I've Built the Percussion Section!

Here come the drums!

It seems I am in full swing production mode lately, and I've really got some great momentum going. As of this afternoon, I have five djembe silhouettes that I've attached together.

There are many more visuals this week, as promised, so here's what's happening!

First Hand Built Drum!

Here is my first hand built drum with the finishing touches completed until after the bisque firing.

I brought the profile of the top rim in by quite a lot, and added the carved cross hatching so the hide has something to grip onto.




I also burnished the bottom rim, and repaired a hairline crack in it, which happened when a clumsily knocked it against the table, oops.

*Great Ceramic Tip: I repaired the small crack utilizing a technique Gem proposed, using a combination of slip and mashed up toilet paper for added structure. I squished it into the crack with a wooden tool, let it dry, and refinished the surface. It worked great!

  Marbled Drum!

I went up to campus today, an extra day this week to work in the studio, because my marble drum was in desperate need of attaching, and definitely couldn't wait until next Wednesday. 

Here is the surface of the marble drum after I have scraped away the top layer to reveal the marbling,
and then burnished the surface to a fantastic buttery soft texture and sheen. I may add some simple carving,
then finish the exterior with beeswax after firing.

Here is the two separate prepared pieces of the drum before I worked out exactly how I was going to go about attaching them.

It was almost too much past the leather hard stage of drying, but with some damp paper towel, and a little bit of time, I was able to get the clay malleable enough to attach the bowl to the base successfully...well at least thus far.

Here are some details of this pretty lil' number!

            

 They Made It Out Alive!

Here are my monkey drums, and they survived the kiln intact the first time around!
Now all I have to do is wax, and glaze them with a clear coat, then back in they go for round two.

Beads Galore!

Here are the beads I made to be attached with strings to the small handles on either side of the monkey drums.

I used the grey clay and the marbled clay, and then carved into some, and burnished others.

 Two Part Wheel Thrown Djembe!

Here is the first wheel thrown djembe

I tried in two separate parts which I later attached together.

The shape still needs some more refining, which I will do on the wheel, 

then...well, who knows for the surface design?

One Piece Wheel Thrown Djembes!

Here is the first wheel thrown drum I attempted. 

It is thrown upside down, and has a wide bowl openeing.

I decided to leave an aggressive throwing mark on the surface as the design,
and haven't decided how I will finishing glazing it quite yet.

This is the second one piece djembe I threw on the wheel, and I am quite happy with the silhouette of it. I used the techniques from Chris Scamehorn's video in the making of this drum.

All I have to do is let the dry a bit more, and then trim and finish the inside of the bowl and the lip.

I plan to use some interesting carving and/or glazing techniques with the finishing of this drum.

Udu Update!

I decided I am going to use the plastic ball I was discussing in my last post as a slump mold, and then cut it out after. I can then use paddles to form it after a trap air inside it. Or, I may try throwing one or two piece udu drums on the wheel, possibly using the same air trapping shaping technique.

But man, plastic beach balls of the appropriate size I need for my udu drum mold are harder to find at this time of the year then I thought. The only thing I came across that wasn't a giant beach ball size, were Disney character covered, and $5 a pop! Ridiculously over priced for something I'm going to purposely pop shortly after purchasing anyways. I'll just have to shop around a bit more.

Until next time, take care while I get my hands dirty! 

Cheers!