More site testing - with tensioning and sandbags

Went on site again to test today. This time we got to finish tensioning the poles and try out the sandbags.

View from the bridge. Of the eight stands we tried, we made the ones on the path 3m tall and the ones on the grass 2.5m tall.

We planned to have only/mainly the ones on the grass and the lower ones on the path have sandbags, since they kind of supported the ones on the end anyway (we found it difficult to attach the sandbags to the outer ones since the handles were so high). However, after seeing some flip up we'll have to tension every umbrella down. Even just one or two flipping up ruins the whole installation...

Adding in the ninth stand, we could decide which height to have. The top image is with a 3m pole, while the lower one is with a 2.5m pole. It may be a bit odd to have only one of the stands at the back with a 3m pole, but we felt it led to the folly better (more smoothly). The 2.5m one was consistent with the rest, but it looks too solid and dead (my thought personally anyway), as in, there are no variations in the whole canopy.

Sandbags may be a bit of a tripping hazard... like this one that's randomly sticking out...

Effect of the installation without the sandbags... just nice to compare.

We also tried a few poles with the black pole socks. Mike insists they're better than raw scaffolding poles, but we think it's a bit too solid for our liking. The solid black contrasting with the white umbrellas give the poles a huge presence that we don't want. The raw scaffolding is also a bit too rough maybe, but there must be something about the transition from the black to white as you go from the bases to the umbrellas that the metal poles provide. At the moment though we'll stick to the sock strategy as the poles will probably 'disappear' when it gets dark, but we'll probably think of another solution for the next event... see how it goes.