Construction Day
Saturday, February 28, 2004

After months of planning and preparation, the day had finally arrived. And we couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was not cold and rainy. It was not hot and humid. As had been hoped for almost two years ago, the weather was cool and well suited for the heavy, joyful work of the day.

Finding the Center

John arrived early on Saturday and, using the stakes that Mike had set the day before as reference, located the center again, and placed a new stake there. John then used a GPS and compass to locate the entrance to the labyrinth and set a stake there too.

Other people began to arrive and prepare for the day. A table for refreshments and water was set up. There was also a first aid kit and handouts with proper lifting techniques. Chairs for resting were set out. Wheelbarrows and shovels were readied.

Laying the Weed Block

Before we could begin, Susan and Joyce gathered everyone at the center and said a blessing for the work that was about to be done.

Work began with the Live Oak Men’s group laying down the weed block. There was a pow-wow between Susan, Ann and John and they decided that all of the weed block would be laid down first, the pattern painted on it next, the boulders moved to the center, and then labyrinth built from the center outward.

Mike had prepared a 50-foot length of twine, with a loop tied into one end. 10.5 feet from the loop he had placed a piece of black tape, the distance from the center to the first circle of the labyrinth. He had then placed a piece of tape every 42 inches after that, the width of the paths. (Mike had prepared a similar guide made of rope when the labyrinth was painted back in January. However he was never happy with how stretchy it was, causing the width of the paths to be inconsistent. The twine was strong enough for the work but it could be drawn very tight without stretching.)

John and Mike tied the paint gun to the twine at the outer most mark and painted the perimeter of the labyrinth. This allowed the Men’s group to lay out the weed block in strips of the right length. We started with a strip down the center and then moved outwards on both sides of that.

Painting the Labyrinth

Next, it was time to set the points of the turns. We tied a string between the stake at the center, and the one at the entrance. Using a little trig, John had computed the distance between this string and each of the turns. For each of these distances, he had also computed how far they were, along the string, from the center. Using a pair of tape measures, one of which was secured to the center and running down the string, we measured the distance out from center and then out to the turn. We used the twine, with its tape marks at each of the circles, to make sure we had the turn at exactly the right distance from the center. Finally, we marked each turn with a stake. (Ann remarked how it was interesting to see the left-side of the brain in action.)

Next, Susan and Mike began painting the circles. Working from the inner most circle out, they tied the twine to the paint gun at the tape mark for each circle, then with one of them standing on the outside holding the twine taut against the center and the other operating the paint gun, they walked around the center, painting a circle. Starting at a turn stake on the left hand side of labyrinth they walked clockwise until they reached a turn stake on the other side. (And it was certainly satisfying when paint gun actually bumped into the stake at the end.)

Unfortunately, they did not tie the twine to the paint gun properly on one circle, making the circuit too narrow. We did not discover this until later.

Near the end of the painting process, the Men’s Group’s traditional Saturday morning breakfast was ready, and everyone took a break to eat. Susan, Tere, Ann and Joyce were declared honorary men and joined the meal. Mike and Susan finished early and returned to the labyrinth to finish painting the circles.

After the last circuit was painted, it was time to paint the turns. At each of the turn stakes, John slipped the loop in the twine over the stake and then he extended the twine to where one of the circles that flowed into the turn ended. He then simply drew the twine taut, wrapped it around the paint can with the nozzle over the circle, and proceeded to paint a half circle by hand until he reached the circle on the opposite side of the turn. He repeated this for the other circles in the turn.

This is where we discovered the circle painted at the wrong distance from the center. One of the turns painted by John didn’t end at Mike and Susan’s circle. After a bit of head scratching, the mistake was discovered and a new circuit was drawn, this time with the paint gun properly tied to the twine at the tape mark and using a different color of paint.

Now the real fun could begin!

Building the Center

The process of building the center began with the Bobcat moving the boulders to their positions at the compass points within the center circle. Since this would involve driving the Bobcat over the weed block, plywood was laid out in a strip to form a bridge out to the center. The plywood did a good job of protecting the weed block from the heavy Bobcat. However, the eight pieces recovered from the outdoor stage were not enough to build a bridge all the way to the center. So, when the Bobcat reached the end of the bridge, plywood from the beginning of the bridge was moved to the end, allowing the Bobcat to complete its journey.

However, getting to the center was just half the fun. Bill, who was driving the Bobcat, could not see well enough to put the boulder down in the right spot. He had plenty of people outside the Bobcat giving him advice, but with the noise of the machine, he couldn’t hear them either. Fortunately, Bill knew sign language, as did his wife Carolyn. So, after Bill laid down the law to everyone about distracting him while he “listened” to Carolyn, the boulders were laid at the three compass points (sans the one at the entrance of the center) in short order.

While the boulders were being placed, Susan gave instructions to everyone else about laying the limestone blocks that would form the paths. She wanted the side with the most color placed facing up. We were to use the smaller blocks for the inner circles, and save the longer ones for the outer circles. (Unfortunately, most of the blocks were pretty long. We had a saw, but we soon learned that dropping one block on another resulted in a pretty nice split, and it looked more natural than if the block was cut with a saw.)

Originally we were going to lay the blocks on the outside of the circles but if we did that on the turns, the blocks would be on the inside of the circle at the end of it. At what point in a turn should the blocks start to be placed on the outside again? We solved that problem by simply placing the stones on the painted circle! As long as we were consistent, the path would all be the required 42-inches wide.

With our marching orders, and the boulders set, everyone grabbed a limestone block and placed it on the center circle. Soon, the center was enclosed (except for its entrance), and crushed granite was being poured into it from wheelbarrows. In no time, we had filled the center to a depth of two inches and it was complete. Time for a Photo Op!

The Rest of the Circuits

Building the rest of the labyrinth’s circuits was organized chaos. Or perhaps like ants working. People moved from task to task. When they got tired of a task or just got blocked, they would find another one. They would lay stones on the circles for a while, then move to filling the wheelbarrows, or pushing the wheelbarrows, or raking the granite in the path level.

We worked on one circuit at a time. The wheelbarrows would travel down the paths if they could, or would dump their load across the limestone blocks into the waiting path. Sometimes, the people putting down the block would get too focused on following the painted circles. When they got to a turn, they would simply follow it around, placing blocks on an outer circle and blocking the wheelbarrows’ access to the path we were currently working on. We had to assign turn monitors who would stand at a turn and the wave limestone layers off when they approached with “just one more stone”.

At Susan’s request, Bill fired up the Bobcat and went into the woods beside the labyrinth to pick up a large boulder that had been discovered last fall. While it was not a granite boulder, it had a very good shape and a depression in the top, perfect for holding things. It was moved to the untouchable area to complete the four points of the compass. We cut away the weed block from the untouchable area, placed other smaller native rocks in it and planted low maintenance plants.

We had set aside two weekends to build the labyrinth. However, by 2 o’clock, we started to realize that we could actually finish the entire labyrinth in one day, if we could just last that long. Some people could not stay the entire day, but as they left, others would arrive to take up the work. As we approached the outer paths, Bill brought the Bobcat back into action, dumping generous helpings of granite into the paths.

By 4 o’clock, the last block had been laid, and the granite was being smoothed out.

The First Labyrinth Walk

Mike looked around and, finding nothing more to do, was bold enough to be the first to step into the entrance of the labyrinth and to walk it. As others completed their tasks, they joined him. Soon, the paths of the labyrinth were filled with people, with Susan being the last one to take to the labyrinth. Joyce, when she arrived in the center, said a silent blessing to the four corners. When Susan arrived, she took a moment for her own blessing and to absorb the energy of the moment.

One by one, people began to leave the center. As they made their way back to the labyrinth’s entrance, they knew that they accomplished a great thing in just one day.

Carolyn was unable to stay the entire day, and when she returned she was astounded to see that the entire labyrinth was finished. She walked the labyrinth to the center after everyone else, but when she tried to exit by stepping across the paths, we gave her a grief for not walking out the “proper” way. (We eventually got over that.)

By 6 o’clock, everything was put away and the last of the people were leaving. With the efforts of about 30 people, we had done it!

Linda, Joyce, Susan and Ann

Lessons Learned

We learned a few things while building the labyrinth:

• If it is even a little windy, lay down the weed block such that the opening of the weed block’s overlap is pointing downwind. By the end of the day, the wind had slipped under our weed block enough to tear it free of the nails.
• Once again, the entrance of our labyrinth was constricted because the two outer turns were too close together. We detected it in time and fixed the problem, but it might be better to locate the turns on one side of the labyrinth using the method that we used and then use those locations to place the turns on the far side. Just count the number of paths between a turn and its partner on the far side. Multiply the number of paths by the width of a single path, and then add the width of the stones, just to be sure. Measure this distance from the known turn and use the tape marks on the twine to find the exact location of the turn’s partner. Set your stake where the measured distance and the tape mark for the partner’s circle meet.
• Mark each circle’s distance from the center on one side of the labyrinth using the tape measure, and use these marks to start painting each circle. This way, if there is something wrong with the way that the paint gun is tied to the twine, you’ll discover it before you draw the entire circuit.
• Prepare a second length of twine with a loop at one end and tape marks the distance of your paths apart. Use this twine when painting the turns.
• Come up with a better way to attach the twine to the paint gun besides tying it on. Tying is slow and error prone.

All that remained was to build the path from the parking lot to the labyrinth, and we would do that on the second work day next weekend, right? Hah. Guess again!