Rebuilding My Corny Garland[]
Last year I built a small-loop fast-wind bubbling garland. It performed well, but I have some ideas how to improve it. So now I'm disassembling and rebuilding it. In the picture the old one is on top.
BASIC SPECS
It has 33 loops with approximately 3.25" (8cm) tops, plus extensions for adding 18 more loops. It's about 140" (3.5m) long with leaders, and about 210" (5.3m) with the extensions. It's made of 9 braided strands of aMAIZing corn fiber tape yarn.
Problem #1 - Loop hangups and fold-overs
I expected to have a few. I've made garlands with swivels every 2nd loop, and they're pretty reliable. But with a swivel between every 3rd loop, this garland fails to fire on all cylinders about half the time. Now I'm going all the way! Each loop gets a swivel.
Problem #2 - Conjoined bubble streams
I prefer that each loop makes its own stream of bubbles so that all bubbles are about the same size. To minimize the bubble streams joining together, I had used linerless rubber electrical tape for loop separators. It held perfectly well throughout the season but too often the streams joined. Hopefully with swivels between each loop I'll get better separation. I'm also going to paint the whippings, in hopes of repelling the bubble juice a bit more.
Problem #3 - Blowouts before deployment
I like my garlands to make bubbles when I'm ready to make them make bubbles! - not when the wind decides to! This garland is for faster wind conditions. That's why I used such small loops and loosely braided corn yarn, which sheds juice quickly and lays down nice and flat when it's wet. , reasonably limp. It indeed worked at times when no other garland could produce. But I think I can improve on this.
I'm not folding the loops' corners where I bind them to a swivel this time, with hopes that the wind will have fewer openings to blow out as I'm lifting the rig from the bubble juice. As before, all those connections where the cords' ends are bound to swivels, they are going to point towards the garland's ends rather than its center. When these "crotches" point up, the wind can get in.
Problem #4 - Binding
Sometimes those 3-loop sections hang up on each other as I lift the garland from the solution. I worry that this problem will get worse when every loop has its own hardware. With the old one, each loop section is connected by a swivel and a #2 split ring. I'm leaving out the split rings this time. I had also used "west country" whippings to bind the cords' ends with swivels. This time I'm using "common" whippings instead. They're less bulky. They're also less secure, but with fabric paint they're quite reliable. Plus, while the paint is tacky I can roll them into a more tapered shape.
Problem #5 - Extensions
The extensions aren't really a problem but neither are they as useful as I'd hoped. The few times I used them in fast winds on long 13.5 ft (4.1m) poles, I had a heck of a time getting the garland back into the juice on account of the wind! On the other hand, its size is impressive to the crowd and when mounted on extra long poles with or without the extensions, you can create your own wind in calm conditions by waving the thing about. It's more maneuverable without the extensions. I'll build them again but don't expect to use them much.
Non-problem #1 - Time[]
Time isn't really a problem right now. With sub-zero (F and C) temperatures outside, I'm happy to find amusing time-killers! However I'm sure that in the end this thing will have more hours in it than even my biggest and finest mesh bubbling net!