views from the playa

a link to some project images

a little past half

We made good progress on the full assembly this weekend - spending a lot of time figuring out the logistics of building this thing with a group of people and how to keep the pattern somewhat aligned as we add pieces. I think we have a pretty good strategy for moving forward. The second image shows the piece where we left it on Saturday evening with a little more than half of the members in place. The final assembly with be be the same height and about twice as long.

Big thanks go to Laurie, Laura, Mary, John and Lyman for enduring the scorching sun to get this thing up. We'll finish it up in the next couple of weeks.

Bells progress

I was planning on surprising Glenn at the burn, but decided to post some photos now...

The guy on the right is Sylvio Modena, a metal work artist that specializes in bells. He lives nearby us in Half Moon Bay, CA.

The other guy is my son Marius.

marking and moving

This weekend I marked all the 4 x 4's and moved them over to crew mate Laurie Geissinger's property where she's been kind enough to host the full build out of the project. The last image of this post is Laurie clearing one of her meadows with "Lucky" to make a space for the project. The marks indicate the where the pieces will rest on one another and are critical in maintaining the alignment of the pattern as the installation grows larger.

If all goes as planned, we'll build two weekends from now on July 12.

a few more schemes

Here are a few more schemes I assembled this Saturday. The first images are of Leonardo's bridge design. This one is not very stable. The large hex/small triangle scheme was a little difficult to assemble due to the way the 4 x 4's lay on one another at the small triangle intersection. The last one is the rectangle scheme I built previously using the 12' long 4 x 4's. This one appears to be much stronger with a lot less bowing. I'm really looking forward to the full build of these ideas!

weekend progress

may update

Wood: 120 - 10 foot long 4 x 4's arrived in my driveway a couple of weeks ago fresh from the lumber mill - green and heavy! They are now neatly stacked with spacers between allowing plenty of air circulation for drying. They should be ready for building by the end of June.

Meanwhile, I've trimmed the 34 reclaimed pieces down to 10' and re-marked them at their stacking points. I'll use these to study various patterns while waiting for the rest of the lumber to dry.

Bells: Rikk has begun the bell fabrication and has decided on a 5 bell configuration around a central "donger" that will be made from a found steel something-or-other. Pictures to follow!

Rikk will be flying up from the Bay Area this weekend for a little brain-storming and strategy session with myself and Matt Wilson (Vashon) who will be helping me out on the wood side of the project.