Monday, April 20, 2009

Rainsticks-finishing up

I should explain a little about rain sticks, I had never heard of them until about 8 years ago when I was invited to a friends house and she had a hollowed out log, smooth, and completely preserved.It had this beautiful sound when tipped, sounded like rain. Since then I've learned a lot about constructing rain sticks, first trick is to twist aluminum foil and place inside the stick to give it a sliding sort of sound. Secondly, I opt to not use birdseed, bean and or rice as my sound maker, all to often I've had crafts in storage and found things destroyed by a unwanted hungry rodent. I stick with pebbles of the same size, for this type of stick, I used only a few.

Mostly I used beads, fish rocks work well also.

If Internet history serves me right, rain sticks were first made by the Chileans and used to affect the weather. I was comprised of a certain type of cactus (only one variety can be used) which had fallen and dried, spines were pushed inward, seeds were placed inside and the end was plugged. I can imagine a Kopei Medicine man shaking the thing over his head while chanting for rain.

My stick became a little challenging as time went on, I checked my paper birch and removed some more birch, I was hard pressed to get all white.

All in all it came out nice.

Not done yet, why I just have too...

A little flair of tribal art.....

And Madame stringing the beads. At this point she took over....


She did a good job, I wanted the green bead because they are glass, the center was too small for my crafting. She did it, stuck with it.

Remember clouds, rain and thunder?


And the water bird, sometimes mistaken for the Thunder bird, they're the same aren't they? C&G Design.

6 comments:

tina said...

Now I know what a rain stick is! Very neat and it turned out beautifully.

Kathleen said...

Dawn I love the white birch on it. Very nice. Now, if I could just hear it over the internet...Dont' forget about the pink cushion doll. Hugs, Kathleen

Jillian's Bella Rosa Antiques said...

Wow! Never knew about rain sticks! Very interesting! Good plog material indeed.

Jean Merriman said...

It looks great and the history lesson was very interesting. Looks like Madame will be the crafter her mother is!!! Good job honey!!!

lola said...

I've never heard of this. You have done an excellent job. I love the white birch. Madame is following in her Mom's footsteps I see. I too wish I could hear the sound.

Debbie said...

Fantastic job Dawn!! I NEVER would have thought about the white birch...great idea! I love the sound of rain sticks. They have them at the Montesouri school my husband and i work at and I think I told you I once gave one to my brother, I had purchased at a mall booth. How lucky is Madame to have a mother like you that is so darn crafty. Do you ever sleep?? You are involved in so many crafts I can't keep up with you! I can barely finish my bag I am crocheting! Nice job Dawn.:)