This post 1st appeared on Day 71 of My Maharajah's Palace. Since then I have made certain changes to the tent which will be the subject matter of another post. This is an excerpt of that 1st post
It has been a l
ong and frustrating journey, the making of this tent aka "The Emperor's Emporium". I believe I had wanted to make a tent even before I wanted to build the temple (Day 42) and when I saw what Mercedes first made for me, my resolve became even stronger. You see, in the beautifully wrapped "Palace Parfumerie" box are tiny gorgeous little bottles screaming to be displayed.


So came the Evil Maharajah Ranjit Singh, my carpet/perfume/hookah trader on Day 48 and the urgency grew. Although I have this book called "Making Miniatures" by Christiane Berridge with a tutorial on Arabian tent, you will have to drill holes (stumped!). I also didn't understand the steps for making the tent top as there was sewing involved.

Nevertheless, I started gathering supplies, bought a piece of plywood and thought I would just go from there, still not knowing how to make the walls. After I glued some really nice sticker on it, I junked it as it was too dark.
A light bulb moment when I went to Arab Street and found beautiful handwoven Kashmiri carpets which I thought would be great for the walls. Another such moment when I saw barbecue skewers! Woohoo, that's how I can make the walls stand! I also have a table mat made of bamboo which I thought would be great for the floor. What about the top? Paper mache!
I was getting very excited because although that was a mere paragraph describing my thought process, I had been cracking my head for at least 2 months on this ! I was getting anxious as I had even spun stories around the non-existent palace tent (Day 62 ). I set to work with high hopes and
took pictures of my progress in case people want to know how I make my spectacular tent. You can imagine how I felt when it turned out like this:


The trip was really fruitful though for Chris showed me this wonderful material called Simona (?). Anyway, it's like the inside of the cover of a Bodyshop scrub which I used to make the table on Day 43. And it stand! Like a block of wood! Just glue! He also showed me how to cut a circle with string, nail and penknife to make the tent-top. I was not that adventurous though and took the easy way out. So my tent last night looked like this:

I knew I had to change the top so I consult with SuZ, my sister and the palace architect when I tricked her, my mum and dad to come over to my place- we live 3 minutes from each other.
In 2 minutes, she found the right material in my house and taught me how to build the top. I used an old pillow case from India, which was already torn, for the "canvas". It was not the greatest work and very filmsy but at least, it look like a tent.
Details
Interior (10 1/2" W, 11", 11 1/2 H)

The screaming bottles


Home with Ranjit Singh


Base Support (5" high)


Tent Top- (enough said)

Left

Right
Those chairs were upholstered by Mercedes in the prettiest Mughal fabric.
Sissy (my favourite palace animal)

Sissy (my favourite palace animal)