How I make a frame drum

I just finished a 19 image photo album on my Journey Oracle page on facebook showing how I make a frame drum.  Here are some of the highlights.

A frame drum has humble and yet powerful beginnings in a bath of "hot lime" and cold water.

I include pictures of me using a break knife and an ulu for preparing the hide, and show how I cut out the drum head.

I even share a secret for finishing the drum hoop to keep the dried drum skin from buzzing when played for the shamanic journey.

I demonstrate the most important first cut that fits the skin to the hoop and "sets the drum voice."

There are lots of images of constructing the back of the drum: punching holes and lacing thongs to anchor the back of the drum to the cedar withie that keeps the drum skin stable and balanced on the hoop.

Even when completely dry, the drum is not complete without the interlacement pattern I weave inside the cedar ring that becomes the hand hold for the drummer.

See the full story of how the Cloud Drum was made on facebook.

new Cloud Drum from the Journey Oracle

I have just finished a new shamanic journey drum that appears to be made of the clouds.  The surface of the skin is a rich blend of transparent areas mixed with opaque patches--just like the clouds beginning to appear during these late August summer days.  It has hazy gold light on the edges, reminding me of the way the dust of high summer filters the sunlight into golden shafts this time of year.

Weaving the interlacement pattern into the back of the drum became quite a complicated task.  I finish each drum by creating a pattern using the same number of thongs that fasten the hide to the cedar ring--for this new drum the number is 11. Although I was able to make the pattern from a single length of thong, which is important because an interlacement is continuous so the eye travels its complexity without a pause, the resulting spaces were too narrow.  The addition of a five sided rawhide rope to pull open the shape unexpectedly created another whole level of interconnection.

In fact, the resulting pattern is so complex that I have been unable to wrap the thongs with leather hitching which is my usual way of finishing the back fastening of my drums.  And yet when I looked closely though the window-like opening in the center, I felt I was looking though to the sky with the clouds parting to show its face of eternal blue.  This airy web is just right.

CLOUD DRUM

THIS DRUM HAS BEEN SOLD

17" BC spruce wood frame

Cortes Island Blacktail deer

$350.00 unpainted

shipping additional

see more of my shaman drums on www.journeyoracle.com

Naming a New drum

This new painted drum from Journey Oracle will not tell me its name, although certainly someone is always watching.  James Hillman said that "'naming' is not a nominalistic activity, but realistic indeed, because the name takes us into its reality."  Naming it makes it so.

In The Three Lives of Ino Moxo, Maestro Ino Moxo says, "The [white people] accept that our river is not the only one.  They say there are many other rivers.  As if rivers were all that existed, and as if all rivers were made of water, and all have only two shores that eventually led to the sea.

They cannot conceive that a river could have one, or three, or five shores.  Neither can they conceive of a river with still waters, or with waters that run upstream.

They say it is impossible for a river to flow without water, to advance between two landscapes without moving, that it is impossible for the landscapes themselves to move toward the sea.

They do not see the worlds that create this world...."

This one drum face has three faces all gathering musics that live in the air, repeating songs without moving lips or even having any, singing in silence the name of the heart.

Do you know the name of this drum?

ANCESTOR DRUM

14" Spruce wood frame

Cortes Island blacktail deer hide

smoke-tan Medicine pouch holdfast

$350.00

shipping additional

You can contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com
Listen to this drum being played at www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=B0ZQQii4zRw

The good horse drum from Journey Oracle

This new drum from Journey Oracle is more like a good work horse than a Thoroughbred.  The older blacktail deer skin from Cortes Island is sturdy enough to hold its voice when drumming long shamanic journeys outside in nature.  The thinner skins on most of my shamanic frame drums are better suited for the warmth of the living room, but this drum is dependable for the long ride through wild country.

The deep resonance of its voice begins with a clear single tone and slowly adds an upper harmonic as the drum warms to the vibration.  This is the voice I want to work with, like I would want a Suffolk Punch to be carrying me into some alternate realities, more than a delicate, changeable creature with thin legs.

The holdfast for this new drum is a medicine pouch made of doeskin, just the right container for objects and talismans of protection and courage.  The sacred numbers woven into the back of this good horse create a saddle of strength and cosmic return in the sets of 24 and 8.

Because 8 is the number of "as above, so below" the medicine pouch contains a floor of sturdy hide so that just as your spirit on the journey is supported, so is your hand on the drum.

 A drum is the rebirth of spirit into voice, and the bullet hole of the deer's death is at the same time the passageway of  it's new life as your good horse.

The Good Horse Drum

$300.00 unpainted

14" spruce wood frame

 blacktail deer hide

cedar and doeskin fittings

If this is your drum email Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com

Paint a shamanic drum with raw earth pigments

I made a drum to honor the awakening of the world mind on October 28, 2011, which had woven into the back the sacred numbers 9 for the underworlds and 13 for the heavens of the Mayan calendar. I said that although it was small it was huge.  The little drum was recently painted, and the wild animal that came to its surface is also small and huge: the Margay, a tree-loving cat from the land of the Mayans.

The Margay is perfectly suited for life in the trees, where it spends most of its time high in the forest canopy. It has especially large eyes to judge distances at night , allowing it to leap with confidence. Its night vision is six times more acute than that of humans.

The Margay has long, flexible ears that it aims with reflex action at any source of sound.  It also has highly flexible joints in its ankles, a slender build and a long tail for fluid balance and agility. The Margay is found in the rainforests of Central and South America, and is comparable to our domestic cat in size and weight.  Just the right sort of small huge creature to escort shamanic journeys into cosmic awakening and Mayan teachings.

So how do I  paint this wild animal on a drum?  I look for the eyes.  I try not to get in the way by making assumptions about what wild animal is coming.  I use the raw earth pigments as colored dust to mostly paint what is not the animal. I trust that the color symbolism of the chromium green and red iron oxide pigments, the story of the drum, and the posture and features of the animal all will go together in ways more mysterious and meaningful than I can imagine or plan for.  And because I do not tell the wild animal how to come--it does.

If you would like to custom order a painted shamanic frame drum, contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com.

New Drum of Sacred Numbers

This new drum from the Journey Oracle is not even one day old, but has the ancient meanings of sacred numbers tied into its construction.  It all began when the number of holes around the rim totaled 96.  I do not plan this count beforehand and this number was unexpectedly large for a 14" frame drum.  I am drawn to the sacred meaning of 9, and from this auspicious beginning a whole cascade of significant numbers appeared on this rawhide drum.

For the first time ever as a drum maker I used 12 thongs to anchor the rim of the blacktail deer skin over the spruce wood hoop. I usually "tie in the voice" with 4 thongs and rarely I have used 5.  The ends of these thongs in this image are draped over the outside of the frame, and are already drying because this is the first step in putting the hide and hoop together.

Rarely do the numbers used in my drum construction work out so evenly.  The 96 holes and the 12 anchor thongs created a set of 8 thongs each laced into 12 holes to tie in the cedar ring that will be the support for the unique interlacement pattern or medicine pouch handholds I fit in the backs of my drums.

In order to keep the symmetry unfolding in this drum of sacred numbers, I used a lacing technique I usually reserve for my largest drum hoops; and here as well the twenty four radiating thongs are for stability and strength.

What an exciting week is coming as the drum dries and I wait to see what spirit creatures will appear to make this magical drum of sacred numbers a home, bringing a voice of new beginnings.

If this is your new drum, and you would like to decide the interlacement pattern of its handhold, or would like the back fitted with a medicine pouch, please contact Kristen at journeyoracle@gmail.com.

Shamanic drums on Kaua'i Hawaii

During my holiday on Kaua'i, Hawaii, two interesting things came together.  My friend took lots of pictures of water, and a visitor we met on the beach asked me about my shamanic drums.  When I began describing my journey drums I found myself thinking of Sue Garvey's photographs and here are the connections I made.

This clear, light 14" frame drum I call "Sunshine" is like the gentle ruffle of water that eases one into the turquoise depths.  There is no apprehension here for the journey to come, just a welcome in. 

This 19" frame drum called "Keeper" continues to be a mystery.  It has been sold several times and yet comes home.  It has been repainted twice and now I think I will paint it again--always the same two creatures but sometimes more clear and sometimes like these fish who live in a world apart from earth and air, and yet participate in these elements.  

This 17" blacktail deer skin drum called "Fox Medicine" beckons to a place alien and apart from ordinary reality.  A place that once one has entered--all semblance of control is given over to the spirits who inhabit its depth.  A true shamanic journey.

Perhaps odd at first look, this small 12" "pebble" drum built during the Mayan awakening of December 21, 2012 is the biggest view of all. Every part, and every part between each part of this drum resounds with meaning at a vast scale--just as water takes form and light from the earth and sky and yet moves to a rhythm beyond what can be understood from a single perspective.