Period Tents!

[Seilde]

I love period tents! I see them everywhere and I want one so bad.

I'm poor though.

I've decided that I'm going to make my own out of a market umbrella and lots and lots of canvas drop cloths. The drop cloths are pretty cheap and the umbrella was about 5 bucks at a yard sale. It stands about eight feet tall and six or seven feet wide.

I have to make a new top for the umbrella because the canvas on the old one has rotted in many places.

I'm excited.

biggrin

Have any of you ever bought or made a period tent before?  

[Divash]

I haven't bought or made a period tent, but I did buy a peri-oid tent. http://www.soulpad.com -- I bought their 5000-Lite, but now they've come out with a 5000-Hybrid, and if I ever get another one, it'll probably be that one.

Something to consider: If you have a round tent with a center pole, you need for it to be larger than 6 to 8 feet in diameter. Most sleeping bags and cots are about 6' long, which is fine for the exact center of the bed, but not great for the corners, which will poke at the sides of the canvas walls. Also, if there's a center pole, your bed will not be at the center of the tent, but off to the side. Figure on making your tent at least 10' in diameter. That will give you space to put your bed, garb boxes, and food and other equipment.

Also make sure you've got adequate ground cover. If it rains, the ground beneath you WILL get soggy and muddy, even though it's under the tent, because the outside moisture will seep in. Also, even if it's hot and dry, bugs will find it easier to get into your tent and feast on you if you haven't got a ground cover. I highly recommend a thick plastic tarp, which you can then cover with a canvas tarp and/or indoor-outdoor rugs if the plastic feels weird underfoot.

Check the local laws for everywhere that you intend to set up your tent. Some sites, particularly those in use by the SCA, won't let you set up a tent that isn't treated with flame retardant. Your best bet is Sunforger 10oz or Sunforger 13oz, because that comes pretreated for flame and mildew protection. It's spendy, but definitely worth it, if the flame retardant saves your life, which it could definitely do.

Though, to be honest, you'll probably find it cheaper to actually buy a Sunforger tent than to make your own, especially if you don't already own an industrial-strength sewing machine, which is what you'll need for sewing several layers of even the thinnest tent canvas you can find.

It might be best to get a temporary job, earn enough to get the tent of your dreams, and then buy it.  

[Kittywitch]

What period are you aiming for?
I'm dark ages, so when I think of period tens I think of the quick viking a-frame: Three closet poles, six two by fours, and some canvas.  

[Seilde]

@ Divash: Thank you for your advice and concern but I've thought of all this before. I'm not sure how long it actually is on the top but it's longer than my cot. (Center pole included in this test) So it should be okay. Plus the sides will have an angle to them so it gives you slightly more floor space.

And yes, I'm going to put flame retardant on it in addition to water sealer. 4laugh

Sometimes I seem like I'm slap-dash but I actually do think these things out.

Again, thanks for your concern. heart

@Kittywitch:

I'm not really aiming for any period in particular. Though my tent isn't going to match my persona. gonk I just don't think people are going to ask many questions so I'm not too concerned. In all honesty a viking a-frame would match my persona better. A round tent is easier to carry around so that's what I'm going to make.


Granted, the only problem with making the round tent out of a market umbrella is the the roof will be rather flat in comparison with how they historically are. And with the flatness comes problems with weather. I can't take it to events where there will be a lot of rain because the water might pool and thus collapse the tent.

I just want to see how it works out. I have all this canvas lying around and the umbrella. I want to know if it'll survive or not.

If all else fails then I'll just buy a round tent. biggrin  

[Sir_Catherine]

I admire your gumption and resolve to have a go at making your own tent. Cheers to you and best wishes for good results.  

[Naito_Mitsukai]

That's fantastic - I hope your efforts turn out as well as you imagine! biggrin (Pictures when it's done? heart )

I've never had a period tent, though I also want one, and have thought about making one.
I've also thought about cheaper 'disguises' But haven't found any that work for me and my budget yet.

One day - I will have an awesome period tent though .... One day!
ninja  

[Seilde]

If it works out and doesn't look too much like a monster I'll take pictures and post them . 4laugh  

[TN_Lark]

My period tent is a 16-foot diameter ger (yurt) that my husband and I built. I love it became it has no poles to break up the inside of the tent. And the sidewalls are over 5-feet high so my 6-2" husband doesn't have to worry about hitting his head on any of the beams. The only part that we didn't make ourselves was the roof canvas and that we bought from Panther Primitives.

-Iofa-  

[Divash]

I've wanted a ger for so long, TN_Lark! I have not got the skills to make one, nor the tools, nor a yard in which to do it (apartment building with no yard, just a sidewalk between me and the next building and an alley on the other side). But I do have dreams.

The trouble is that I can't decide whether it's worth it to make a ger and set it up every time we go to an event, or whether I might rather skip the ger and go directly to the ultimate in camping, a house-on-wheels. I know that a gypsy wagon isn't documentable to period, mind you, but (1) there WERE living-wagons in period, documentable to even earlier, including direct mention in the Hebrew Bible, and (2) there were also houses, and if one can hide the wheels and disguise the wagon as a house rather than letting it be a wagon, it'll look perfectly well period. Plus, unless I get it in the pop-up style, I wouldn't really have any setting-up to do once arriving at an event. I could just drive to the site, park, and immediately start dinner cooking.

I'm torn between making a "standard Medieval" (that is to say, European, indeterminate country or time frame) cottage, something more definitive but still European, or to match my persona and design it to look like a 12th century Yemenite dwelling. But my main conflict is whether to make/buy a ger first, or to go straight from my SoulPad 5000-Lite to the wheeled dwelling.  

[Seilde]

Divash, I looked at all that stuff about the Vardos and now I really really want one. I think I'll just stick to my tent though.  

[Divash]

Oh, for sure, it's cool. It's also jolly well expensive, of course. A really GOOD ger/yurt will cost about $700 to make or $3K - $4K to buy. One of these vardos will cost around $6K to have Daphne come out, design, and build it for you (well, with you -- she insists on people taking part in their own wagon's destiny). But from what I hear, having a real bed with a real mattress, and rainproof walls, will go a very long way towards increasing the livability of week-long (or longer) events.

In my dream, my vardo will be wide enough to hold a full-sized bed for myself and my RLSO, with either several slats or a solid board for mattress supports, all in back. The room divider will be a closet with sliding doors from both sides, so you can get dressed before going out to the front (which would be the back, when it's being towed) and greeting surprise guests that the RLSO has invited over for early morning coffee. The camp toilet, hidden by curtains, will also be back there, because the worst thing about SCA events is those scary-dirty toilets.

Once you're dressed, you'll step into the closet from the bedroom, and out to the main room from the closet (see how that works?). The outer room will contain just fold-away chairs and trestle tables, plus some decorations that make it look period. Perhaps our devices, when they're registered, will be displayed discreetly, or prominently. I'm planning to make faux stained-glass windows, but also to have hidden, screened vents in case of stiflingly hot weather. Perhaps also a discreet battery- or solar-powered ceiling fan for exceptionally hot, humid events.  

[Seilde]

Isn't it nice to dream? You can picture all these wonderful things that will just make your encampment perfect and as close to heaven as you can possibly get, but then you realize how much money it will actually cost you do these things and you have to reconsider. rofl

In a perfect world I would have a vardo and a big and beautiful period tent. But this is reality and I'm but a poor college student so unless I get married to a millionaire tomorrow, I'm going to have to just do what I can. biggrin

Right now I'm working on the pricing for my tent I plan to make. I want a ballpark number and then I'll go form there and start construction.

If the making of the tent proves harder than I thought originally than I'll reconsider marrying a millionaire. Camping SCA style would be wonderful if I had a million dollars. I'd buy tents for everyone I loved and we'd all camp together and be the coolest encampment ever.

Of course it's not about tents. It's about living the dream. biggrin  

[Divash]

Actually, the vardo is on our list of major things we want to do.

We've already bought a car, not quite a year ago, since my RLSO finally got a real, live driver's license. (Seriously, you can live in major cities well into your thirties without ever learning to drive, and apparently that's what happened; while I, a small-town gal, learned how to drive at earliest opportunity just so I could get into town once in a while!)

Next purchase will be a house. We've been looking since May, and found a lot of houses that were almost right, but not quite. We're looking within a very tiny geographical area, though, because our chief requirement is that we absolutely must be within walking distance of our synagogue, because we're observant Jews and therefore don't drive on the Sabbath.

Once we have the house, we'll look into taking some woodworking classes so that we'll know a bit of how to design and build our own SCA-appropriate living wagon.

Once I finish my current job/project, which is satisfying but pays extremely poorly, I'll be free to seek another job that pays a bit better, and at that point I'll set aside funds for the vardo. Shouldn't be too hard; maybe a year's work, if I save the right percentage of my income, plus time to actually do the construction of the thing. See: it's a dream, but it's also an achievable goal. smile  

[Seilde]

I'm an instant gratification kind of person. If I can't get it in the next few months then I generally don't try too hard to get it.

This is probably not good behavior.


And...

I found really clear and easy instructions on how to make a gher that might interest you. biggrin

http://www.cco.net/~str8jkt/yurt.html  

[Divash]

I have found some very clear directions on ger-building, and these are among them. That doesn't mean that I own tools, an industrial-strength sewing machine, or a yard. I won't be building a ger.