Wolfson Earthen artisans created and installed numerous wall finishes and sculpted meditation benches at Allyu Spa, Chicago.

Allyu Spa is dedicated to providing clients a healthy and healing environment. The meditation room is made up of four massive adobe benches in the shape of the Chicana, a sacred symbol for the owners of this space, with a rich Peruvian cultural significance.  Inlays of straw were worked into the benches in the repeated form of the Chicana.  Each treatment room has our signature Burlapp© application, lovingly hand pieced and painted.  The main rooms, hallways, and entrances are covered in our natually pigmented mica plasters.

Explore the Allyu Spa photo gallery by selecting any of the following images to see them enlarged.  The photographs were taken by the fabulous local photography master, John Faier; please find more of his works at www.johnfaier.com.

We are enamored with clay’s unsurpassed simple sophistication.  We favor clay based materials because unprocessed clay keeps a space alive as it ‘breathes’.  Raw clay contributes to a healthy indoor atmosphere.  Raw clay has outstanding vapor-diffusion capacities, absorbs odors, does not collect static and dander, has an extremely low embodied energy, and is locally available in abundance.

Warm in winter and cool in summer, clay based plasters also provide acoustic insulation, sculptural dynamism, and the potential of mixed-media walls.

Textures and depths created with clay plasters offer an unsually warm elegance that transform spaces into unique places.  We are enamored with clay’s unsurpassed simple sophistication.

Her reverence for nature combined with her need for artistic expression led her to explore innovative ways of integrating organic elements to create a harmonious environment.  Anna collaborates with unprocessed natural materials in the creation of vibrant artwork and architectural elements.  She utilizes natural fibers, clays, aggregates, pigments and dyes to create warmth, beauty and a healthy atmosphere.

As one of a few Natural builders in the Chicago area, Wolfson teaches seminars on Natural Building, hosts Natural Building Meetups, technical workshops, and contributes her skills as a contractor and artist on residential and commercial projects.

Anna also builds wood-fired earthen bread ovens, all natural garden architecture, and straw bale/ adobe playhouses, gazebos, and auxiliary buildings for private and public use.

]]> http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/anna-wolfson/feed/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/dream-a-workshop/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2009/01/dream-a-workshop/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:46:48 +0000 anna http://wolfsonearth.com/?p=480

What do you want to learn?  Where?  When?  Alongside whom?  Your family, co-workers, friends, students, neighbors?  Let’s talk.  We would love to further your experiences in Natural Art and Construction.

Would you like to get your girlfriends together and sit in a vat of clay?  Would you like to build a house?  Just a bird house?  Hows about a back yard meditation or yoga sanctuary?  Gazebo with seats heated from the cob oven sculpted into graceful forms… no dream is too outlandish, small, or large for us to entertain.  Please, get your drawing book out, pour a glass of wine or tea, and get thinking!  Then call!

If your are planning a Natural Building project of your own, and would like W.E. Artisans to lead a workshop for any portion of it, we would love to help.  Straw baling, cob mixing, finishing interior or exterior coats on your walls, are all examples of workshops we can lead.  We can lead the design charette with your family, organization, or friends at the onset of your project as well.

Please Contact Us with your idea and your visions of a workshop, and the dialogue shall begin.

If you’re interested in attending a public workshop of ours to gain more experience in Natural Building, please sign up for our RSS Feed on the Contact Us page.

Earth Bag building is an amazingly sturdy system with which we can create beautiful garden architecture like walls, gazebos, benches, flower beds, and small studios.

Members of The Moon Tree Lodge built this straw bale hermitage with the help of many hands… It is located in northwestern Indiana on the idyllic and truly beautiful property of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Ministry Center.

Spearheaded by Sister Mary Baird’s vision of an earthen hermitage where one can retreat into true silence and connect fully with nature, the proud members of the Moon Tree Lodge framed, strawbaled, and cobbed this rustic haven of solace.  To learn more about the Moon Tree Lodge group, please explore their website www.moontreecommunity.org.

The thatch roof was installed by William Cahill, one of America’s most skilled accomplished Irish thatchers. To see more of his work, please visit his website.

Wolfson Earthen artisans shaped and finished the interior walls and installed the earthen floor.

The Earthen Floor is gently warmed with radiant heat.

Our absolutely unique wall fabric which we carefully and lovingly hand piece and apply across the entire 90 foot length of wall without a seam speaks to our individuated creativity and attention to detail.  This heavily textured wall covering has proven to be a versatile backdrop for design items.

These unique items are part of the carefully curated collection at MPGD boutique.

We want to help your dreams come true.  Share your vision for your ideal space with Anna Wolfson, founder and principal artisan of Wolfson Earthen Finishes.  Contact us by phone or email for a preliminary discussion of your ideas.

Following our initial conversation, we will schedule a consultation for you (your decorator, architect, etc. are welcome) to meet with Anna to design and develop your project.  You and Anna can discuss products, textures, materials and colors.  She will show you samples and pictures of applications.

After the consultation, Anna will create custom samples and/or drawings unique to your project along with an estimate of the cost and proposed schedule.  Custom samples may vary slightly from the finished product on the walls due to natural variations in texture and color.  Upon approval of your sample and receipt of deposit, we will schedule a starting date.

Before Wolfson Earthen artisans begin their work, remove everything from the walls.  During the project, you will have access to the space and we will make sure it is tidy at the end of each day.  We will need a utility sink.  Depending on the nature of the project, we may employ other contractors to help create the space.  At the completion of your project, your new earthen environment will be left clean and neat.  Your total satisfaction is important to us.

Pricing

Consultation fee

A consultation fee of $100 is due at the time of your on-site meeting with Anna and your design team.

Samples

Custom samples cost of $50 each.  Up to three of these custom samples will be subtracted from the total cost for the project if you decide to contract with us.

Payment

Half the contracted price is due with the signed contract.  The balance is due on completion of the project.

WORKSHOPS

Planning workshops of course is different, but begins in the same fashion.

Wolfson Earthen Artisans can lead a workshop for any portion of your Natural Building project; the stacking of straw bales, cob mixing for major or minor projects, the finishing interior or exterior coats on your walls, or the design charette at the very onset of your project.

What do you want to learn?  Where?  Why?  When?  Alongside whom?  Your family, co-workers, friends, students, neighbors?  Let’s talk.  We would love to further your experiences in Natural Art and Construction.

Please Contact us with your idea and your visions of a workshop, and the dialogue shall begin.

FOR THE DIYer

Thank you for doing it yourself!  That’s awesome!  We can discuss your DIY Natural Building project.  The first fifteen minutes of dialogue is purely for getting to know you and your situation.  If we feel that we can be of assistance, further explanatory written emails and phone dialogues will be billed as consultations.  We look forward to helping you get off on the right foot.

We offer our pre-mixed dry RawStraw Cob and RawStraw Lime-Clay Plaster, our proprietary recipes made with all natural ingredients.  Tried and true RawStraw Mixes will help you yield optimal results in your endeavors with Natural Building.  RawStraw mixes comes in 80 lb. bags, and require only the addition of water.  Larger volumes of mixes can also be furnished.

AND!! Now we are also proud to offer very fine bagged and pigmented Clay Plasters and Lime Plasters and Paints from our esteemed colleagues in France.  Please enjoy learning more about these extremely user-friendly plasters on the ArgilDeco BadiStuc page.

]]> http://wolfsonearth.com/2008/12/your-project/feed/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2008/12/studio-within-cob-bench-make-over/ http://wolfsonearth.com/2008/12/studio-within-cob-bench-make-over/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:42:05 +0000 anna http://wolfsonearth.com/?p=435 Studio Within, Chicago’s premier green salon, has a new cob bench on which to sit while waiting for some natural beauty! 

Visit Studio Within at 3000 N. Sheffield in our fair city, Chicago, and stay tuned for other cob additions and general greening at this avant-garde salon!