Glass Bottle Wall

It’s a little difficult to see in this photo, but if you look closely, you can see the strings radiating out from the central log along with the bottles. The bottom row of bottles represents the horizon. These will be green bottles, while the rays will be yellow bottles and maybe other colors too.

Wall number six is the  center wall to our master bedroom so I decided to get a little creative with the wall. A double wall cordwood house (such as ours) does not usually lend itself very well to glass bottle inserts, but there is a way to add them to the outside wall and add them to the inside wall at a later time. A glass bottle tube is cut in half and only one bottle is added to the tube. When the second wall (inside wall) gets built, the other half of the tube can be attached with the colored bottle. (If you are doing a bottle design, be sure to check the placement of the bottle tubes. They need to be level and perpendicular to the wall so that when the inside wall is built, the tubes end up in the right spot.)

Here’s the view from the inside of the house. The tubes extend out about 4″ from the wall. These tubes will be joined with the other half of the tube, along with colored bottles when the interior walls are built.

Rob Roy says that if you are going to use glass bottles, it’s best to have some sort of a theme to the wall instead of a random pattern. I tend to agree with him. Since this wall faces southeast, the sun will shine brightly on this wall in the morning. With this in mind, I decided to add a big log to the center of the wall representing the sun. Radiating outwards from the log are a series of glass bottles that form the sun’s rays. With a house that takes advantage of the sun’s energy, it seemed quite appropriate.

In order to create the rays, I attached a number of strings from the center of the log and ran them outwards to various points along the posts and beam. The strings worked out great. They kept the bottles and nearby logs plumb with the wall and gave me a line to follow for the bottles.
It’s nice to see a whole side of the house full of cordwood walls, even if it’s only the first floor.

The next wall will be the third master bedroom wall. This wall will contain another window. Wall number seven will finish out the master bedroom area. The house is slowly starting to take shape and so far the walls are drying nicely. Today was a nice cool and dry day. I heard no snap, crackles or pops.

It’s nice to see a whole side of the house full of cordwood walls, even if it’s only the first floor.

Paper Compost Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients:
(1) 55 gallon drum
(1) Bale of shredded paper
(25) gallons of water

Directions:
Insert shredded paper bale into 55 gallon drum. Fill to top with water. No need to stir nor shake. Let stand for 4 days in 90+ degree heat. (Martha Stewart would probably add a sprig of mint here, but I’ll leave that option up to you.) Makes enough smelly gas to evacuate an entire city block.

Just a word to the wise, when the temperatures get hot, don’t let wet paper sit too long. Maybe someday I can do some experiments to see if it’s worth while making fuel out of the stuff, but for now, I’m more interested in making paper slurry for the walls. I’ve found that it’s better to slurry the paper and let it dry out a bit, vs. keeping the shredded paper soaking in water. PEEEWWW!!!

This week’s beanie photo goes to a blue bird captured in flight.