Faster, but murder on the arm.
The bales sit on a base made of two flat treated two by fours ram-nailed to the concrete pad, with rigid foam between them and a layer of poly over the top to prevent moisture infiltation into the bales.
We decided to build a corner window seat into the main floor bedroom. The bales were cut using a chainsaw and a power trimmer to achieve the interior shaping. Metal lath was used in addition to stucco wire around the windows, and the spaces above the windows were stuffed with straw by hand. Bentonite and Wellbond were added to the stucco cement to help it adhere to the overhead surface. Foam insulation was sprayed in around the corner post. After three applications of stucco cement, the wall was finished with Fibre-Decor, and the window seat was added.
The stucco wire is visible on the outer surface of the bales. The strings holding it on are also visible. The string was pushed through at 14 inch intervals using a sharpened length of rebar with a notch cut in it. The outside string was passed through the loop, then it was pulled tight from the inside. The plywood plates that can be seen are anchors on the end of 2 by 2 lengths that provide a point on the interior of the wall to insert a screw. This allows the hanging of shelves, etc. The stucco is a mixture of lime, portland cement, and local sand.
We decided to purchase a mortar mixer for the stucco. The stucco goes on so much faster, that we could not keep up with the wheelbarrow mixing. We were also running short of time as winter drew closer.