Although I'd committed to the Man of Mystery early, getting placement for it on the playa as an art installation, I procrastinated badly, and constructing the doorway and painting the banner was a desperate, all-night struggle before we left. This probably accounts for the haphazard look of the banner, which doesn't even come up to the usual carnival standard.

But we're talking about the camp sign, aren't we? Well, when I actually got to the playa, I found that my carefully pre-cut triangular plywood feet for the doorway were the wrong shape. I had to borrow a saw from another artist working on his playa installation, and cut the offending parts off. That left me with four plywood triangles. Waste not, want not, so I nailed them together into an impromptu “man” figure, attached a face, and staked it in front of our camp. I hadn't brought any paint in colors other than black, but our neighbor Alice let me borrow whatever I needed from her varied stores, and I used those colors for the face. Unfortunately, the paint was only a base, and I did the fine details in water-soluble felt pen. Artistically the result was a success, but only for about twenty minutes, or until it rained that afternoon and my insanely happy Cyclops started crying blue tears as his one magnificent eyeball started dissolving.

The actual sign, propped on the ground below, is by Julie.