Matthew, Greg, Leigh, Sue, and Andrew inside their geodesic spaceship. Photo by Sandra Conrad.

Dear YES Mag,
You could probably have an ongoing column called something like "Dome Talk", maybe even a www.yes dome site. I say this because some friends and I have just built the geodesic dome featured in the last issue. Here are a few related findings, comments, and experiences you may find to be funny and hopefully of interest to some of your readers, especially those who are thinking of building the dome.

Let's have a Dome Party!
Being both a young adult of the 60s and a Buckminster Fuller fan, the geodesic dome feature really caught my interest. The instructions were so well laid out that I, a religion and psych graduate, had no trouble understanding them. After pondering the various combinations and permutations (Psych 101 Stats buzzwords) of team make-ups, I decided that instead of Matthew (6), Daddy (a civil engineer), and me hoarding all of the pleasure that would surely be the outcome of such a project, we should really make an event of it and invite a neighboring family to join us.
    The Russells have three boys: Nick (12), Andrew (9), and Greg (6), plus two fun-loving, energetic, and adventurous parents, Dan and Sue. They agreed to come to our house for a BBQ and dome party. Everyone was excited.

The original plan
Before dinner, on a sunny deck, we would start rolling the tubes. Having started the project, the adults would converse over salad and marinated flank steak. The kids, having wolfed down their hot dogs so they could get back at the dome project, would roll more tubes. After dinner, we all would have a great time assembling the dome and photographing our progress. Both families brought every newspaper in sight to the party, plus whatever staplers and tape we could lay our hands on. I bought three (3/8") rollers--the more rollers, the better. We agreed that the dome would stay at our house, and that we would use the skills and lessons learned to build one for the Russell's a week or so later.

Reality strikes
The guests arrived, and everything was set out on the deck. The sun was shining, and all began according to plan. As I was completing dinner preparations, Sue agreed to be the project coordinator. When I surveyed the idyllic scene from the kitchen window, Carl (my husband) was busy at the BBQ, Dan was talking to Carl--and rolling the odd tube. His hands were not as nimble for the task as Sue's. And the boys were having a great time chasing each other around on the lawn. They didn't have the necessary "rolling" skills, and became somewhat bored waiting to attach the tape to each completed tube. Sue, bless her, was rolling tubes like a woman possessed.
     We had a lovely dinner and by the time we finished, it was too late to remain outside. As it was also approaching the children's bed times, we decided to call it a night--although a very pleasant one.

Plan B
Having gained in wisdom, Sue and I decided to get together at her house a few days later. Note, we lost the husbands and Nick had plans with friends. The team of 8 was thus reduced to five. Matthew and I dutifully traipsed down the street with the 35 tubes and various staplers, etc., plus a dowel just in case we had to re-do one or more tubes.
    We eagerly set up to start working again and, ah, yes...we had been so excited at the dome party that stopped reading "a total of 35 size tubes". our faces fell, but quickly regained their determined smiles as braced ourselves roll another 30 for b. now only one dowel between us, and really were getting anxious stop learning lessons get going, sue cut measured while i rolled bs--we took turns knocking on doors more newspapers. soon gained an interested, yea fascinated, neighbour (sandra) who asked be called over see finished product! what encouragement! later, sandra happily obliged us by taking few group photos.
    While still in the early stages, specifically as we were busy affixing the second row of tubes, we noticed that the room was vacant except for us. For a moment, we were tempted to just have our tea and call it a night. We looked over our shoulders at each other. By this time guilt at having roped Sue into this project was about to get the best of me. Then Sue said, "We are going to finish it." Happily we did. The kids joined in at key points throughout the evening, and the enjoyment increased at a steady pace. Everyone had, and is still having, a great time.

Lessons learned
1. Dome building needs the full attention of two or more adults, if only to roll fast enough to maintain the interest of the children in the initial stages; and then to continually think of new and creative ways the younger children can help.
2. If food is to be served, make it popcorn, chips, something easily munched while working. Don't serve hot dogs. If you want red, yellow, and green tubes, paint is a much better alternative.
3. Start early, no later than 4:00 PM, earlier if you want everyone to have an hour or two to play in it. The instructions look, and are, easy, but the process takes about four hours. At least that was for the first one, we haven't done the second yet. Yes, we are still dome enthusiasts.
4. If you are using more than two pieces of paper per tube, the stapler becomes ineffective, unless one has a heavy duty plier stapler. We really do recommend four or five sheets of paper per tube and chuck the stapler. The multi layers provide a structure that can weather the exuberance of kids who love to play in it. Ours has survived four days of heavy playing, plus a party of 12 active boys. Also we found that the staples, if not closed tightly, can create opportunities for pulled thread on clothing or punctured skin. Yuck.
5. Putting the tubes together with tape instead of staples was highly effective, fun to do, and means the smaller children can participate by holding the pieces while they are being taped. We used mostly scotch tape, but the best was thin masking tape--the very best would have been black hockey stick tape, but we didn't happen to have any on hand. You wind the tape around all of the joints, following the sequence as given for stapling. Tubes attach easily to each joint as the layers are added.
6. Dowel guidelines: the result of standing in front of the Canadian Tire dowel display for 15 minutes with a broom handle in one hand as brand X and a choice of at least 10 dowel sizes in the bin. No, the student on duty that evening didn't have any idea as to what to suggest. Recommendation: less that 1/4" would be too small and anything over 1/2", although smaller than a broom handle, would be too large. We were happy with 3/8", but I would also try 5/16".
7. Collect only full-size newspapers. Tabloid and insert sizes are too small. Take an issue of your daily newspaper and count the double pages. Determine how many pages you would like per tube, multiply by 65, add 15 pages just in case, and you will have an idea of how many papers to collect.
8. If you look around at any time during the construction phase--especially during the rolling part--and find that the kids have gone and only the adults are toiling away, do not despair. Unless you have recently been named Scout Leader of the year, that will happen. Keep going and the kids will return. Even the older ones tend to come and go. Call them over when you have a task for them. They will love it. The joy on their faces when it is finished is worth it. Their perception is that they were with you all the way and only took "a few little rests".

Lesson of them all--modify the instructions at your peril
When we finally had all of the necessary tubes, we found that although my friend Sue has a fairly large living room, the dome would not fit! Alas, intrepid, though not very scientifically oriented, yours truly noted that the base was formed of 10 tubes and the next ring of tubes were in pairs of twos. "Aha!" said I, "to modify the size, one just removes or adds tubes in twos."
     All went well until the last part. Then we noticed with dismay that the effect of reducing the number of tubes at the base was that instead of a five sided ring at the tip, which would have neatly housed five tubes to make that last, wonderfully familiar geodesic pattern, alas, our top ring had four tubes. Not to be defeated, we barged ahead and put in four "ribs" not reducing them in size which has resulted in a delightful geodesic space station. Another bonus is that the children can stand up in it. Of course, we Moms knew that all the time.
     Can anyone out there figure out a nice little rule of thumb for a series of A and B tube lengths which would allow non-scientific dome builders to scale their dome up or down to match their theme park or more likely their living/family room?

Dome games
When asked, three days later, if the boys are still playing with it, the immediate response from Nick was an enthusiastic "yes". What every parent wants--a rugged toy that lasts. One game that is particularly popular is "push the balloons through the holes". One or more children get inside the dome. One or more are outside, depending on if it is played on the "monkey in the middle" or two team concept. The one(s) outside try to push as may balloons as possible through the holes. The person(S) inside tries to push them out just as fast. Apparently, it is not easy to push them in either direction, hence the element of skill.
     When the person(s) outside get all of the balloons inside, the game is over. The fine points of the "rules" have not been worked out yet, but the game seems to have promise, The proof is the boys' exclamation that "we play it for hours!" Sue says the laughter was amazing to hear. Listening Moms and Dads?

Thank you YES Mag.

Sincerely,
Leigh, Sue, Nick, Andrew, Greg, and Matthew