Drum maker

I was at my brothers house yesterday. He called all of a sudden on Friday and asked me if we could have a little party. It was really sudden, the party was gonna be the next day, so unfortunately he didn't get enough people to join in... so later Friday night he called me if I wanted to come anyways, and he would teach me how to make a shaman drum! =D

And of course I agreed. He took a course a few years back on shaman-drum making and those drums are so freaking amazing that I was sooo happy he wanted to teach me to make them too. YAYY! So, Saturday, after midday he came to get me and we started the drum making!

The drum making was about to start. An important part of the
making is drinks (don't want to get hydrated, lol), I drank
Amaretto liquor. Yum yum. You can also see the frame of wood
where the drum will be set, on the left.

The finished drums that worked as models. The two left ones
are made by my brother and the closest one is done by my brothers
stepdaughter Oona. =) These are all very little drums, like mine was
gonna be. (the apprentice drum)

There are many parts of the drum making that I didn't photo. You have to cut the hide, model it to the wooden frame and wet it so it won't be too hard. Then it is dyed, to the colour of your choosing, with a few knots twist to the hide so it makes surprising patters. When the dye is ready, the hide is worked to the frame with a long, twined reindeer-hide string, that is made beforehand.

Me, working hard to twine the reindeerhide-twine so the drum wont
be too sloppy, it has to be even and tight so it rings and looks good.

The other BIG drums my brother has made. They can also be used
as lamps, as the second one is being used. =)

My drum done and ready, 5 hours later, drying. It has to dry
evenly or the string on the backside will twist the front, so it has
to be watered once in an hour or so... this watering took all night
(yawn).

The finished drum the drumming stick, made out of reindeer horn.

The finished drum, front view.

The finished drum, back view. Here you can see how the reindeer, hide
string is twined so that the hide that makes the rest of the drum, is
very tight and secure.

Another view at the back. Here you can see how the light
reflects beautifully from the see-through hide.

I loved how the drum turned out. And because I had to get up once an hour to water the drum the whole night long, I'm really tired now. Hehee. I think I should get some fresh air so I wont fall asleep. =P More later. ^_^