ABOUT SKY HACIENDA

June Donaldson and Edward Garry live at an altitude of 2,600 metres in Mosoj Llajta, Yotala, 20 minutes from the colonial city of Sucre in Bolivia, South America. Using earth and stones from the land, we have sculpted beautiful buildings which compliment the high desert landscape and incorporate creative and innovative elements of design.

We have designed a high quality hotel in Sucre for guests who want to get off the treadmill of travelling from city to city in South America. At Sky Hacienda you can dictate your own timing and choose how to enjoy your stay, whether it is doing very little or exploring the best that the Andes in Bolivia has to offer.

08 May 2011

SCULPTING THE COLUMN

 
When we started building the living room the column was constructed to support the huge roof.  We used the same technique we had employed to line our well - rings of concrete that were strong but pretty ugly.

When we were sailing  in Honduras we had seen cut trees used as palapa supports with vines growing up and around the trunks and we decided to use this idea to 'dress' the column in the form of a sculpture. 

A huge structure was erected around the column to act as a work scaffold, then Ed marked out the shapes where the 'vine' would come into contact with the 'trunk'.  The flat surfaces of the trunk were plastered. 

Work begins at the top of the column


Next Geronimo and Honorato started building up the layers of plaster that would form the vines.


They had never done this kind of work before and were enjoying their new role as artists.


They were assisted by Paul, a volunteer from Workaway who mixed the buckets of plaster on a platform just below.

Shaping the plaster

The layers are built up very gradually.  Geronimo uses his hand to hold the plaster which is then transferred to the column and smoothed out.

Once the layers are of a sufficient thickness Ed joined the team to round out the plaster and form the vines.
Moving down the column
Finally at ground level

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