Oh Dear God

So we have reached that stage in all of my projects where the seldom-listened-to voice in my head says "What the hell are you doing!?!"

As you can see in the photo, with the help of Paul, Troy, Scott and Joe; the frame of the roof line for the canopy extension is starting to appear. Currently the canopy's legs are collapsed to the floor so the whole thing is sitting about 4 feet lower than the finished height - which will not fit in my studio. This is just a test fit to start addressing those little details like gravity and surface area. Needless to say the 12 yards of linen I bought on clearance will only begin to cover this roof.

You might be able to make out the tie lines we used to bow the PVC for the arches and take the wobble out of the roof spine. This was actually working rather well and had I not already emptied the Lowes of the PVC fixtures we needed, we might have gotten further along.

So the sad reality we are left with is: this project is much too large to assemble in time to use at the 24hr Dance-a-thon next month without having to cut all of the other things I need to do by March 13th. So we will be tabling this project for a few weeks.

Next step: get more PVC couplers and dowel rod and start looking for a lot of cheap fabric.

It's Starting Again!!!

In the never-ending process of making our "Once and Future" Fez-o-booth we will once again begin work on a major update to our vending abode. This time it will be an overhaul of the portable canopy we acquired last year.

As you can see in this photo from our day at the IndyGear event, it is a big upgrade over the slant leg canopy seen in the previous post. It is also a fairly utilitarian looking affair. You may also notice in the photo the paint job upgrade I did on the bamboo facade for the booth this past year.

The plan is to create an overlay for the canopy that changes the look without impeding any of the function. Our goal is to have the structure built and skinned in time to use the new canopy for this year's 24hr Cancer Dance-a-thon. (Learn more about the Dance-a-thon and our team at www.cultoftheeye.com) That will be a good test of the structure. After March we will focus on improvements and then the thorough decoration of the skin in time for our big trip to Tiki Oasis 10 in August.

So bear with us as we dust off this blog and try to make some progress!

The booth continues...

While we haven't done any official additions to the booth this year we have put it to use. In fact it was a key component to our 24hr Dance-a-thon booth.


We have some big plans for the next Dance-a-thon and we'll possibly make some addition to the Fez-o-booth in anticipation.

Tiki Oasis photos

Jo David posted this fun shot of the booth in full swing on Flickr. Boy that takes me back... now I can't wait for next year.

Check out more of his shots from the event here.
Why don't my photos ever look that good?

Tiki Oasis Prep

Well we survived the move to a new home just in time to start cramming for Tiki Oasis. The booth was pulled out of storage and set up for a test run on Sunday. Joe and Tiny did the honors. They also added a few pins for the umbrella height and to replace the broken pulley system.

We also added some collapsing shelves to hang from the cabinets to increase storage. Those should come in handy this weekend. I will try to take some photos of the booth in various stages at Tiki Oasis.

July Update

The booth has been put on the back burner while we deal with other projects. We can do this because the booth is actually at a stage that can work for the event. If we find some extra time we will return to expanding the cabinets and facade. That all depends on how the rest of this month goes.

Weekend Update

Umbrella: DONE - optional: add some embroidery
Umbrella Frame: DONE - optional: coat of paint, bamboo sleeve
War Club Extensions: DONE - optional: trim and file brass fittings.
Stand: DONE - optional: try to improve epoxy finish

Our focus is now on to the display cases as we work to strip down the bamboo matting so we can trim, re-weave it into one long roll and back it with fabric for stability.

Then we need to create the four cabinet sections for the back part of the booth.