Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Home planning - Medieval style


This is inspiration for a future tent.

I am a newbie to the SCA. Still haven't even joined, but I like the academic part, and I love costuming and sewing and building. It is really like a club that puts on a Medieval movie, er, High School Play, every few months. Even though it's not perfect, the players have fun.
Since I am working the Turkish/Ottoman/Middle Eastern end of the spectrum, I want to work out a bedouin style tent. Fairly simple design, no complex sewing. Most importantly it will pack up pretty small for its square footage and still be a canvas tent. Heck, it'll be better than a pop-up with a canvas cover thrown on it any day!
I already have 4 really rough painter's tarps that were originally destined for other things that will be heading to the tent department. One was painted black earlier in the summer to provide more shade, and that worked so the rest will be headed down that road as well.
My plan is to sew those all into one hunk and reinforce any place poles go with leather. The paint we used on the first tarp was a watered down latex that was applied imperfectly with a roller. No prob,. it looks rustic and it was still able to do that cotton fibers swell to = waterproof in the rain, so it won't even get any waterproofing.
I have an assortment of fabrics for inside decor as well as carpets. Just need a relaible bed.