Welcome to a course where we explore an age-old and sustainable building material: clay. During this practical course you will have the opportunity to discover the art of mixing and applying clay plaster to a facade and create beautiful and functional surfaces.

During sunday the 8th of june we offer you the opportunity to create hands-on with clay plaster on site at our round strawbalehouse Rundbalshuset in Kassjö, 20 km outside of Umeå (Västerbotten, Sweden). Everyone is welcome, regardless of prior experience.

Experience and enjoy this amazing building material which creates healthy houses. We will guide you through the entire process, from preparation to finishing touches, so you can learn how to do gorgeous surfaces with clay plaster yourself.

Course content:

• Guided tour of our round strawbalehouse Rundbalshuset
• Clay plaster as a building material
• Material preparation and mixing plasters
• Application techniques and surface treatment
• Make your own plaster sample to take home (optional)

We have had a lot of courses and visits on our building site since the construction started, and some reviews from previous course participants can be found further down on this page.

Your course instructors, Laura and Erik Vidje, have been passionately building their own strawbalehouse since 2017. During the last 10 years, Laura has learned a lot about clay and ecological construction, and has applied most of the clay plaster to the walls of the house, and Erik has i.e. become great at screening local soil, mixing the plaster and laying clay floors.

Now it’s time for the finishing layer of clayplaster on our guest cabin, which is also built with strawbales.

Time

sunday 8th of june 2025

10:00 – 17:00

Place

Kassjö, 20 km outside of Umeå

Course fee

1850 SEK

incl. VAT, lunch, refreshments, coffee/tea

Course instructors

We, Laura & Erik, have designed and built most of our roundhouse ourselves since 2017. Since 2014 we have taken several courses in both theoretical and practical eco-building, with a focus on strawbales and claybuilding, passivehouse design and permaculture. Laura is also a member of the board at the national claybuilding association (NGO).

During the course, we will go through mixing clay plaster with local materials, different additions of reinforcement, and focus on applying fine finishing plasters on the facade, inlcuding some decorations.

There is also the opportunity to experience clay in many different forms at Rundbalshuset, everything from base coat plaster, to clay floors, clay plaster with biochar, smooth waxed glossy clay putty walls, as well as walls built with a mix of light straw clay, reused bricks and clay mortar (and tadelakt shower walls).

We start the day with a guided tour of our round strawbalehouse, and afterwards we will eat a homemade vegan soup lunch together . There will be plenty of opportunities to ask your questions when we show you the results of our self-build, and inform you more about e.g. circular solutions for water, heat, energy, and more. After lunch we will deepdive into the hand-ons action with clay plaster.

There will be a maximum of 10 participants in total in the course, and we might have additional participants who just come for the guided tour in the beginning of the day.

You are very welcome to join and learn more about clay construction, secure your place by signing up below, and please check out the practical information, reviews and pictures by scrolling down further.

Please scroll all the way down to register for the course.

Practical information

We will spend most of the time outdoors, and work in smaller teams around the guest house.

Please bring your own tightfitting rubber gloves (e.g. cleaning gloves), work gloves, possibly a face mask (it can get dusty), as well as working clothes that are allowed to get dirty, and a change of clothes. We have tools and all other materials on site.

As this is not a course opportunity via a swedish study association, you need to have your own accident insurance on the building site, i.e. please double check your insurance just to be safe. We would also like to mention that we photograph and film parts of the construction stages, if you do not want to be in the picture, just let us know in advance.

Unfortunately, there is no public transport to Kassjö, but carpooling is usually possible, e.g. from Umeå where there are al lot of possibilities for overnight stays. You can also stay in the village house. Alternatively, you can spend the night in your own tent at the lake, or take the buss to Brännland where we can pick you up. Previous participants have also biked, but its about 20 km from Umeå city center.

For questions please contact laura@elvahallbara.se

Here are the top three reasons why you should learn more about clay plastering and natural building:

Participants reviews

Thank you for inspiring days at Rundbalshuset. I now feel ready to start myself with clay plastering of walls and more. It’s amazing what possibilities clay has both in terms of building technology and aesthetics.
Anna Winther, self-builder and participant in the summercourse 2024

A few months ago, I had the chance to attend a workshop at Laura and Erik’s wonderful home up in the north. As a trained bricklayer, I learned how to apply cement-based plaster during my vocational training, and throughout my academic career, I thought I already learned a lot about earth, construction, and plaster techniques. But oh boy, was I wrong!

You wouldn’t believe what’s possible with just the right clay mixture and proper technique. Laura showed me how clay can look like elegant Italian marble – but with a much lower carbon footprint, making it both stunning and sustainable, even up here in the north.

The best part about Laura’s workshops isn’t just learning mind-blowing techniques – it’s also getting an extensive tour of their astonishing and meticulously built strawbale house. Though honestly, it should be called an earthen house with straw insulation, because inside, almost everything that can be made of earth is made of earth – even the bathroom!

So, if you’re curious about truly sustainable building techniques and want to learn how to create beautiful, affordable, self-mixed clay plasters – don’t miss this chance! And if you need a place to practice afterward, you’re welcome to visit our cottage (I live about 100 km south of their place) and try out your new skills on one of our many unfinished walls Also if you need a place to stay just let me know, but be prepared – guest rooms are under construction

Konstantin Nille-Hauf, scientific Assistant at a Clay project, Biberach University of Applied Sciences. Participant in the Clay Smoothing Plaster workshop december 2024