Project: Tent.

This summer I've decided to undertake a massive project. I'm going to make a Viking tent. My dad will help me with the woodworking--but this is an improvement from my former days when I would just tell my dad to make me something. I'm interesting in woodworking, but I don't have power tools or a good workspace for it in my apartment. While tents are fairly large, the construction is simple and it doesn't have to involve hammering or screwing things. (I am crap at hammering.) Plus, when I'm finished, I'll have my own tent, and it will be period! Doesn't get more awesome than that. I've decided on what I think will be a good size of a tent, and it works well with standard lumber sizes and standard fabric sizes.

The worst cost of it will be the canvas. I've found some fabric that's made for making boat covers, which is a thick poly/cotton canvas that has already been treated for water and mildew resistance, and it's only $10/yard which is basically the best price I could get for that stuff. The tent size I'm thinking of would require 15 yards of fabric, which is actually not bad. On the other hand, the shipping cost for that much, that heavy, fabric will be murderous. (The online store which sells that fabric wanted to charge me $12 to ship 4 small metal clips! I killed that order real fast.) So I'll shop around some more online, and see what I can find. I definitely want cotton canvas, at least 10 oz., pretreated to resist water. I really don't want to try to waterproof it myself, and I hate synthetic material (especially not good for period use). I suppose I'll also browse around the decorating sections of local fabric stores and see if they have anything useful, but I find that unlikely.

And then there's a difficult design decision. Traditionally, the upright poles on the tents have animal heads carved into the top, in knotty Viking fashion. The problem is that I don't really like animals, and I'm very wary of associating myself with animal figures. I like a few animals, but not the wolves, bears and foxes that are prominent not only in Viking art and names, but also in furry culture. It's sad that I like these animals less because of furry culture. So basically I want to stay far away from them, even though they are pretty cool on their own. (Bears give birth while they are hibernating! In their sleep! That is the way to do it!)

Anyway, I think I'll come up with some snake design (easy), tree design (harder) or even a snake and tree together (hardest).