[Rick TYler]

Are you allowed to cut the popsicle sticks? Does the load move? How big is the load? Do you have support the load in a horizontal plane (can the weight move around, or is it suspended)?

Remember that these sticks are made from wood, and wood is extremely strong in compression, just like trees are. Those 250-foot redwoods and Douglas firs are just great big round popsicle sticks standing around. So, make sure you use the sticks like trees -- keep them standing up as much as possible. If you could glue together six sticks together in a long triangular solid structure (picture three sticks glued together in a triangle along their long sides -- it would be as long as a single stick, and only about a half-inch across) it would easily hold 10 pounds, but it would also fall over. That's why I wanted to know how big the weight is. Gluing up a web of that many popsicle sticks on end would probably hold you 10 inches off the ground, as long as you could keep it from tipping over and make sure the force goes along the wood and not through glue joints.