Biggest Ball Of Twine In Nevada

Well, we got some disbursement and have plans to buy the steel to make a spindle on which to wind twine! It’ll rotate so we don’t have to walk around it, it’ll be forkable (talked to heavy equipment on dimensions). Aiming for 6 foot diameter, but could get bigger. Bigger may lead to transport issues, but we’ll see. Pagoda designs need to be firmed up, but once they are, we can do a CnC test run and price those out.

We have a space in Reno to do the fabrication and have some twine parties in an adjacent parking lot. More info to come soon!

The Burningman Foundation has agreed to give us some money to make this happen! We’re over the moon about this and we’re getting geared up to have meetings and workspaces and plans and such. The Burningman Project generally funds 40% of expected budget and we have definitely moved things around, scrounged and adapted. We got some donations from friends recently. Hopefully more incoming. https://gofund.me/a39fc65d There is so much love and synergy (I hate that that word has been co-opted. I mean it in the real sense) coming our way too!

Logistically and artistically we decided the “Gift Shop” fit more within a theme camp sort of mode and moved it into the city. So we’ll have a spot in the city around 5:30 and D-ish to talk about twine, twineballs, weird al, Andrej, stories and then make some “road trips” from the gift shop to the ball/pagoda at regular times.

We’ll be making the ball itself in Reno with a big spinning spindle (is that redundant?) that will pull twine onto it as we guide into a (roughly) ball shape! Xeno will be going there to help purchase and design stuff April 14th. Reach out through our email address if you’d like to meet up BRC Twine Ball at Gmail dot Com (the bots are crazy on WordPress sites. You can figure it out).

We have finally opened up a little info about our project to the public and the community support has been awesome! We have about 30 people who want to help, more are always welcome! So now our job becomes more coordinator and communicator. Whew! Learning is fun! If you want to contribute, we definitely need more money to buy lumber and fuel. We will work with what we have and I do have a credit cart, but it’d be nice to get a few dollars here and there for emergencies. 20$ would help a lot: https://gofund.me/a39fc65d

If you want to contribute art, we have a few different avenues to do so:

-Postcards and stickers! If you are from far flung areas and want to send us a pack of postcards or stickers we have several ideas for you to play with!  Generally, we need vinyl stickers/decals and glossy postcards, but if you want to print 10 black and white copies at home and send them to us, we will use them enthusiastically!  Look below for contact info for details.

-CnC physical wood art along the posts around our pagoda and the posts around our gift shop to make it look a little nicer. These will be flourishes along the structural elements. If you would like to help (knowing CnC work *or not*) let us know!

-Audio! We are working on making a version of Weird Al’s song but replacing Minnesota with Nevada. We need some re-mixes and odd takes on the whole song. Go wild, get weird… Al would approve. Most of the day will be the normal song, but I’d like to mix in some odd versions slowly getting weirder and more abstract.

-On playa we need people to hang out at the gift shop and give twine related insight. We need art car drivers to do “road trips” to the ball. We need some extras to perhaps provide some performance art (“Bernie,” “Security Guards”). We need musicians to play the song live. There are many, many ways to contribute. If I haven’t thought of a category of contribution, castigate us and tell us how we have wronged you, tell us how you want to help!

If you want to send us digital art, or need a copy of our version of the song mp3 email us! (put this email address together with your human brain… so many bots are already plaguing us)

BRC Twine Ball at the gmail dot com (no dashes, no spaces).

We’ve moved forward with a more specific budget, got a few leads on build spaces, and lots of buy in from our soft-launch. We’re reaching out to a few people close to Andrej to make sure we are sensitive to everyone’s needs before doing a full launch and solicitation for help.

Next up: bank account for the partnership, goFundMe (or somesuch), secure a build site in Oakland and start building walls for the gift shop at the http://Accuracy3rd.com studio I’ll probably put together a quick little email list for those that would like to hear updates and/or contribute. I’ll have some links and addresses for people to pick up little tasks and art projects. Donating money isn’t the only way to help.

Regarless of if we get funding, the Org won’t cover everything. This is by design, so if you can help buy paint or little chunks of wood or gasoline, please consider donating here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-build-the-biggest-ball-of-twine-in-nevada-for-andrej

We got word from the BMOrg that our letter of intent has been accepted! The next step in relation to them, is to:

• Build out our budget in more detail
• Do some more calculations as to our final square footage
• Figure out if we want to burn the ball or keep it
• Attend an online Q&A for artists January 6th
• File our full proposal before January 16th (hopefully well ahead of deadline)

Worse case (not getting a grant) or best case both mean creating an LLC to handle funds for the project. For that, we need to:

• Contact/hire a CPA for advice and tax filing
• Decide if we need to file in our home state or in Nevada
• Wait till paperwork goes through
• Potentially hire a company for legal paperwork acceptance (depending on laws where the LLC is based)
• Set up a bank account tied to the LLC
• Set up a fundraising mechanism to accept donations

Aside from those, We need to find a workspace in Oakland, CA that we can use (12’x8′) that can be accessed via forklift (this twine is HEAVY) in the event we get the ball a decent size before moving it to Reno/BRC.

We’ll get a list of ways for our community to help that isn’t just money. We’ll need graphic design, CnC expertise, metal working, fire experts for advice on burning the thing (if it’s even possible), CAD user who can make our plans look a little more professional and easier to explain to those working on the structure. We also want to solicit personal stories about Andrej for a bound book we’ll have at the gift shop for people to peruse. These can be digital or hand written.

We’ll have a PO Box for the project soon if you want to send bits of twine, road side attraction postcards/stickers, hand written notes or any other little bits you’d like incorporated.

I’m going to make a video of the twine we’ve already collected, weighing it and figuring out the volume. Then do some quick math to see how big a ball will be at 3′, 4′, 5′, 6’…. etc. After that, I want to do some fire tests. Burn the twine as is (it is already soaked with kerosene), soak it in diesel, lamp oil… etc.

We have submitted our Letter Of Intent to the burningman honorarium folks. Shayna, Sheena and I have generally agreed we want to do this project even if we don’t get funding from the org. We will be figuring out how to structure our organization soon! Once we do, we can set up fundraising, a PO Box to recieve art and stories about Andrej, and generally be more engaged with our awesome communities!

The honorarium for burningman never covers the whole amount of the project, they are only there to help steward projects that can stand on their own 3 feet. Thusly, we do need contributions from you, our friends (or strangers (or enemies)). If you can spare 5$ it may not seem like much, but it’ll buy some fasteners to make this thing happen: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-build-the-biggest-ball-of-twine-in-nevada-for-andrej

There are the 3 of us committed at the moment, but there are SEVERAL people who are already very enthusiastic about helping with this project! We will have more information soon about where we can build the twine ball, how it will be built, if we burn it or keep it… etc. We will need help where our knowledge of these things is lacking, maybe marketting, maybe legal requirements. We’ll reach out to the communities when we are at that stage.

I am excited to start work ASAP, but I also want to be thoughtful and understanding to how other people want to/can help.

BRCTwineBall@gmail.com is going to be our main email funnel. But we also have Xeno@BRCTwineBall.org and Shayna@BRCTwineball.org

We are a few artists who want to make a project for Burningman.

We are currently working on a Letter of Intent for the Burningman organization and getting our budget needs calculated. Our project will recreate the Weird Al song “Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota,”(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv_QUiDYTTg) but do it in Nevada. We are aiming to have a large, burnable ball of twine that the community can contribute to. It will be under a “makeshift” pagoda, next to that, we will have a twine ball museum with docents and a “gift shop” with postcards, pickled weiners and diet chocolate soda, among MANY other things.

We also would like a non-moving art car, preferably a 53 DeSoto, but we’re not sure if we can source one.

Interactivity will include twine ball winding for the public to add to it, docent tours and lectures on the history of twine balls. We may have Weird Al sing along night(s), with, perhaps live accordion.

https://www.youtube.com/@BRCTwineBall

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-build-the-biggest-ball-of-twine-in-nevada-for-andrej

https://www.letras.com/weird-al-yankovic/555920

https://givebutter.com/oLlFBy

Andrej was a very close friend. He loved many things, but we are choosing to focus on something ridiculous and goofy. Weird Al. More info is coming, but till then consider supporting his family in this difficult time for them.

https://givebutter.com/oLlFBy