Prairie

This is a detail view of Prairie, from Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park in FW. There were about 11 bundles of bamboo - 3 staves apiece that swayed in the wind. 3 had "pods" on them at the top or nearly.

The pods are made of handmade paper coated in wax and stitched to the bamboo. The bamboo was black bamboo that I harvested from a friend's place, stripped of leaves, transported across town to my house, steamed in a 16' steamer and then bent around steel pipe until cool. Then it was bound into a hoop shape. Each pod has three hoops. I wanted tons of them but I could only do about 4 bamboo stalks each steaming, and they took about 5 hours from start to finish for just the bamboo. I split and broke a number before I got the whole process down.

Then the application of the paper took many hours for each pod - I started with a small waxing pan, and finally had to break down and get an electric fryer that was big enough to put more of the paper in at once. They are quite beautiful - but incomplete. I wanted lanterns in each one, but ran out of time and money.

The installation also was a bugger. On friday night before the festival, the winds were gusting 30 to 40 miles/hour and steady at 20 at least. Nothing would stay up. I "placed" all the pieces and laid it down and the next morning, early, I went and set it all up. The winds were still high enough that one of the pods would never stay up - it bent the steel rods driven into the ground that held up the bamboo.

It was a cool effect, though, because the bamboo swiveled on the rods and blew in the wind, just like the prairie grass they were modeled after. I was pleased with the piece. And so was the organization, so that's good, too.

I want to learn to use split bamboo - I want to make a much larger piece using similar "pods". That's next? Maybe.