Courtyard - Part 2

The Altar of Burnt Offering and Bronze Laver

 Legs were added to the Altar of Burnt Offering to raise it to the level of the ramp. We made it so that the ledge at the midpoint of the altar just clears the top of the ramp. You can see in these photos that we have the remnants of a fire under the altar. Charcoal and charred twigs were used to make this. In reality, the duties of the priest were to keep the fire of the altar burning at all times. (Leviticus. 6:8-13) Later, some of the same rocks that went on the sides of the ramp will be glued around the legs of the altar, giving the appearance that it is resting on a rock foundation. We also have a pile of firewood stacked nearby; glued down, of course. The photo on the left shows the bronze laver glued in place. The laver is the one that came in the kit. The only thing we did is put another coat of paint on to match the Altar of Burnt Offering. For these two pieces, the sand was scraped from the plywood base so that each could be glued to the wood underneath.

Completion of the Courtyard Enclosure

The fabric that came in the kit for the courtyard enclosure was much too wide and needed to be hemmed. The best thing to do here may have been to fold the edges over, hem it on a sewing machine, and glue the fabric to the posts. I thought, however, that perhaps the glue might show through this single layer and not look so great. Instead, we folded the fabric in half and sewed the edges together forming a long "tube". Before doing this, however, a strong string (kite string) was laid along the length of the fabric, so that it would be inside the "tube" after sewing. This string was tied to one end of the tube and made it easier to turn the tube inside out, thus placing the seam on the inside. The fence fabric turned out to be just a bit too narrow when doubled, but we went ahead and used it anyway.

The closeup on the left shows the guidelines and the placement of the guideline pegs in more detail. It's a little hard to see in this photo, but for the corner post, the guideline runs from the peg up to the corner post and back to the same peg before going to the next post. The peg that is setting out to itself is for a guideline that runs through the Tabernacle covering.

The guidelines for the outside was strung much the same way as the inside. For the three center posts that support the entrance gate, no guidelines were used. Since the Bible does not go into detail concerning the guidelines, I guess this is more of a personal preference.

The entrance gate was made in much the same way as the veils of the Tabernacle, although a little yarn was added. This was simply glued to the posts.

Finishing Touches

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