The above picture is the picture of  a tipi made by Nez Perce tribe, taken in 1900 (image from Wikipedia).

Tipis

Tipi, also known as teepee, tepee and sometime incorrectly referred to as wigwam is a conical tent, made from animal skins or birch bark. Tipi, first made by Native Americans have gained popularity all over the world.

In UK, Tipis is popular with the alternative scene, it is often used as tents in large music festivals such as Glastonbury and other outdoor events.

Recently, in UK, particularly amount green and environment counsious people, having a Tipi instead of the traditional tent in your garden is quite fashionable, the reason for this is that Tipis are made from environment friendly materials in contract with the traditional tent which are usually made from synthetic materials, this new tipis in garden fashion is sweeping the country, leading to an active trade in tipi making and renting our tipis.

Tipis and Holidays

Holidaying in Tipis is also becoming very popular in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Tipis and sometime Yurts are usually erected at beautiful location, people who want to experience living in Tipis find such holidays very attractive.

There are also new communities, usually within eco part springing up, accommodation in this emerging eco villages usually consist of dwelling Tipis.

Yurts basically consist of woods and tarpaulin. The core structure of a Yurt is made from wood, usually ash wood. The wood is them bent to the various shapes required to make the Yurt. Desired shapes are achieved using an method called stem bending.

Stem bending involves placing prepared ash into a steam box which is attached to a drum of boiling water, left in for an hour per inch of thickness of timber. After the prescribed period the timber is removed and placed onto a former upon which it sets into the shape required.

To bend wood it has to reach 100 C at which point the lignum in the wood becomes pliable – steaming is the best medium to achieve this and in doing so also forces out the natural sugars and once removed from the steam leaves the timber effectively seasoned.

Welcome to Yurts and Tipis. We bring your information about Yurts, tipis and other outdoor handcrafted structures but our primary focus is Yurts and Tipis. neither structure originates in Britain but they have both gained popularity and wide acceptance in UK especially among alternative people who sometime use either Yurt or Tipi as an out building or even the main building they live in.

Yurts and Tipis will collect materials about how Yurts and Tipis are made, where you can buy one for your personal use or for use in a camp site, festivals and other events where the use of Yurts and Tipis has over taken the user of traditional tents.