Obelisk

Being addicted to my garden, and having a need to create leads me down some interesting paths. My newest is building an obelisk.  This is definitely not a how to.  I'm happy with the way it turned out, but there's a lot I will do different next time, and who knows if it will fall apart tomorrow.
My son plans on removing a black walnut stump this weekend. He has been fighting this tree for years.  It just keeps growing back. That's fine with me, it's useful, but he wants to do something with the space, so it must go.
I started with large straight ish English walnut branches. It wasn't going well, so I decided to start small and work my way up.  I cut 8 black walnut shoots. (It smells bad). 8 because that's what the YouTubers said. 8 doesn't work. It needs to be an odd number so as you are weaving it keeps changing. With an even number when you are going around with one long vine you keep the same pattern so you don't lock the poles in.  So I used 9 poles.  I tried using trumpet vine, but that brakes at the leaf nodes. I read you can use it, but it must have to be soaked, or boiled, or something.  Plan B grape vine.  It worked pretty well.  I left a lot of the curly Q's on because I like the look.  I did tie the top with jute twine to keep the  top together. I put some sawdust in a large bucket to hold the bottom branches in place.  
I weaved in and out of each branch. With some of the more flexible vines I would go around the vine as well as in and out to increase the stability.
The ball at the top is the black walnut bark.  I discovered when cutting the branches the bark would peel off very easy.  The grape vine wasn't flexible enough to make a ball.  There is a little grape vine in it, but not much.  I have a feeling this will be the first thing to fall apart. Once it drys and shrinks, it may fall apart. I will figure something out if or when that happens.  I connected the ball with twine and walnut bark.  
All in all I'm happy with my first attempt.  It will stad on it's own, but I think even putting it in the soil will not be enough support in the wind. I will put some stakes in the soil and secure the obelisk to them.  I can't wait to grow something on it. I will start with peas.

I was happy with the way my obelisk looked until I posted it. Then I thought it looks unfinished.  Today I added one more ring of grape vine, and I think it looks finished now.

To me, the visual balance looks better with the extra ring of grapevine added.

Nice job! You may be surprised how well it stands up!

Very cool looking obelisk!
As for the odd or even number of stakes, does the people use a plain weave or twining weave. If it's a twining weave, you don't need odd number of ribs. Also, you can make a double twist instead of single twist with the twines when the ribs are widely spaced for more stability.