Click on any photo to see a larger version with more detail. :-)

As Nose Buiding Day began all the materials had been collected in my back yard, together with all the tools we'd need to build the Desert Nose.

My back yard is just big enough to fit the completed structure.

Before too long people started showing up and struts started coming out of the pipeline by noon. This is Andrew Hearth, who created the Camp Sunscreen structure and the Family Palazzo. Andrew personally cut more struts in the Desert Nose than anyone else as far as I can tell -- about 100 struts!

From left to right: Riley Rice, John Stubbs, Joel Gringorton.

This is Matthew Quirk. He's cutting away the flash which is left over after the holes are drilled in the ends.

Here Amy Rasmussen flattens the end of a strut using an arbor press. In the background Jessica Hobbes sorts struts and Marilyn Bonita stabilizes the other end of the strut Amy is pressing.

This is Ray Swartz, who arrived early in the day, just after Joel Gringorton. They helped get the whole process started.

As the struts were produced we layed them out on the lawn. Later we sorted them.

It was a lot of work... time for a break!

Jessica Hobbes rests toward the end of the day...

Here Victoria Armigo and Erin Watson rest up after much strut building. Erin cut lots of struts and Victoria was responsible for applying clear tape to the vast majority of the struts and delivering them to the pressing and drilling area.

Dave Kendall takes a moment out to contemplate nasal puns.

When the light began to fade, just as a gentle mist began to descend, people worked even harder to get all the struts cut before it got too late and too wet.

Here Erin Watson holds a length of conduit while Marilyn Bonita cuts it to length with a tubing cutter.

Here's Amy Rasmussen displaying one of biggest smile of the day!

Here Frank Bonita drills the end of a strut with a drill press and a jig which keeps the struts in place while they are being drilled.

Here's Kenny Schwartz drilling the end of a strut. Kenny made the frame for 3na , my Jellyfish and it was his vision and determination which caused the Playa Fish to be what they ultimately were -- the inspiration for and entire ocean of coolneon sea life at Burning Man, His work, together with the collective work of The Funhouse and friends was my inspiration for 3na as well.

As night fell the last of the struts were being finished. Here Matthew, Amy and Kenny are removing flash from the ends of a big pile of struts.

Here's a close up of Kenny removing flash.

At the end we were moving so fast we were just a blur in the night!

Paul Schissle performs a comparative analysis of the Desert Nose model. He also brought a big 3-ton arbor press equipped with a special matched pair of plates he made which imparted a better shape to the pressed end.

Frank Bonita and Tamara Munzner cut struts at night with a Makita worm drive circular saw with a metal cut-off abrasive disk.

After we finished the struts it started to really rain, so we went inside to have fun. Here are Kenny and Tamara wrestling. Don't make me stop this car!

While wrestling, Tamara discovers that Kenny makes a rather comfy cushion.

At first progress was pretty easy to make, although some struts needed to have their ends flattened further.

As the structure got higher it was harder and harder to work on it. Once, while I was working on it alone, I removed a key support and the septum fell over onto on me while the bridge descended down toward me as well. But I caught the septum before it hit me and the bridge just missed me. It was a hairy nose situation for a little while.
I won't appologize -- don't ask.

As the assembly reached the deck it got harder and harder to make the struts fit. For a couple of weeks myself and anyone willing to come by (Frank, Marilyn, Bridget, Kenny) struggled with why the struts were not fitting around the deck. It was really frustrating and slow. So, I started verifying the length and position of every strut around the deck -- all of them over 8 feet off the ground -- marking the correct ones with a green sticker.

Finally I found two struts in the wrong location -- they were each where the other should be. Once I reversed them the deck came together just like it should have. It was like having a tree-house in the... nosebleed section. Ooh... that's gotta hurt.

In this photo most of the nose is up! There is still the front of the tip to be assembled, but the back of the tip is up. I think once the structure is all tighened down that the deck will be able to hold quite a bit of weight -- maybe 4 to 6 people. That's nothing to sneeze at!
It's not going to get any better. My advice is to save yourself and bail out now.

Ah, lookup up at the half moon through the superstructure. Sniff, sniff.
Look, you were warned.

This is team Septum. From left to right: Bridget Hardy, Howard Cohen (me), Marilyn Bonita Frank Bonita, Kenny (notice the skating helmet -- it was a day when 2x4s were falling left and right. Kenny tied them up so they wouldn't fall any more. :-)
Hey, there's a strut where my nose should be!