Tournament Tent

Much inspired by the visits to Drottningholm and Haga, Anna and I designed a woven Tournament Tent. Anna made patterns for the strips in Rhino and I am responsible for the tent opening.

The tent is produced in three steps: Make the tent body, add the tent opening, and make the top.

The tent body is woven from 2 x 12 strips fixed onto a common bar. The way you choose and line up the colours will determine if you get a striped or chequered look. Join the bar to form a ring and weave. Add a narrow strip at the base and trim the edge.

Now take the largest tent opening piece and fix the smaller 6 (or 9) pieces with glue to make the illusion of creases. Fix the opening to the woven tent body taking care that the opening is indeed vertical and fits at the base. Cut away the woven part inside.

Like the tent body the tent top is woven from 2 x 12 strips fixed to a bar. Fix so that a narrow stripe is visible at the wavy edge. Weave and pull into form. Continue until you reach the upright triangles and fix with glue. Form two small cones and add them at the top hiding the mess of the 24 narrow triangles.

Place the top onto the tent body. Done.

Here are the cut files: tounament tent cut a, tounament tent cut b, and tounament tent cut c

Teddy at Drottningholm

Teddy and I went to Stockholm to study Swedish court theatres and royal follies from the time of Gustav III. In particular Teddy wanted to check out the theatre at Drottningholm Palace. We had a thorough look and even went back stage and pulled the ropes of the thunder machine. Later we admired the Chinese Pavilion and the Dragoon Guards’ tent. We went to Haga Park to see the Sultan’s copper tents, to Ulriksdal Palace and to Gripsholm Castle also housing beautiful theatres. At Gripsholm we had a chance to go below stage to study the wooden mechanisms for changing the set pieces.

Go here to learn more about the Drottningholm Court Theatre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdRUdoKfPvo&feature=related

Jar Box

If you can manage the Onion Dome Box, you can also make this Jar Box. The process is more or less the same.

I include the patterns. The pages are filled up with parts so that you may mix and match colours as you please when you work. For the lower part you need: 24 long double strips, 5 narrow 9 mm strips, 1 zigzag strip, 1 round piece with half circles and 1 without. For the lid you need: 1 circular piece with 12 arms, 12 single strips, 1 small round piece, 2 narrow 9 mm strips and 1 zigzag strip. I shall not include detailed instructions for weaving, only a few hints and some illustrations.

When gluing the long double strips to the bottom ring offset the strips so that a narrow strip is just above the one at the other side – and likewise the wider strip.

Form a ring overlapping the strips. Before you start weaving fold back every single stip.

Weave and line up. The pattern at the top edge should be the same as in the bottom. I made the top end of the strip a little longer to make up for the length you loose while weaving. Fold back the rectangular pieces and form a firm edge adding a 9 mm strip on both sides. The diametre is planned to be a little smaller than the bottom to make the box lid fit outside.

Make and add the bottom.

Form a second circular piece  for the the box lid from 12 loose strips by gluing alternating colours to a small circular form.

And files for cutting  jar cut a, jar cut b and jar cut c

Heart #038

This morning I read Carol’s Extreme Cards and Papercrafting http://extremecards.blogspot.com/about woven QR code and I just had to make a woven heart in the same style. The pattern for weaving is generated using the QR code platform http://qrcode.good-survey.com/. A simple message requires a 25 x 25 matrix. I made a pattern fitting an A4 sheet and I think it is about the most narrow strips any normal weaver may like to handle. I would not say the heart is pretty. But it is fun that the heart includes a secret message. Anna tested the heart with her bar code reader – and it works.

And a file for cutting heart 038 cut