Butterfly, Birds, and Innovations

Has it really been two months since I’ve been on a job site?  It feels that way.  (It’s the visa thing, prohibiting me from working, therefore can’t get necessary accident insurance.  I rely on small job sites that have a personal relationship with my crew.)

Between all my practice panels, and an upcoming skills test at the Plaster Guild’s training school, I’ve managed to make good use of my time in the warehouse, honing what I’ve learned so far with various earth and lime finishes.

Shikkui practice: Sunabai (lime, fine sand, seaweed glue) scraped over dried nakanuri (to give more work time for lime finish). Lime finish plaster is lime, seaweed glue and hemp fibers.

Close up of lime surface after plaster dries.

Earthen hikizuri finish — dragged finish. You can get a similar effect from a wooden float, especially if it is given a slight curve. This was done with a hand-forged metal trowel with a slight curve. My boss ordered three different hikizuri trowels of varying metals, forging styles, and, therefore, prices. He let me use them to practice. Nice guy! It was trickier than I expected it would be, particularly to get a continuous equal effect across the whole wall, which was 6ftx6ft. Time = moisture suckage = must speed up!

AND, I cannot tell you how relieved I am, and how fun it is, that I am OUT! Today my ani (older brother, though he is younger) likened me to a butterfly come out of the cocoon, and we both laughed because it’s quite possible that any week now this butterfly may have to revert back to the chrysalis.

Starting last week, I’ve joined a replastering project at a sweet little local temple not far from my home in Kyoto, built in the early 1200s.  Two crows were hanging out in a pine tree, talking about the day’s happenings.  Their voices carried words to a monk resting under the same pine, and he understood it was the day that Kumagai Naozane would die.  It was truly so, and to honor the messengers, and Kumagai, a temple was built.

Does this mean I am occupationally bringing home 800-year-old dust?  perhaps…  I have been playing sparrow the last couple of days, working in contortions above a hidden roofline to apply a decent clay-sand-straw nakanuri, the substrate for the shikkui lime plaster to come.

Fuzzy photos: old smartphone, dusty lens? This teensy squeezy area between rooflines (on the left) has been my spot. The short wall above the apex of the roofline is long and continuous, and the space between the steep roof I lie on to plaster this, and the one above, is too narrow for me to squeeze through.

Apex detail, one side.

Apex detail, other side. Detailed description of the plastering process will come later in the photos.

Did I already mention how much I am enjoying this?  What a great discovery it is every time I find plumb/level/flat, my hand-forged jigane (iron) trowel following my body’s command with my shoulders, arm, wrist and fingers in positions completely foreign to me until now.  Joyful sensation!

And truly, it is all about the jigane.  There aren’t that many blacksmiths that hand-forge jigane anymore.  Sugita-san, in Miki-shi in Hyogo Prefecture, took the helm of the forge from his father, who if I understand correctly is a Living National Treasure.  I ordered a 210mm trowel in the summer, with the handle placed to fit my hand.  The first time I used it I was a born-again-believer. Some things are unmakable by machine, and a really great iron trowel is definitely one of them.  The more you use them, the better they work, as the edges soften, allowing for smoother glide.   I, um, ordered 8 more, various sizes, shapes, and metal.  I hope the order is ready by the end of February.  If not, I remain happy and thankful that Sugita-san is so well employed.  His success is success for all earth plaster lovers.

Something else that delights me about the job is the substrate over which we are currently plastering.  It’s called arakabe panel.  Arakabe  refers to the first application of earth in the traditional wall framework, a fermented clay-straw mix that is applied over bamboo lattice to form the first layer of solid earthen wall in a structure.  A company called Maruhiro spent 30 years developing a product that could be installed like drywall panels, but made with earth-based materials.  (If I’m remembering correctly, the ingredients are clay, newspaper… and sand?)  They had a vision to replace the time-consuming and now costly traditional arakabe construction with something suited to modern building practices.   They also wanted to create something that would suit the standards required for maintenance of structures that are National Treasures and World Heritage Sites.  They succeeded.

A stack of arakabe panels. Each one here is about 2.5 centimeters thick (about 3/4″). The carpenter is installing them.

I don’t know what is under the arakabe panel, what it is affixed to. I am curious…

Arakabe panel plastered with nakanuri on the right. A watery acrylic product we call Hi-Fure (Hi Flex?) is applied twice over the panel, which has incredible strong suction. (What does that do to the breathability of the wall? I do not know.) Higeko (small brad nails with hemp rope tied on to create two lengths) are nailed at the four corners of the wall. The thin strands of the rope are embedded in the first application of nakanuri, as a measure to prevent the plaster from pulling away from the wooden edge. Then, quickly, a loose-weave hemp mesh fabric is embedded in the first nakanuri application before the moisture is sucked away by panel and air. Then a second layer of nakanuri plaster is applied and shaped as level/plum/flat as possible. Nakanuri is applied with a jigane trowel, and finished with horizontal passes from left to right. *Given the constraints of the chiri — the depth of wood framing the earthen panel, which still needs a finish lime layer — creating a surface that limits undulation throughout the whole surface is challenging. About the time the plaster gets leather hard, we go over it again (just vertically) with a hanyaki trowel (some steel involved in the process), which reveals slightly high places, which compress with relative ease, and slightly low places, which get a tiny bit of plaster to flush out. Then the tape comes off. Yes indeed, we use tape. It’s really nice tape, somehow not available the US. That ought to change, because it’s way better than what we can find at the Home Depot. Any willing importers?

I have been very intrigued by this development of arakabe panels, not least because the son and grandson of the man who spawned the idea are my classmates at the Plaster Guild school.  One of these days, when I return to the cocoon, I’m going to take a little flight to the factory that makes these panels and get some nitty gritty details to share with you.

Yes, the worksite is dark for now, covered in scaffolding and tarps.  I look forward to seeing it unveiled once the work is done.  Oh, anyone want 260-year-old roof tiles?  The roofers are giving some away to willing takers. I am so tempted to take one as a souvenir, a future-home accent piece.  Too bad each one is heavy like a rock.