Wattle Weave

Wattle is the oldest building technique in the world. Thin flexible poles woven between structural members to create a dense lattice. On this dome, horizontal rings and vertical infill turn the arch skeleton into a solid surface ready for straw-clay.

Weave Green — Same Day as Harvest

All wattle poles — rings and infill — must be woven while still green and pliable. Harvest them the same day you weave, or at most the day before. Eucalyptus dries fast: a 4cm pole left in Portuguese summer sun will stiffen within 24-48 hours and snap rather than bend.

Wattle poles do not go through the 6-step treatment protocol. That process (charring, borax soak, arch bending, and weeks of drying) would leave them too stiff to weave. Instead, they are protected by encasement — straw-clay on the outside, lime plaster on the inside — which seals them from moisture and insects once the shell is complete.

Horizontal Rings

Install 7 horizontal rings at roughly 50cm vertical spacing up the dome. Each ring is a continuous circle of wattle poles woven in and out of the 16 main arch poles.

• Poles: 5-7cm diameter, green eucalyptus
• Ring 1 (lowest): ~50cm above foundation, circumference ~18m
• Ring 7 (highest): ~3.5m up, circumference ~5m
• Pattern: Weave in front of one arch pole, behind the next, alternating
• Joining: Where pole ends meet, overlap by 30cm and wire-lash
• Alternation: Each ring reverses the in/out pattern of the one below it

The lower rings are long — you may need 2-3 poles spliced end-to-end to complete one ring. Upper rings may need only one pole bent into a circle.

Fig. 6 — Wattle weave pattern: horizontal rings alternate in/out, vertical infill fills gaps

Vertical Infill

Between each pair of horizontal rings, weave vertical wattle poles to fill the gaps.

• Poles: 3-5cm diameter, 1-1.5m length, green — harvest the same day you weave
• Spacing: Every 10-15cm around the dome
• Pattern: Weave behind one horizontal ring, in front of the next
• Quantity: Approximately 150-200 poles total

Work from the bottom up. The lower sections have wider spacing between arch poles (more infill needed). The upper sections converge and need less infill.

Leave the Door Opening Clear

The arch door spans two pole bays. Do not weave across this double-wide opening — weave up to the door frame posts on each side and stop. Above the arch peak (2.2m), the structure closes normally.

Wall framework: horizontal rings and vertical infill between the main arch poles

The same wattle technique that builds fences also builds domes

Density Check

When the weave is complete, you should not be able to push your fist through any gap in the lattice. If you can, add more infill poles. The straw-clay needs a tight matrix to key into.