Making a Tipi

[rileyconcrete]

I recently bought some land high in the mountains.  There is a road up to the property so access is easy.  I want to construct a tipi on the property rather than a small cabin.  I know there are a few on here that have built tipis and I am asking for your help.  I will probably go with canvas at this point because I want to use it this year.  it will serve as a place for my family and I to stay while we are there and also hunting camp.  I am looking for any help you can give such as blueprints tips etc.  Thanks for your help.

Tell

[Dane]

An outstanding resource is a book called Tipis | Tepees | Teepees: History and Design of the Cloth Tipi, by Linda A. Holley, Gibbs Smith, Publishers. The book goes into great depth on all aspects of the tipi, how to make them, transport them, various tribal designs, interiors, tipi liners, and a gazillion resources, including buffalo hides, dozens of makers, museum resources, etc.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I have an old book by ben hunt I can scan for you.
give me a day or 2, it has some good instructions on building a Tipi in just a few pages. By the way, its OLD, as in about 60 years old.

[rileyconcrete]

Thanks for the info guys! SS I'll shoot you my email it may be easier than posting here.
Tell

[chamookman]

The book "The Indian Tipi" by the Laubins, is considered the "Bible" of everything about Tepees. I've always said that Anyone that likes to camp, should spend atleast one night in a Tepee - it's a WONDERFUL thing ! Bob

[IsaacW]

tipis.org is also a neat resource.  The topic of historic tipis has been revisited on a few other boards I visit (and one I own and moderate).  This came up from Linda Holley from tipis.org on the evolution and some changes to tipis over time...




This time line is approximate and over laps in many areas by a few years…..and is in flux as I revise the research.
Time line for tipi innovations and camps:
· Fur traders and mountain men, 1800–1860s Fur trade posts in northern and southern Plains Introduction of cloth material in tipis
Larger hide and cloth lodges in the 1840s.
Slit-type doors
Pegs are placed in ground at an angle
Hide flaps are scalloped
Some painted lodges and quilled decorations No smoke-flap ropes or door poles in front Some extensions on bottom of flaps
Leather hides or robes for liners "draped" from poles or rope tied to poles.
Some cloth for rectangular linings or blankets
· Indian wars and frontier settlers, 1860s–1900s Start of reservations
Cloth being issued for tipis
Decline of buffalo-hide lodges
Many groups on the move due to hostilities
Smoke flaps start having longer extensions
Use of striped awning material for covers
Some very large (approximately 25-foot) covers Tipis do not have door poles
Ropes or cords attached to smoke flaps
Cords attached to pegs holding cover
Fur, blanket, or cloth doors
Start of formal sewn door openings
No rain caps
Painted lodges
Quilled and beaded rosettes
Dangles or tinklers used
· End of the Indian wars and reservation period, 1880s–1920s
Wild West shows and Indian fairs
Wood platforms start to appear in Wild West show tipis
A few door poles appear
Decorated doors of hide and cloth
Lodge poles get longer with some groups Some tipi covers are very decorated for show
Very few buffalo-hide tipis—now made from cowhide
Tailored oval door and variations
Highly decorated hide and beaded rectangular cloth liners
Crow Fair and roundups showcase family lodges
The use of a “Gore” in smoke flaps
Stanley Campbell (Vestal) defines the four major types of smoke flaps as well as characteristics of Crow and Cheyenne tipis with anthropological papers on these tribes.
· Scouts, tourists, and anthropologists discover tipis, 1890s–1940s
Ernest T. Seton introduces tipis to Scouting and with the introduction of the rain cap and trapezoidal liner
J. Salomon introduces a fitted liner
Tipis mostly used in the summer or family gatherings
Great use of door pole
Long lodge poles
Rawhide and fancy cloth doors
Blackfoot have highly painted lodges
Crow, Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Kiowa use the beaded or quilled rosettes, dangle and tinklers
Pegs in at angle to hold cover to ground
Few liners used and are made of cloth, shawls, or blankets and mostly by the Blackfoot, Crow, other northern tribes
· Hobbyists’ tipis, 1954
Hunt writes the Indian Crafts books
Detailed drawings on the cover and fitted-type liners
Rain cap
Liners are pegged down and have under turns (sod cloth)
Cloth tipis shown at public events, like ceremonies and powwows
Covers start to come off the ground an inch or more and the gore becomes standard in most patterns
Fewer pegs for quick setup and takedown on the cover
· First major book on history and making a tipi, 1957
Reginald and Gladys Laubin write The Indian Tipi, introducing the standards for lodges
The fitted liner uses the trapezoidal-style pattern with under turn First major work on tipis gives measurements for cover and liner Drawings for the inside rain cover
The liner becomes a major part of the tipi
Cover starts to lift off the ground, showing the liner bottom
Most tipis now patterned after Laubins' book
· Groups using tipis and innovations in tipi materials, 1950s–1970s
Start of the hobbyist powwows and rendezvous tipis for camping Hippies discover tipis; movement back to the earth and nature
New synthetic materials in cords, ropes, and threads
Waterproofing materials for canvas
Fire-resistant chemicals for cloth
Innovations in wood and concrete platforms
Waterproof and mildew-resistant polysynthetic materials
· Next major step in tipi making and materials, 1962–1972
Darry Wood writes “The All-American Do-It-Yourself Portable Shelter” Introduction of the formal fitted liner with the trapezoidal fitting of the angles to the poles in relation to the cover
Use of 50/50 synthetic material in the covers
Addition of Sunforger to the bottom of liners for extreme wet conditions Flaps attached to the cover going over the door to prevent water from coming in
· Basic look of today’s tipi, 1970s–present (Non-Indian tipi owners)
Follow Laubins' pattern for fitted liner and cover.
Some type of fitted liner and rain cover
Door pole out front for smoke flap ties
Cover off the ground by 2 to 12 inches
Pegs driven into ground straight up
Romantic, theatrical, and fantasy idea what a historical tipi looks like
Painted geometric liner many with sun burst design or style at back or plain white
Cloth door and sewn door opening
Fancy carved pegs and lacing pins
Comforts of home inside, including a propane fire try to re-create the old Indian look

Linda Holley
http://www.tipis.org/

[rileyconcrete]

Hey SS can you scan those pages for me please?

[JW_Halverson]

If you have a hankering to make a buffalo hide teepee, start saving your money now, get a second job, get a third job, win the lottery.  Got that? 

Takes about 11-14 buffalo hides to make one teepee...and that is a traditional sized teepee, nothing like the 18+ ft monsters that Rondy-voo folks with motorhomes and large cargo van trailors tote around!  We are talking something drug behind a small pony when moving to a new camp site.  Even if those hides are radically thinned, you aer looking at hundreds and hundreds of pounds of hides.   

There is an interpreter at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Historic Site that builds a trad buff hide teepee and uses it for education.  I forget his hame right now, but the man is a wealth of historically accurate knowledge. 

Wanna know what I think is a perfect morning?  Ok, I'm gonna tell you anyway.  Sleeping in late rolled in a wool blanket bedroll in a teepee.  Roll over and throw a little more wood on the coals in the morning and slowly make coffee without getting up from the bedroll.  Lay there drinking that first cup trying not to think about getting out to go pee.  First cup is done and you run out to pee, run back in and start breakfast as a slow steady drizzle turns to rain.  Eat breakfast by the fire nice and dry as the rain beats a tattoo on the teepee.  Sit and make small talk with a like minded friend or two while making arrows, sewing moccs, or some other task to keep the hands busy.  Yup, perfect morning.  This vignette brought to you by the American Teepee Appreciation Association.

[IsaacW]

Perfect but missing a pipe smoke somewhere early in there JW!

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Sorry I forgot to scan them...
 
Scanning them now...

[rileyconcrete]

Thanks SS.  That sounds great JW. I am gonna make a canvas one.  I don't have the money to go shoot all them buffalo. Would be fun though

Tell

[JW_Halverson]

If you stick with older dry buffalo cows, you can get by for about $1800 each.  Let's see, at a minimum of 11 hides that would be...little less than $20,000.  Ok, the tanning will run you about $800 each, $9,000 including tax, but shipping those hides will be another couple hundred bucks. 

Oh, and you are gonna need teepee poles, but I can get you those pretty cheap.  They charge $5 for a pole cutting fee at the local Forest Service office.  We'll cut enough so that you got a whole set of spares.

Ok, that comes to about $29,005.  Ever thought of just getting a nice pull type camper?  They come with beds, kitchens, lights, even A/C for about that much.  They often call 'em tin teepees!

On the other hand, if you go the all natural buffalo method, you will end up with about 5,500 lbs of ground buffalo.  No steaks or roasts because those old dry cows are tough...better make burger.  That's not including the processing fees to cut/wrap/freeze.  Let's see, what would that run you....

[JW_Halverson]

Oh, crap!  Forgot the option of braintanning the buff's.  I know a gal that does them for about $4,500 each. 

Does anyone now understand why the prairie tribes rather quickly gave up hide teepees for canvas even though it was significantly less warm in the winters?  All those costs associated with this modern version represent hard, backbreaking labor from running down the buff and shooting it, to skinning, fleshing, thinningthinningthinningthinning the hides, then days spent braintanning.  Anyone thinking their lifestyle was wonderful just needs to spend a little time thinking about their short lives.  By the time a woman was 40, she was pretty much used up. 

These are things I think about when sitting around the coals of a fire in the teepee in the evening, pipe in one hand, firewater in the other.   And again, the smoke rises in a prayer of thanks to our common ancesstors that did what they did so their children could get fat working in cubicles, all the while dreaming of passing romantic hours in a teepee.  I pray they are fat and happy in the summerlands, they earned it!

[HoBow]

Wow jw. I didn't realize it would be that pricey.  Are those numbers accurate?   

[IsaacW]

Not sure what he is selling them for now, but Housler was under 10,000 for the tipi  http://braintan.com/bison/wes4.html

This of course isn't with all the other stuff mentioned above... some of which is needed. 

Isaac, tipiless and staying that way