The first stage of making the art straw bridge is to a

make a wooden jig. This is comprised of a base and a

number of dowel rods. The jig is used to bend/form
the straws accurately. The dowel rods can be removed
and placed back in position, making it easier to
construct the bridge.
Without a purpose built jig, constructing the bridge is
very difficult as the triangular shapes may differ in
size.

Take a full length art straw and fold it round each of the dowel rods until one side of the bridge is
produced. This can be done quite easily by adding the dowel rods one at a time, as the straw is folded to
the correct shape

FOLD 1 FOLD 2

The overall shape can be seen below:

Using a glue gun attach two straws, one above and another below each of the sides as seen in the
diagram. This will hold of the sides together.
 Use scissors to cut the straws to the correct size.

A finished side is seen below. Two sides are needed to construct the bridge.

Finally, join the two sides together using short pieces of straw (approximately 80mm in length), fixing
them with the glue gun.
The bridge is now ready for testing with weights.

When fully constructed the art straw bridge will be quite strong
although it will move side to side.
To hold in a fixed position, the bridge should be supported on either
side.
A better solution would be to add further triangulations added to
strengthen the bridge and remove the need of the supports.
Weights can then be added until it collapses.