Effigy and all things fire ***updated****

Sounds great Sam! Niamh and Sam Lee have been talking about setting up a platform where we use participatory budgeting to collectively decide which projects get funded (a la BL). This is the platform they’re looking at: https://northern-regional.dreams.wtf/celts-dreams

I know you’re off FB now but there’s a meeting Monday evening where we’ll most likely talk about this, at 7pm if you can make it!

Thanks Fran, I will definitely try and attend the next meeting.

Yes, what Fran says, I'm working on a dream platform. Its a way of anyone being able to present a dream e.g. Effigy and the community "voting" for it with money. I'll present something on Monday

Hey Sam!

I have had the honor to design and build two effigies for regionals and have delivered multiple other wood structures for the playa as part of honourarium projects. I would love to help and share my experience. Some thought starters:
* What is the forecast budget?
* Plans and details are sexy, crucial for success and a necessity for safety. At a minimum, I would like to offer my drafting and modeling skills to pre-visualise the project. Resulting artifacts work great for recruiting and fundraising.
* Will it be built entirely on-site en sutu or will there be a transportation budget for a one-way delivery in a box truck or white van? Can the delivery vehicle traverse the property to the burn site?
* Is there an existing burn pit? What is the property owner's tolerance for a burn scar? Will DG or burn platforms be necessary?
* If built on-site
* Is early entry an option?
* Can the property owners receive deliveries?
* If built off-site
* Where? Any locations in-mind? I have space in my garden in Wendover, 5 min walk from the train station and can support a few overnight guests for weekend builds
* Modularity should be considered in the design to support transportation and building site egress
* Will this be just a piece of art or serve as other functions during the event? i.e. plunge, bar, stage, etc...
* Magnetic rake if not provided by the community should be included in the budget
* Depending on the design, more wood may need to be added to aid in the burn process
* Unless done professionally, avoid pyrotechnics
* Safety, burn perimeter and LNT plans must be compulsory
* Banned material suggestions:
* Green/wet wood
* Non-ferrous fasteners/screws
* Latex based paint (oatmeal wash with natural pigments work best)
* Plywood under 1/4"- causes too much ash
* MDF, chipboard or other manufactured wood
* Cardboard or paper that cannot be removed prior to the build

Here is a link ( https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ISMNfOJeYqg01XmDSAEJzHEP4Zk8fhTw?usp=sharing ) to some images from my past effigies and the plans I used to build them.

Forward

Hey Rob!

Thanks for the reply!

Most of my thoughts regarding this were mainly to do with if others had ideas in mind of a particular effigy they would like to see at this burn, or if anyone was already planning on building something.

I am quite confident in construction LNT and safety aspects, as I have built, or helped build, several effigies for UK regionals over the last few years. Most of these have involved no budget (or very small), and have been constructed on site during or just before the event from materials either I or others have gathered prior to the burn. Some of them have been built from scrap wood, some from natural materials and some of them from a combination.

The idea I have for this particular build involves a small amount of purchased timber (which I could supply if there was no budget) to make the frame, and then a lot of foraged natural branches to make the main fire. There will also be a mechanical element. It would just be a piece of art. I propose to build it on site, either in the days leading up to the event if we are able to access the site early, or during the first days of the event.

I completely agree with the list of banned materials, however I would add all ply wood and processed boards, anything containing glue or treated in any way.

I have a fishing magnet which I usually use to clear the site of all nails and screws following the burn. In terms of construction, I usually use screws to build the main frame and then a Brad nailer to attach the rest of the material to the frame. The screws and the brads are all magnetic so easy to remove after the burn.

In several of the effigies I’ve been involved in, I have included various metal salts which cause the flames to burn in a variety of bright colours.

Thank you for such a comprehensive list, it’s really good to have these conversations and I think it’s a really useful tool for future builds!

Hi Sam, No particular thoughts on the effigy but will put my hands up now as keen to build something & burn it. It's been too long.

I'm not going to make any FB meetings but happy to do any other confab & progress things here. I should be up in Scotland at that time & able to assist with build or any pre-build.

Agree it'd be useful to know the access arrangements/site specifics. There is a "designated campfire space" on the site's website but it's not clear whether that'd suit an effigy & the size, etc. I'm sure someone whose seen the place will weigh in.

I suspect budget may not be much but we should be able to scrounge up some suitable wood.

Hi Allan,

Good to hear from you, hope you’re well! I think you’re right when it comes to budget, it’s unlikely there’ll be any money to spare.

I think I would probably like to try and build the frame and the mechanical element prior to build if possible, and then do the main artistic part of the build on site.

The site specific details would be very useful. I am hoping to attend the next meeting and will speak to people who have visited site then if no one jumps in here. At the very worst, the effigy I have in mind could potentially be built in one place and carried to a burn site by 4-6 people if necessary. We did this at a small burn in summer as the site only had one burn spot which was in use for a campfire most of the time, so I built the effigy in one place and then we carried it to the fire when it was time to burn.

Gentlemen….good evening!

Some very thorough points made by all and agree with them all so far.

• When you say mechanical what do you mean?

• What angle do we think the effigy should reflect? I’ve only seen animal ones so far…

• I may well be able to source ply/timber from off cuts/extras from work so the earlier we can get a list of materials together I can start squirrelling away anything useful to help budget wise.

• Another thought I’m having is could we make it interactive to some degree with the other burners? As in save a space for everyone to add a pre collected piece so we have all helped to build it?

I’m also happy to head to site early to prep and have pretty much a full on-site set up with tools, lighting, gazebo if needed. I can extend that to anywhere really if there’s prep to be done off site I’m happy to go there.

Looking forward to it 💪

So I have an idea in mind which I am going to put on the dreams platform, but I would like to keep it as a surprise if this is the effigy that people choose (and this is kind of why I was asking on here, other people may have strong desires of something in particular that they would like to do themselves).

The effigy I have in mind is Scotland themed and has a moving part to it….

Any lengths of timber you have would definitely be useful, or just off cuts in general, even if not for the effigy we will need a lot of firewood over the time we’re there so the more the merrier!

The plan I have would be a similar style to the fox at Suburburn, a timber frame and offcut filling, with a natural wood covering. I really like the idea of everyone adding a piece, this could be part of an opening ceremony that Fran is thinking about….

We have received news from site that they do not want any fires at all outside of fire pits. This means that the effigy I was planning is almost certainly unfeasible (it was 8ft long by 8ft tall!).

There is a small possibility we could build a large fire pit (bricks? Concrete blocks? Corrugated metal roof sheets?), but I kind of feel this would produce way too much fire-damaged waste material to be justifiable for one event/fire.

What are your thoughts? Is there a way around this problem, should we abandon the idea of a large effigy?