Syrup Tank

 I had intended to make this using some half scale flooring that had been lying around for ages, but couldn't find how to bend really thin wood without damaging it. That meant finding another way to make the syrup tank.

It is made from two layers of cardboard, the kind on the back of writing tablets, and an outer layer of an old (and carefully used!) brown file folder. The inner cardboard was scored to represent barrel staves, as was the outer file folder card.  Paint followed on the inside - black under the rim that holds the "sap" - and the sides and cardboard hoops on the outer edge. The liquid is a circle of clear plastic from a report cover, and just sits on the inner rim.

I still want to make a "canvas" cover for the tank; in a few older illustrations, the tanks have cloth covers that are pulled back when the sap is either being poured in or out. I intend to make a weight for the corners of the canvas cover, as they had to have had something to hold the cover down as they traveled through the woods emptying the sap buckets.

I'm pleased with tank, although it should have had slightly sloping sides...