Deborah Hall from Hall’s Walls has written a clear and concise step-by-step guide for repairing American Clay. What at first glance looks to be a major blemish requiring a lengthy repair process, turns out to be a short and simple fix that any homeowner can painlessly pull off.

1. Determine whether the defect goes through to the basecoat, or the underlayment. Repairs that go through to the underlayment require Sanded Primer Elite, or Mud Glue/basecoat, or both prior to the addition of the finish coat material.

This photo shows a scrape through a finish coat of Loma/Porcelina blend to the base coat (shown here as blue Loma).

2. If the defect goes through the basecoat, when you begin the repair it is essential to place blue tape on the edges of the finish coat of clay so that no primer or basecoat material will be added onto the edge of the finish coat. This step prevents a build up of clay in a ring around the repair site.

3. In this case (repair needs basecoat), place basecoat material into the taped repair and smooth it off as best you can so that there is no material build-up around the inside edges of the repair site. It is essential that you do not continue with the repair until this new basecoat material is COMPLETELY DRY. It is possible to dry repairs with a heat gun or a hair dryer, with CARE.

4. After the basecoat is dry, remove the masking tape and moisten the existing clay with either a light spritz from a spray bottle or with a grout sponge. This helps the new clay adhere to the existing finish coat material.

5. Trowel new clay over top of the repair site. Don’t mess with it AT ALL at this time.

6. Allow the new material to dry COMPLETELY.

7. When the repair site is completely dry, use fine grit sanding paper, or a sanding block to get rid of unwanted extra material around the site and sculpt the clay to the effect you want.

8. Brush off the loose material and re-burnish, or finish with sponge and brush to match the surrounding area.

Note that this finish coat had one-half unit of Mud Glue in it, which changes the workability of the clay. It is still possible to bring about a good repair in clay that has Add-Mix or Mud Glue. Other surface additives, e.g. waxes and sealers, will necessitate sanding off some of the finish around the repair site to get to an area of bare clay. New clay needs to bind to bare clay, not sealed or waxed clay. Thus, sand off an area first, proceed as above, and then after the repair is done and burnished, let it dry and reapply the sealer or wax and blend.

Some smaller repairs, like scratches, can be repaired by refinishing, without adding new material, or by adding a small amount of clay. Any time new material is added, let it dry completely before working it.

Nail holes can be very simply repaired in this manner, as well as writing on walls.

Hall’s Walls is an American Clay distributor located in Colorado Springs, CO. Deborah Hall, PhD, has over 5 years experience working with American Clay. She is the owner and founder of Hall’s Walls.

All photos provided by Deborah Hall.

American Clay was off to the Lone Star State this past weekend, exhibiting at the Austin Green Living & Home Products Expo.

With seminars on everything from green building to organic gardening, the show aimed to find green options that fit each individual’s personal lifestyle.

The show was a huge success, with American Clay taking home the award for Best Home Improvement Product.

Also, congratulations to Michele Milivojac for winning our drawing for $1,500 worth of American Clay products!

Now that the big day is here, there’s only one thing left to do: CELEBRATE! Since you now know where to find great green ideas and how to take five easy first steps towards a more sustainable lifestyle, now is the time to go out and show your support.

With celebrations happening all around the world today, there’s no excuse for not joining in. If you’re having trouble finding an Earth Day event, use Earthday.net’s event finder.

Or, if you just feel like celebrating from home or work, here are 42 Earth Day Comics provided by The Daily Green as their Earth Day gift to their readers.

Are you doing something interesting for Earth Day? Let us know about it and comment on this post!

American Clay Enterprises was recently featured on New Mexico’s PBS station KNME. Eloquently explained by Croft Elsaesser, the video highlights American Clay’s beauty and benefits.

“Not only is American Clay natural, in that it’s made with ingredients from the Earth, it’s also green, in that the company chooses products and processes that use little energy.

American Clay is a plaster used to decorate walls. It can be used instead of traditional plaster or paint. And it’s made right here in Albuquerque.

The folks at the local office were kind, friendly and passionate about their product. Croft Elsaesser, the company’s co-owner, created the product years ago when he worked as a decorative artist. I was impressed with his extensive knowledge of his product and others on the market.

Originally broadcast on New Mexico PBS station KNME.”

Now that you’ve had plenty of time to read up on how to minimize your impact, now comes the important part: Execute! There’s no sense in knowing how to do all these cool, effective tricks, if you don’t actually do it! But don’t worry, this is the fun step.

The key is to start small. Telling you to run out and buy a solar hot water heater is probably an unrealistic approach to begin going green. Working your way up from humble beginnings, as you learn more and become more passionate about the topic, is a more reliable technique for making these changes lifelong habits.

Here are 5 easy changes you can do today. Make it a goal to do one of these sometime this week. It’s guaranteed to make you feel great!

1. Replace one of your incandescent light bulbs with a compact fluorescent. If you’re feeling extra motivated today, why not take it a step further and replace ALL your incandescents. This has got to be the easiest switch out there. And it’s one that will definitely make a difference.

2. Drink from the tap today. Bottled water is a major source of waste and pollution, but can easily be avoided. Who would have ever predicted the craze of bottled water? It seems so silly but has become a serious problem. Need more convincing? Check out Lighter Footstep’s 5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water.

3. Buy some local grub this week. Need some fixings for a salad? Why not run over to your local farmer’s market and get it there. Keeping food local minimizes shipping costs and pollution and helps to stimulate local economies. Use Agriculture Marketing Service’s “Find a Farmers Market” to find one near you.

4. Cover up with an extra blanket tonight. Setting the thermostat a couple degrees lower will save energy and money. According to Home Tips, “every degree you lower a thermostat’s set temperature in the winter will save 3% of energy costs over a 24-hour period.” Already warm where you live? Raise the temperature so your air conditioner will run less.

5. Take advantage of a beautiful day and walk to the store. If it’s too far, make it an adventure and take public transportation or ride your bike. There’s all sorts of benefits to this: save on gas, minimize pollution and great exercise!

In celebration of this year’s Earth Day–only two weeks away–the American Clay blog will feature a series of articles highlighting the best tips and sources for greening up. With so much information available, going green is easy. Even better, it usually has the benefit of being cheaper as well as healthier.

Today’s post is all about finding information. Listed here are the three best green websites this writer could find, complete with great advice for reducing your impact on our planet. If you don’t see your favorite green source listed here, please comment on this post to share it with us!

1. TreeHugger’s How to Go Green Guides. Undoubtedly, TreeHugger is the largest source of green news, but with such a huge site, it can feel a bit overwhelming. Enter TreeHugger’s Go Green Guides. Simple, easy to use and to the point. Organized by topic and continuing to grow, TreeHugger covers it all, from greening your funeral to greening your baby.

2. Planet Green. Made by the same folks over at TreeHugger, “Planet Green is your user’s guide to living mindfully on this big blue marble we all call home,” reads their website. It’s all about creativity here. My favorite posts include How to Make a Brimmed Beanie from an Old Sweater and Turn an Unwanted Shirt into a Scented Sachet. If you want to keep it simple, check out their Detox Your Home page, breaking up greening tips room by room.

3. The Daily Green. This is a great site for getting started. Take a How Green are You? quiz to see what you need to work on, or check out their 5 Easy First Steps. But, most impressive is the New Green Cuisine section, an enormous collection of delicious recipes, as well as information on how staying healthy.