Pillory Part II
Went off to the wood shop. English Oak is expensive! After some discussion we decided to use American Oak and stain it. The look is similar but its about a third the price.
The design we built has three turned posts in a line. The head stocks fit into slots in the upper (flat) part of the post. The position of the head stocks is adjustable by means of pegs that fit through the upper and lower halves of the head board.
We have started out with extra thick stock so that we can dress the piece up with carvings later. At the moment it looks kind of chunky. To be strictly authentic we should turn the columns into spirals. I don't know if I am quite up to that.
The basic joinery is not at all complex, not least because we want to be able to take everything apart for storage. Its basically bolts together but the bolt holes are covered by fake through tenons. It only took a few hours to fit together.
We did a trial run with one prisoner (Helen). Her first comment was that once you are in you really know that you are stuck. Also the field of view is much more severely restricted than you might expect since it is imposible to raise your head and turning it does not do much.
Another thing we quickly discovered is that it is quite difficult undressing a prisoner once they are locked in since most clothes have to go over the arms. We have to think about this when designing costumes.
We played for about 20 minutes until Helen complained of starting to get stiff. It would definitely be no fun being in the thing all day. Helen is very fair skinned which has given me the idea that we should stain the piece jet black in the manner of old Tudor furniture.
Helen is working on some art work to be carved into the head boards. These are the only pieces that provide much scope for anything beyond a geometric pattern.
The design we built has three turned posts in a line. The head stocks fit into slots in the upper (flat) part of the post. The position of the head stocks is adjustable by means of pegs that fit through the upper and lower halves of the head board.
We have started out with extra thick stock so that we can dress the piece up with carvings later. At the moment it looks kind of chunky. To be strictly authentic we should turn the columns into spirals. I don't know if I am quite up to that.
The basic joinery is not at all complex, not least because we want to be able to take everything apart for storage. Its basically bolts together but the bolt holes are covered by fake through tenons. It only took a few hours to fit together.
We did a trial run with one prisoner (Helen). Her first comment was that once you are in you really know that you are stuck. Also the field of view is much more severely restricted than you might expect since it is imposible to raise your head and turning it does not do much.
Another thing we quickly discovered is that it is quite difficult undressing a prisoner once they are locked in since most clothes have to go over the arms. We have to think about this when designing costumes.
We played for about 20 minutes until Helen complained of starting to get stiff. It would definitely be no fun being in the thing all day. Helen is very fair skinned which has given me the idea that we should stain the piece jet black in the manner of old Tudor furniture.
Helen is working on some art work to be carved into the head boards. These are the only pieces that provide much scope for anything beyond a geometric pattern.
posted by Z. |
17:22 |
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