A few thousand or more years of honed craft being passed down. I'd imagine it must take some real feel to get the tension proper - taking into consideration the type of skin used, etc. I can see a lot of skill and intuition (ie., maybe trial and error) to make a drum sing its own unique pitch and tone. May be beyond my skill set (or - maybe the spirits will assisting me if my intentions are right :) Making one's own drum of one's own craft/expression seems like an authentic way to help connect in journeying. Many thanks!
These drums are more than just a drum they have soul, Michele really puts her heart when made them and she really connects with the drums. I received mine today and I felt so connected to it that looked like I was expecting it for my whole life. Great sound, beautiful, great vibe, great experience. Michelle went beyond to satisfy my requests and made me so happy. Thanks Michelle a thousand times.
The lacing is cut from the same hide as the head and then stretched. If you are doing this from a full hide, cut out your drum head(s) first, then trim the leftover hide so there are no sharp curves or points. Starting anywhere, cut a strip 1/2" to 1" (depending on the thickness of the hide, wider for thinner hide, narrower for thicker). Follow the edge, spiraling in, until you have cut 21 diameters of your hoop. Stretch the lacing, pulling hard. It is better to break it in this stage than during drum making. When your lacing is stretched and measured, cut it off with a point on the end. Repeat as needed. Blessings, Michelle
I like the harmonic shamanic drum...I used to have a harmonic, demonic shamanic drum but I changed it for the the ironic sonic masonic shamanic version, but now I just switched back cause you are awesome! Thanks for a great video!
I just bought one 15" horse spirit drum from you. I hope you make it yourself since I feel good vie from you. I'll buy a kit to make one myself very soon.Thanks
What a lovely video -- thank you for sharing your knowledge.. I'm making a drum on an 18" hoop, and am wondering if you think the 15 holes will still be sufficient on a bigger drum, just with more space between the holes?
Hello! Thanks a lot for this video. I made my drum and it looks lovely. Now after some days, I realized that in the evening once the air gets colder and more humid the drum buzzes. So you can hear a vibration as if there was something touching the skin, but there ain´t nothing. Do you have any idea why this is or do you know what I could do about it?
You may have a piece of loose hide on the underside of the head, so check for that. Sometimes the head adheres to the hoop or the lacings catch, play the drum around & on the edge of the head and move the lacing around, that may help. You may just have to dry the drum out when it absorbs moisture in the evening, you can do this with a hair dryer or other gentle heat source. Blessings!
Perhaps you want to make some close ups for some more detailed insight of the technique so people can see better how to do it? Sincere Thank you for this video. Frank Voesten.
Thank you so much for so clear explanation!! You solve my question about how to get the proper tension in the drum head, but did you strech the hide before the lacing or just wet and tie? Thanks a lot for sharing!! ♥️♥️
I stretch the hide as I make the drum. The balance of the drum depends on the hide being stretched as far as it wants to go without being over stretched. It's a feel.
The top of the drum is facing down while you're making it, so you want the smooth side down. An easy way to tell is to scratch the hide with your fingernail; the smooth side will hardly mark while the mark will be much more pronounced when you do it on the rough side. Blessings!
The lacing is cut from the same hide as the head and then stretched. If you are doing this from a full hide, cut out your drum head(s) first, then trim the leftover hide so there are no sharp curves or points. Starting anywhere, cut a strip 1/2" to 1" (depending on the thickness of the hide, wider for thinner hide, narrower for thicker). Follow the edge, spiraling in, until you have cut 21 diameters of your hoop. Stretch the lacing, pulling hard. It is better to break it in this stage than during drum making.
Leather, soaked in water for about a week or so. There's a bunch of tutorials of where to get the materials and how to make the drum with the leather. Dunno which type of leather though
It should be big enough to fold over your hoop. I use the hoop as a guide to trace the circle onto the rawhide with a sharp object, adding the height of the hoop + 1/2" all around.
Stephanie Gilley You can use anything that makes noise to make a drum. Remo makes a plastic drum that sounds ok. However, I cannot recommend working with a plastic drum, made from oil, because any life that existed 65 million years ago is long gone and all that is left is death. I work with the animal and plant spirits to bring life from death, and I believe that they are both equally deserving of respect. I am experimenting with making drum heads from kombucha mothers, but this far they are not cohesive enough to serve as a drum head.
This is how to skin a drum ,, not making .. Then you would of started by what wood to use , how the ring is made , what hide would be the best to use and what section of the hide would be best , using fresh hide or dry hide ect ect ,, well done on the skinning .......
