Beat of my own Drum
I finally got around to doing it. I assembled my Native Drum Kit.
So to start, I have to soak the drum skin and leather lace in cool water for 2 hours.
Done.
Wait..
Carl: *sniffsniff* I smell food... Oh, I think it in this bucket!
Notice how when I told him no, he left the bucket alone. Then he saw the wrist strap on my camera and thought "OMG STRING!!" When I told him "no" for that, he did some clearly UNIMPRESSED body language before going under the chair to the window behind me.
Right, well, I have some time to kill until that's done. Why not work on the beater stick?
First thing I did, after assembling everything together was burn a Sage smudge to purify both myself and the drum components I'd be working with. By the time I took these pics, the sage had stopped smoldering.
Leather, stick, twine, my S&W, matches and a bowl for collecting shavings and such. Oh yeah, the drum hoop is around the bowl. The Left side of my workstation. The dowling was just a straight stick, but I had started scoring the dowling as you can see on one end. I'll show a close up in a sec.
Cauldron (shamelessly stolen from my mother), Sage smudge, fan (used to be my grandmother's, not sure where she bought it). While scoring the dowling, I came to remember I'm not as young as I used to be, so you can see my reading glasses case there. I don't often need them, but they're good for fine work like this.
As promised, a close up of the score on the dowling. My intent is to make an indent to help hold the ball of the beater in place.
Gratuitous pic of my Smith and Wesson that I bought on eBay. It's really really sharp. I adore it.
While scoring and whittling the dowling, it became apparent that it may not be deep enough to have the effect I wanted, so I figured it was time to get a bit more aggressive.
The finished dowling end.
Interesting story.. while I was shaving away at the dowling, I started noticing a nice odour. I thought maybe it was the sage, but it wasn't. Wondering if it was the dowling, I started sniffing it. I closed my eyes nad just enjoyed the scent. I'm not sure if it was anointed or something, because it's not quite like a cedar or pine, but something very similar. However it almost had a Gardenia-oil smell to it. I have never put this kit near my incenses nad oils, so it wasn't me. If it is the wood, it must be cedar. I will need to check natural cedar wood to verify.
I just sat for a few minutes with eyes closed, smelling the wood meditatively.
Now, the kit came with a roll of electric tape, with the intent for me to use THAT in the head of the beater.
HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA No. I can do better and I know that. Now I tried to think what on Earth would be good, if I was around hundreds of years ago. What would I potentially have that would work? Then I remembered that somewhere I have a roll of 100% Jute twine. It's a twine made from a perfectly natural grass fibre. Great! Now where is it...
I spent 15 mins or so exploring all over the apartment trying to figure out where it could be (I hadn't needed it since we moved in Sept, and it wasn't in my tool box). I came back to this:
Note that he's sitting on my fan. *sigh* He was actually chewing on the sage smudge when I spotted him there. His head is blurry b/c he moved it just as the shutter moved.
This is 2 seconds after that picture of Carl. He left immediately. I told you he hates having his picture taken!
The Jute head. I tied it really tight. Just showing how hard that mallet head is by rapping it on the table a bit. It's still attached to the roll, as you can see.
Finished jute head. I showed my hand just to show that I'm holding it like a proper drum stick, so very lightly. It's just THAT hard that it produces a nice sound against the table.
Now I just had to put the leather over top, and on the bottom as well. The string that they provided me looks like a grass, but it's waxed so it literally has the texture of waxed dental floss. It's also shiny because of said wax. I thought about it and went "No, I can do better." I decided to stick with the Jute for that as well.
Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the finished head of the beater. Oops. :/
Finished handle of the beater.
To give it a bit less of a "manufactured dowling" look, I whittled away the edges at the bottom to give it a bit more of a natural look.
Finished beater! It's so pretty...
I couldn't take pictures during the drum assembly because of a few factors:
1. You have to work quickly or the rawhide will dry up before you're done.
2. My cat was trying to eat the rawhide laces as I was lacing up everything.
3. I was having some trouble in the process, and got so busy and had so much fun doing it, I forgot.
4. It takes 2 hands to do the lacing and the drum and I'd have to let go to use the camera. I figured you guys could wait. :)
The finished drum, ready to be cured! I'm not beating hard because I don't want to stretch the skin. The video doesn't do the bass sound justice.
Curing in the Sun.
Actually it fell off the ledge b/c of the breeze. I ended up lying it hide-up on the balcony floor in the Sun. I figured it's suited to be cleansed under the light of the Sun, and the waxing Moon, so it got an appropriate mix of energies there. Besides, a new tool/instrument is good to be made so soon after the New Moon.
My boyfriend was threatening to take away my drum if I didn't stop drumming, so I don't have a vid of the dry drum yet. But I will!! :D
So to start, I have to soak the drum skin and leather lace in cool water for 2 hours.
Done.
Wait..
Carl: *sniffsniff* I smell food... Oh, I think it in this bucket!
Notice how when I told him no, he left the bucket alone. Then he saw the wrist strap on my camera and thought "OMG STRING!!" When I told him "no" for that, he did some clearly UNIMPRESSED body language before going under the chair to the window behind me.
Right, well, I have some time to kill until that's done. Why not work on the beater stick?
First thing I did, after assembling everything together was burn a Sage smudge to purify both myself and the drum components I'd be working with. By the time I took these pics, the sage had stopped smoldering.
Leather, stick, twine, my S&W, matches and a bowl for collecting shavings and such. Oh yeah, the drum hoop is around the bowl. The Left side of my workstation. The dowling was just a straight stick, but I had started scoring the dowling as you can see on one end. I'll show a close up in a sec.
Cauldron (shamelessly stolen from my mother), Sage smudge, fan (used to be my grandmother's, not sure where she bought it). While scoring the dowling, I came to remember I'm not as young as I used to be, so you can see my reading glasses case there. I don't often need them, but they're good for fine work like this.
As promised, a close up of the score on the dowling. My intent is to make an indent to help hold the ball of the beater in place.
Gratuitous pic of my Smith and Wesson that I bought on eBay. It's really really sharp. I adore it.
While scoring and whittling the dowling, it became apparent that it may not be deep enough to have the effect I wanted, so I figured it was time to get a bit more aggressive.
The finished dowling end.
Interesting story.. while I was shaving away at the dowling, I started noticing a nice odour. I thought maybe it was the sage, but it wasn't. Wondering if it was the dowling, I started sniffing it. I closed my eyes nad just enjoyed the scent. I'm not sure if it was anointed or something, because it's not quite like a cedar or pine, but something very similar. However it almost had a Gardenia-oil smell to it. I have never put this kit near my incenses nad oils, so it wasn't me. If it is the wood, it must be cedar. I will need to check natural cedar wood to verify.
I just sat for a few minutes with eyes closed, smelling the wood meditatively.
Now, the kit came with a roll of electric tape, with the intent for me to use THAT in the head of the beater.
HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA No. I can do better and I know that. Now I tried to think what on Earth would be good, if I was around hundreds of years ago. What would I potentially have that would work? Then I remembered that somewhere I have a roll of 100% Jute twine. It's a twine made from a perfectly natural grass fibre. Great! Now where is it...
I spent 15 mins or so exploring all over the apartment trying to figure out where it could be (I hadn't needed it since we moved in Sept, and it wasn't in my tool box). I came back to this:
Note that he's sitting on my fan. *sigh* He was actually chewing on the sage smudge when I spotted him there. His head is blurry b/c he moved it just as the shutter moved.
This is 2 seconds after that picture of Carl. He left immediately. I told you he hates having his picture taken!
The Jute head. I tied it really tight. Just showing how hard that mallet head is by rapping it on the table a bit. It's still attached to the roll, as you can see.
Finished jute head. I showed my hand just to show that I'm holding it like a proper drum stick, so very lightly. It's just THAT hard that it produces a nice sound against the table.
Now I just had to put the leather over top, and on the bottom as well. The string that they provided me looks like a grass, but it's waxed so it literally has the texture of waxed dental floss. It's also shiny because of said wax. I thought about it and went "No, I can do better." I decided to stick with the Jute for that as well.
Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the finished head of the beater. Oops. :/
Finished handle of the beater.
To give it a bit less of a "manufactured dowling" look, I whittled away the edges at the bottom to give it a bit more of a natural look.
Finished beater! It's so pretty...
I couldn't take pictures during the drum assembly because of a few factors:
1. You have to work quickly or the rawhide will dry up before you're done.
2. My cat was trying to eat the rawhide laces as I was lacing up everything.
3. I was having some trouble in the process, and got so busy and had so much fun doing it, I forgot.
4. It takes 2 hands to do the lacing and the drum and I'd have to let go to use the camera. I figured you guys could wait. :)
The finished drum, ready to be cured! I'm not beating hard because I don't want to stretch the skin. The video doesn't do the bass sound justice.
Curing in the Sun.
Actually it fell off the ledge b/c of the breeze. I ended up lying it hide-up on the balcony floor in the Sun. I figured it's suited to be cleansed under the light of the Sun, and the waxing Moon, so it got an appropriate mix of energies there. Besides, a new tool/instrument is good to be made so soon after the New Moon.
My boyfriend was threatening to take away my drum if I didn't stop drumming, so I don't have a vid of the dry drum yet. But I will!! :D