There were plenty of ideas for a dome covering, but it needed to look good and it needed to be free. Up until this point, I had only spent $40 on materials and I hoped to avoid spending any more. My idea was to use old hotel bed sheets cut into individual panels that would let the air flow through. I had an old bed sheet that I could experiment with. I needed to know that the panels would work before we got out to the Black Rock desert.
A few friends and I went on a camping trip to the Alvord desert which has similar conditions to the Black Rock desert. This was a perfect trip to try out my idea. I built a quick frame and attached a sheet. The whole apparatus sat in the back of my truck for the 8 hour drive.
I didn’t expect the sheet to last more than 20 miles blowing in the wind, but it held for the whole trip. I then placed the frame upright in the desert for more testing. The test panel lasted three days in the desert climate, including several dust devils that passed right through it.
Without special reinforcement, the bed sheets worked great.
