Open Fire Tripod for hanging cooking pots and kettles Gypsy style. How can I make one of those?

Anyone who has cooked over an open fire will know the shame of a spilled dinner from a poorly balanced pot resting on some rocks or old bricks.

Enough was enough when the last kettle I will ever spill came tumbling from it's perch.

 How can I make a Cooking Tripod?

I enjoyed this process so much and organised such an abundance of 

materials that I sell these items

To buy these Tripods click 
HERE

• I sourced a supply of steel from a steel merchant.
• I then designed a system for holding the legs of the tripod together at the top but still allowing them to fold for storage/ transport.

• Having created the tripod I realised that it would need a case to protect everyone and everything from the black soot that is inevitable from cooking on open fires.
• I sourced some lovely heavy duty canvas and stitched up some bags with my Nan.
• The end result is a beautiful piece of rustic outdoor cooking equipment.

To buy these Tripods click 
HERE

Tree House - The giant birds nest approach. How can I make one of those?

Location, besides the obvious details of being in a tree... Was a critical factor

• When walking through the forest I found a large fallen birch tree. It was next to another tree with forks in just the right places to support my platform.
• Freshly fallen trees are ideal becasue there's no harm in cutting limbs and salvaging structural wood. Also the timber is guaranteed to be strong and rot free.
• The only tools used in this construction were a bow saw and a knife.
• This tree house used no nails and no structural rope. Rope was only used as a tool.
• The tree house was 100% self supporting.
• The first job was to cut structural pieces from the fallen tree with a hand saw, hard and slow work but strangely meditative in such a beautiful location.
• Next the larger of the cut pieces were hoisted up in position using ropes slung over higher branches.
• Laying timbers (progressively smaller in size) over and through each other to form an oversized birds nest created an ideal organic structure that just got stronger and stronger.
• Finally I weaved small sticks into the nest, topped it all with layer and layers of bracken/ ferns and dried grass, creating a super soft mattress!
• The same process was used to make the roof, which was designed at an angle so that water could run off.

• For the first few days the natural roof held off light showers and provided me with a comfortable dry home.
• Within a week I had to build a plastic sheet hidden into the roof structure to keep off the heavy rains.
• Some nights the downpour was torrential as the bed remained dry.
• I stayed in the tree house for a good part of a month, enjoying the early summer sunrises and wildlife from my high up hiding place. Regular morning visits from a local deer were a sheer delight!