Burning Builds

[pasithea]

I haven't been posting a lot of art lately, though I have been doing a lot of stuff.

So. Today, in addition to a bunch of other stuff, I worked on a couple of things for my Burning Man camp.

We pack several of the things we take with us in those big ugly plastic bins they sell at Costco.

Witness example A:


Last year, we were going to make some cushions and skins to put on them, but we kind of ran out of time and energy. Stacey did make the cushions for them. Kinda a cool design. It's a very stiff foam that's glued together with E6000. The green piece in the middle is lower than the other two because there's a 1x6 piece of wood that fits into there. That distributes the weight in the middle of the box across to the edges and gives the box a lot more strength.





So.. A couple days ago, prickvixen and I were at Ikea and she spied some bolts of canvas with interesting patterns on it. Better yet, the stuff was REALLY cheap. $1.99/yard. (plain canvas generally runs more like $14.99/yard)

So... I got a few of the patterns and last night got to sewing.



I think I'm going to add a seam at the corners to make them look sharper, but anyhow... The fit on the cushion and are velcro'd t the box so the winds of the playa can't blow them away and I have more seats in my camp now, and I don't have to look at ugly plastic boxes.


Also compliments of Ikea:



My 7-dollar solar oven. It's a 5-dollar golf umbrella, a mylar emergency blanket, and some twine to change the shape of the umbrella into a more focused parabola shape.

At ~3PM ~75 degrees out, partially cloudy and very windy, I was able to get an instant air temp of 150f at my focus point. I couldn't hold my hand in it for more than about 30 seconds. If I put a cooker box there, I'd easily be up over 300.

Likely as not, at Burning Man, I'll have to defocus it so as not to incinerate stuff.

Best part is that it still folds down into an umbrella shape. I'm going to lash two bamboo poles to the handle so that it will unfold into a tripod with a rope for my cook pot hanging from the middle. That will also help anchor the oven. I'll probably also add a couple of tie-downs, just in case of wind, but I'm pretty darned happy for a half-hour build.

Lots of other little projects too, but I have to go pick Stacey up from the airport now. :)

Comments

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Wow, so someone really decided that those patterns weren't worth the canvas they are printed on?

[silverbrand.livejournal.com]

I love the cushions. Lurve.

[neonbunny.livejournal.com]

ooo, burning man... You camping with the same group you camped with last year? We're breaking off from our theme camp and camping back towards the suburbs this year. Looking to find more cool people to camp next to.

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

I think we're camping in the burbs again this year. No idea where.