The living room wall

After receiving advice and instructions from the expert Kabeya-san, we straight away got onto the job of producing the lattice. For that purpose, thin bamboo sticks are placed into the horizontal and vertical axis of the frame. First a hole is drilled on both sides, then the a stick that was cut to the right size is flexed into them.

Next a pair or three sticks of reed are tied up against the vertical bamboo. Between the reeds bundles a space of two fingers should remain.

This photo shows Peter at work tying them up.



After the horizontal is complete, next vertical reeds are added in a similar manner, this time leaving only one finger space between.

Finally, the mud plaster can be applied.




The whole process is shown in this video. 1st - drill holes and place the bamboo, 2nd Tie them up, 3rd - add plaster:



Because that tying up took a while, I could only start on the mud plaster pretty late this weekend, and finished only one panel before returning to Tokyo.







The result looks presentable, although the critical bit will be to find out how much cracking will occur on the mud. A little will be ok, as there needs to be another layer of finish that will cover up cracks.