Pennsic House

[brewer]

And, er, Pennsylvania's laws on raffles.

...which specifically refer to small games of chance, not raffles or drawings. In fact, raffles and drawings are specifically exempted under § 901.23.

This section of Commonwealth law is directed at scratch-n-win and other small games, not raffles. As far as I am aware, the PA Code doesn't worry about raffles other than those conducted by the PA Lottery.

NB: I am not an attorney, so take these observations with however many grains of salt you find applicable.

I know I see raffle tickets on sale everywhere, with prizes ranging from a 50/50 pot to new cars. I'm pretty sure my amateur radio club didn't pay for an attorney to look into whether or not their monthly 50/50 drawings were legit. Now, when we used to have $0.50 pull-tab tickets at another organization's meetings, we needed a small games of chance license.

Regards,

Bob

[Kilkenny]

I don't know what the rules on such a raffle as suggested would be, but I would think it well worth some small amount of research to find out, as I expect that one could, easily, sell a couple of thousand chances at $1 a piece.

Certainly, I would buy one.

And on a related note, I've seen far less attractive venues pitched as beautiful vacation destinations with very substantial price tags attached.

[Steve S.]

"Hear-ye, Hear-ye! $1 a chance to screw in Chris Gillman's Lake House!"

[J.G.Elmslie]

Photos

You...
you....
you magnificent Bastard.

that is quite incredible.
I'm utterly awestruck.

[deflagratio]

If you do teach a class probably what everyone would like to here about is how you did your research, design elements that make it easier to assemble, and what would you do different next time.

[Kilkenny]

In terms of a class, Chris, might I suggest that rather than deal with specific elements of how to build a given temporary but repeatable structure, you focus on how you approach the design challenge ?

It might not help your random student to specifically address how you did the second floor beams in your house (they seem pretty "techy" to me and not something I would be doing in my garage) but more along the lines of what qualities are needed for the second story in such a structure to be sound, practical for multiple set-ups/teardowns, etc.

Just a rundown of the things that have to be taken into consideration, coming from someone who has done it all with such obvious skill, would be invaluable to many of us.

[Sigurd Fjalarson]

That is fantastic, in soooo many ways.

I'd love to hear more on this colapsible/take down long house though!

[Mike Garrett (Orc)]

WANT!

[BdeB]

Sweet Jumping Jesu that is breathtaking! I am kicking myself that I didn't make it down now! Wow!!!

I guess the chances of you ever camping with Strawberry Fields are over, huh!

Outstanding work of course and I'm sorry you were injuried!

[Evilyne]

As for someone coming in, we are in a secure camp and against the lake, so it would be difficult for unwanted visitors to gain access.

Not as secure as you think my dear unless things have changed in the last decade. Years ago I was invited to a party there, and as I too was camped right on the lake (and didn't know any better) I just took the lake-side path over and wandered in the back door right around sunset. No one said a thing. Now all I did was check out your cool encampment (I especially enjoyed the chapel) and listen to a single song by Wolgemut before heading out the front (which is where I realized my mistake) without drinking so much as a sip of water just as night fell (so the party was still not in full swing). Maybe I don't exactly qualify as "unwanted" since I didn't do anything but wander through, but I'm just saying it wasn't hard to gain access.

Pennsic is just one of those places where you have to trust, because other than a solid structure with a lock, which few have, there is no way to completely prevent thieves. I've never had anything stolen from me there (Estrella was another matter), but maybe I've just been lucky, or not had anything anyone wanted.

Didn't make it down this year to see your fabulous house, but I'm hoping I will manage the hike down the hill in future years Thanks for posting pics though!

[Steve S.]

Pennsic is just one of those places where you have to trust, because other than a solid structure with a lock, which few have, there is no way to completely prevent thieves. I've never had anything stolen from me there (Estrella was another matter), but maybe I've just been lucky, or not had anything anyone wanted.

It's called "Security through obscurity".

There are thousands of tents at Pennsic. Rifling through random tents in the hopes of finding something worth stealing would carry a high risk of getting caught, so few undertake the risk.

But, as Master Andrixo's stolen armour from the list field again this year demonstrates, obvious unattended valuables are easily and readily stolen.

Steve

[Chris Gilman]

For those who would like a more detailed account on how this house was built, as well as other projects I'm working on, I have given in to the Blog temptation and have a new blog.
Based on the original name of my props & costume company; Diligent Dwarves Effects Lab, the blog is called "Diligent Dwarves"
http://diligentdwarves.blogspot.com/
I also plan on sharing other craftsman’s work and tools and techniques I find on the web.

[Lloyd]

Chris, did you work with John Pearce at Old Tucson?

I worked with him at Medieval Times outside of Chicago.

[Chris Gilman]

Chris, did you work with John Pearce at Old Tucson?

I worked with him at Medieval Times outside of Chicago.

Well knock me down with a feather! yes.
He was the "adult" supervisor for the Explorer post at OT where I first started there. I eventually I got a job at Old Tucson (Thanks to Paul Newman) and left to move to LA in 1981.
Do you know where John is?

[Lloyd]

Last I knew, John was still living in Chicago. Back in '99 Bristol hired him to teach line dancing at a Wild West Show that we were putting on and the year before he bought a Klingon uniform off of me that I had been doing stunt fights in at Sci-Fi conventions.

Haven't heard anything from him since about 2000 and according to his IMDB profile, he hasn't been active in awhile.

I'll see if I can run him down and have him give you a yell.

[earnest carruthers]

I was told about this magnificent creation, wow.

[Raeven]

I was asked if I would be willing to host/ teach a Pennsic class on how to build such things, but I not sure what I could teach, as there is so much going on with the techniques in the house, I wouldn't know where to start and what people would be able to do "at home".

You could focus on making a structure strong enough that it's not a danger to the people in it and around it. A lot of the amatuer engineers I've met don't know how to make proper load supporting floors, beams, or joints.

[sha-ul]

I was asked if I would be willing to host/ teach a Pennsic class on how to build such things, but I not sure what I could teach, as there is so much going on with the techniques in the house, I wouldn't know where to start and what people would be able to do "at home".

You could focus on making a structure strong enough that it's not a danger to the people in it and around it. A lot of the amatuer engineers I've met don't know how to make proper load supporting floors, beams, or joints.

a course on the safety of portable structures

[Chris Gilman]

Ya mean like how not to fall off scaffolding?!

[Lachlann]

My lady just saw this....thanks.......

That is too awesome for words.
My poor period pavilion weeps in sadness.

[sha-ul]

Ya mean like how not to fall off scaffolding?!

I had more in mind on designing the structure so it doesn't fall in on itself the first time a guy& his mrs get frisky

[deflagratio]

Ya mean like how not to fall off scaffolding?!

I had more in mind on designing the structure so it doesn't fall in on itself the first time a guy& his mrs get frisky

But if the wife is a Buffy fan she may be into that.

[sha-ul]

Ya mean like how not to fall off scaffolding?!

I had more in mind on designing the structure so it doesn't fall in on itself the first time a guy& his mrs get frisky

But if the wife is a Buffy fan she may be into that.

TMI dude, TMI

[Effingham]

But if the wife is a Buffy fan she may be into that.

That scene does stay with ya.

But... dammit. SPIKE. Sigh.

[Chris Gilman]

I must have missed that episode, oh wait, I think I missed all of them.

I did have concerns of “rambunctiousâ€

[audreybmorin]

prftftft!!!!!

[sha-ul]

[Snaebjorn Hakonarson]

From what I seen of the construction of that place in the photos I would think its safe to say that it's not going to fall down just from a bit of fun. Hell you could probably get pretty rough and not shake that building up.

[Chris Gilman]

For those of you following this thread from last year, I have started upgrades and improvements on my Pennsic house. The progress can be viewed on my blog.

[Aaron]

[quote="Chris Gilman"]Got back from Pennsic Tuesday night. Gerhard was a huge help, my thanks to him.
Thanks to all the Archivers who came down Tuesday, it was great to meet you all. My apologies for not being able to spend more time with all of you, I seemed to be running here and there all night.

As some may have heard, I had a scaffold brake on Tuesday and I fell from the house, got a small tear in my chest. But with good friends, some stitches, I was back working away on Wednesday.
When I designed the scaffold system, I did not take into account I may be tired and not pay attention to what part of the bar system I was resting the plank on. Well I set it up with the plank on the “locking barâ€

[Cadfael_Mynnydd]

IMPROVEMENTS!?

[Aaron]

Yeah, I'm planning to show this to my wife for REAL houseplans. She'd go nuts. Improvements?

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Most of the improvements will be structural rather than cosmetic if Chris's plans remain the same - we ran into some technical difficulties last season that would be pleasant to not have to repeat.

-Gerhard

[Chris Gilman]

Gerhard,
I'm not clear what difficlties "we" ran into, other than the scaffold bar break. In fact most of the improvments are cosmetic, rather than technical and other that the scaffold system, none are structural.

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Gerhard,
I'm not clear what difficlties "we" ran into, other than the scaffold bar break. In fact most of the improvments are cosmetic, rather than technical and other that the scaffold system, none are structural.

I was mainly thinking of the roof, of course. But beyond that, minor issues like how hard it was to assemble the decorative pieces in place once the lower story was actually built - the panels along the ceiling line and the corbels, specifically. A lot of them could have used trimming or been given specific places where they would be meant to go based on the discrepancies in the space between the posts, etc. With minor changes I think a number of the finishing details would come together more quickly and without the possibility of items becoming stuck or breaking, both of which caused us headaches, as I recall.

I was also immediately drawn to other things that I suppose you could call cosmetic rather than structural, such as repairing all the crap I broke... but I figured I'd gloss over that stuff in detail.

Cheers!

-Gerhard