Yurts- A Hands-On Art Project

By Deborah Dilley What is a yurt, you may ask? A yurt is a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Phew! Thats quite a mouthful! Basically, a yurt is a type of portable house that can be taken down and put back up again in a day- similar to your average camping tent or a tipi. While the yurt can be moved, many stay in one place and become semi-permanent structures, like a wigwam or a wikiup. In fact a quality yurt can last up to sixty years! The purpose of this activity guideline is to introduce the yurt, its structure and culture, to teachers so that they can use the yurt as cultural comparative example of nomadic housing to their students. This art project was designed so that it would be simple to use in a classroom, and cheap. The average cost of each project is 37 cents, using common classroom craft supplies.

A Yurt By Any Other Name....

A yurt has many names in between the various Central Asian cultures that use them, but their construction remains the same. The world yurt is Turkic in origin and means dwelling place. Mongolians call the yurt a Ger; the Kazakhs and Uyghur call it kiyis uy (felt home); the Kyrgyz call it boz uy (grey house); Afghans call them kherga and in Pakistan the yurt is known as gher. In Russian the structure is call yurta which is how the word came into English. There are five parts to the yurt: the lattice walls, the door, the roof ring, the roof poles and the felt outside. Starting with the lattice walls (commonly called the khana), pieces of willow are laid cross-ways of each other so that pieces on the bottom are all in the same direction and the pieces on the top are laid in the opposite direction. Depending on the sophistication of the building, the willow pieces are either lashed together with ropes or bolted to each other on the cross marks. When constructed the lattice walls can expand and contract, like an old baby gate. The art project detailed here does not use the lattice construction, as it is quite complicated to complete in a classroom setting. If you want to show your students how to make one, a simple one can be made by taking drinking straws, punching holes about an inch from the bottom and the top, and connecting the straws together with plated fasteners. Next we come to the door. Depending on the culture, the door of the yurt offers some variations. The lattice wall is connected with a wooden doorframe. The Kazakhs and Uzbeks use a heavy felt covering that can be rolled up like a blind for their door. The Mongolian yurt sports a wooden door that fits into the frame. The roof ring is structurally one of the most complex parts of the yurt skeleton, and perhaps the most visually beautiful. It is usually a hoop of wood containing slots or holes that the roof poles can lock into. The interior of the ring can contain many different designs but must be relatively open to allow smoke and air to flow from the top of the yurt. In bad weather the roof hole is covered with a piece of felt or hide. Often times the roof ring is past down from generation to generation. The main body of the yurt may be repaired or changed, but the roof ring stays the same, as it provides the structural stability- like a keystone in an arch. The last item in the yurt skeleton is the roof poles. These are fairly simple and they connect the roof ring to the lattice framework of the main body. Now we are left with a skeleton of the yurt, which brings us to the last part of the yurt, its felt covering. Initially, there are

two layers of felt that surround the yurt. The first layer provides the basic insulation and the second provides the outside. More layers of felt can be added to the outside of the yurt. Rugs and embroidered felt canvases are often used to decorate the outside of the yurt. The structure of the yurt is symbolic in nature, as are the embroidery and rug designs that adorn the outside. The Mongolians believe that the yurt is a representation of the universe. The roof represents the sky; the roof hole is the sun. The interior and the hearth in the center contain the five basic earth elements: earth, wood, fire, metal and water (Metal and water are represented by a cooking kettle). The yurt is a traditional gift from the brides parents to a couple on the celebration of their marriage. As stated earlier, a good yurt frame can last up to 60 years, but the felt needs to be replaced every three to five years. Below are some illustrations of traditional designs that may be seen on felt and rugs that adorn the outside of a yurt. Common Kazakh design Example of Uzbek embroidery designs Tajik and Uzbek Symbol meaning birth

Human Figure Motif common throughout Central Asia Example of Uzbek embroidery design

Art Project
What you will need: 3 index cards 5 6-inch pipe cleaners (the average pipe cleaner is 12 inches) glue tape markers scissors 1. Gather your materials. Cut out two pieces of felt. One of these pieces should be the round top of the yurt, a stencil is provided for you. The second piece should equal the length and width of your three index cards. 2. Build the walls of your yurt. Traditionally, yurts walls are a lattice structure, but for our yurt, tape the overlapping ends of three index cards. Then tape the two ends of the card strip together so that they form a round base. 3. Next we will make the roof ring. Take one of the 6 inch pipe cleaners and form it into a circle shape.

4. Now we need to connect the roof poles to the roof ring. Take the remaining four 6-inch pipe cleaners. Wrap them around the roof ring on opposite ends. So that it looks like this:

5. You have the building blocks for your yurt skeleton. The next step is to attach the roof to the yurt base. Place the roof ring and poles on the inside of the round yurt base. Tape the posts to the inside of the round base. This will allow you to mold the pipe cleaners into a rounder form.

6. Your yurt needs some insulation. Take your long felt strip (either decorated or undecorated) and place glue (or tape) along it. Wrap the felt around the side of the round yurt skeleton base. The felt should overlap a bit at the end.

7. The final step is to put the felt on your roof. Take the round felt piece and wrap it around your yurt skeleton snugly. In order to tighten the fit, overlap the two ends of the round felt piece. Glue the overlap flap to the bottom felt piece. You can also use tape on the inside of your yurt to secure the pipe cleaners to the felt for added stability for the roof.

You now have your own miniature yurt!

*A note on decoration. The outside of the yurt can be decorated either by using markers to make designs or by cutting out pieces of felt and gluing them to the outside. You can decorate your yurt before you put it together (after step 5) or after you have completed its construction. Dont forget to add your own decorative door!