How To Make A Teepee?

By Author: Rob Thomas
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A Teepee is a form of cone-shaped tent dweeling, created to operate as a movable home. The nowadays Teepees are usually constructed with canvas but previously they were mainly made with animal skins or birch barks. It is deeply associated with the Native Americans who were the main users of this kind of homes, they were convenient because it could be easily put together and disassembled whenever a tribe were ready to move again to a new area.

Even though teepees are created small they are known to be very durable and can also survive almost any climate such as the cold, tough winds and heavy rains. It provide heat in the cold seasons as well as it was cool in the summer time. Unlike other tents individuals can also burn fires from inside the teepee as a way to keep warm or cook food because it was made to be self-ventilated. To get a basic idea of how teepees look and there structure, this piece will show you how to construct a simple teepee by yourself from start to finish.

Required Tools:

Knife or razor
Needle
Thread

Required Materials:

Canvas
Cord
12 poles ...
...
Wooden pegs
Stick

Instructions are as follows:

1. First instruction will be to trim the canvas which will be used to make the teepee. Shape out the canvas into a semi circle using a sharp razor or knife so that its twice as long as it is wide. It is recommended to make it 15-by-30 feet and shape out two smoke flaps in the middle of the canvas.
2. Now make a semi circle door entrance into each side of the canvas so that when the edges are brought together it makes a circular door entrance. Now use an extra round piece of canvas to make the door and hem a pocket into it and put in a heavy stick that will hold the door closed and hem it onto the teepee canvas.
3. Create three little cornered pockets from pieces of the canvas. Use the needle and thread to sew them to the tip of the smoke flaps. Use an extra piece of canvas to reinforce the areas of the smoke flaps where there is a large amount of strain.
4. Stitch a rope around the circular base at the base of the canvas. Then put in equally spaced rope loops around it to firmly pin down the teepee. Then attach a rope at the pinnacle to bind the top part onto the rods when the teepee is put upright.
5. The 12 rods for the teepee should be no less than 3 feet longer than the width of the teepee top section. So for instance if the cover is 15 feet wide then the rods are supposed to be 18 feet long and they need to be straight and smooth.
6. Take three of the strongest rods to make the tripod. Use the rope to tie the tripod together so that it's a little taller than the cover. Place the remaining of the poles against the tripod to form a cone shape structure for the teepee.
7. Then pull the cover around the frame and fasten them at the pinnacle with the use of wooden pegs. Bolt the base of the top section to the ground and spread the poles to extend the covering and put in two light poles inside the pockets of the smoke flaps. This is the part which will work as a chimney, creating a draught.

Tips and Warnings

1. When you are making a teepee, 10 feet is supposed to be the minimum height to use because this is much simpler to create, cheaper to make and much simple to upkeep. However, if you are looking for a teepee that can hold a lot more persons each time and is smoke free then you should consider creating it to be much bigger one.

2. You can also use various types of material such as cotton flannel, duck or heavy unbleached muslin.
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