Frame ON!

Woo! Progress!

Right now this is Lars' one-man show. So I don't have much to do except pay for the materials. I have to admit, I'm chomping at the bit to get going on the ideas I have for finishing and decorating the thing. But I must be patient, I tell myself. Within a very short time I'm going to be busier than a one-armed paper hanger. But for the moment, I sit on my hands.


Roofies
So we tossed a few ideas back and forth for the roofing. Ultimately we settled on aluminum. We investigated a few different sources, and Lars found this place, which was having a sale on their colored aluminum:
Diamond Life

This place had fewer color choices than some we'd looked at previously, but the price was better. We settled on blue. We talked about it and we don't think that the roof being slightly darker will impact it's tendency to absorb and retain heat that much. I didn't want white or yellow or gray which were lighter but frankly, didn't appeal to my sense of color.

Here's a picture of the proposed color scheme. Since I like the look of stained wood better than painted, we're going to stain the vardo and then seal it with spar urethane. Here's a sketch of the color layout, including which stain colors we'll be using. (All Minwax colors.)

Lars is also going to incorporate insulation in the walls and venting in the roof, so it should be fairly comfortable. Fortunately, our campsite at Pennsic has trees and is quite comfy, unlike the Ghetti where everyone gets to bake themselves. Of course, we're going to be going to other events, especially next spring and summer once we have this thing finished. So we are trying to take all sorts of different situations into account.

Hardware Wars
Not really a war, per se. I didn't have much trouble finding what I wanted. I have found some really nice stuff at this site:
Van Dyke's Restorers
Here is a picture of the door hinges I think we're going to go with:

And here is the latch for the door.

There are a few other things we're going to need, such as bolts for the door, etc. Also, we might end up using a modern casement crank for the windows. Which I don't mind, as long as we keep it black. No nickel or white. Icky.


Pennsic is looming large in the calendar already. It seemed so far off in February when we started getting this project together. Now it's fast approaching. I do have a fairly realistic idea of where we'll be at with the vardo when we go to Pennsic. I certainly don't think it'll be finished-finished. I will be happy if the outside is stained and sealed against the weather, and we have the bed-box finished so we can sleep comfortably. The rest is icing. Although I can whip up stuff like bench cushions, curtains, etc. pretty fast. But one of the fun parts of this project is the fact that it'll never be done. I'll be tweaking and styling it for well, ever.

Ebay!

I love Ebay!

Lookee what's going to be coming in the mail for me!

A hammered copper sink for $45!
These sort of sinks usually run about $125-$160. I won the auction at $25, and there's $20 shipping. I'm so psyched! I think this sink dropped into a cobalt-tiled counter would be beautiful. I also have a line on the most gorgeous decorative tiles..Earth Song Tiles. They're all so beautiful, it's hard to pick. But I've always been a sucker for celestial themes, so I thought cobalt blue tile with a few of their miniature sun and moon style tiles scattered randomly throughout, and one each of the big versions of the sun and moon:

 I would probably choose a gold-ish glaze for them, within a cobalt blue field of regular plain tiles. These tiles aren't cheap, so I'm using a few for accent and going economy with the plain ones. It'll cost me about $130 for two of the big tiles and six of the small ones. That should be enough for the vanity surround, and not break the bank.

Quest
 So Norm and Ian and I went to our big local camping event, the Quest for Wit and Wisdom in Neshanic, NJ. As usual, it was a blast. We didn't camp this year- we day-tripped. Mostly because we're throwing all our resources into this vardo thing, and we've basically got this 'we're not camping on the ground again!' mentality. Also, we had stuff to do on Saturday, so there you go.

Interestingly, the vardo thing seems to have infiltrated my local SCAdian group like a quiet virus. I didn't realize how many people were thinking of doing one until I talked to some friends who are in construction and one of them told me he was going to make one for somebody else. (I hadn't asked him to do mine originally simply because he's based in Philadelphia, which is pretty far from us.) There was actually a wagon present at the site, although it was a small affair, and I don't think it had any furnishings inside. It looked more like a place to toss your stuff and crash. Or maybe it was just messy. I don't know, I only saw it from a distance, and through the open door all you saw was garb strewn everywhere.

One of the best things that happened all weekend is we got a line on selling our pavilion when we're ready. Woo! The people are friends so I'm giving them a good price, and it'll go to a good home. Everybody will make out well. That's a load off my mind, I was worried we'd have to drag it to Pennsic and try and sell it there.

Construction Progress Update:
So, I met with Lars last week and gave him the windows. During our discussion over a couple plates of really good sushi, I learned that he's accomplished the following:
1. Trailer Gate Removed (a real sonufabitch, apparently, it didn't want to come off.)
2. The place where the door will be needed to have a gap cut in the trailer side rail to accomodate it. This has been done.
3. Flooring laid down.

No pictures yet, because I told him to send me one when he got a skeleton going on the thing. When I get that, I'll post it.