and then dries to a strong final product. Black cherry and birch are other favorites.
Harvesting: Gathering wood can be done year-round in my experience. Some people dry poles for many months before using them, others use them in their “green” state. For spoon carving, the wood is whittled while green.
Storing: For spoon carving, the soft quality of the green, wet wood can be preserved by putting pieces of the wood in a plastic bag for a number of weeks, or in the freezer for longer term storage until ready to carve.
What else can we forage and make? So many wonderful things! Visit the Strawbale Studio website at strawbalestudio.org for potential workshops, to get on the email list, and to check out the many resources, articles, photos, and videos. The Michigan Folk School also offers wonderful classes in traditional crafts. Visit them online at mifolkschool.com.
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Nature provides a variety of inspiring materials that can be useful for crafting traditional and useful things. What a joy it is to learn, year by year, a bit more about the qualities of the natural world by foraging and co-creating with nature.