I have long wanted a frame drum

Maybe now I know why I just couldn’t decide to buy one… making one is Much better! The class for making this drum was taught by two men who practice the spiritual traditions of the Blackfoot people; of course they intend the drums for personal spiritual use. This form, a Journey Drum, is made of Elk hide over a wood frame, laced and stretched with hide lacing. We also made the beaters, from lengths of wood chosen in a personally meaningful way.
Such drums traditionally are made over the course of months, and include acquiring the hide from an already dead animal (earliest tradition was horsehide), gathering the other materials. Making the drum in one day, this way, is amazing, and I wasn’t sure what the sound would be like, as it takes from 24-36 hours to dry to taughtness.
However, when I heard it’s first voice, I felt a deep smile happen involuntarily while my body felt that kind of “goosebumps” ripple all over.
This is why I made the video, so I could share the sound and beauty.
Thanks, so very much, Jimmy Thiem and co-leader, Chuck Skelton.

#waynewarp

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Shadow Cat

Shadow Cat – my cat, Chai, kindly leaves me his sheddings on my bed, most afternoons, where I can collect them with a sticky roller. Isn’t that nice of him?
I took all the color out of the original and used the “split-tone” function in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3, to get this warm tone.
#waynewarp
#caturday

Shadow Cat #waynewarp #caturday

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When does a circle have Three (or Any) Points?

I bought some mini mums in the grocery, the other day, mostly because I was seeing picture possibilities in them. Among the most prominent, to my perceptions at the time, was the triangle shape. Here’s one preliminary play on that theme element.

It was fun finding the triangles in a bouquet of circular blossoms. For added value, I also made a series of 6 shots from the same point of view, but focused throughout the depth of the flower, combined by focus stacking in Photoshop CS5. Lighting was electronic flash filtered through a white translucent umbrella. Some Lightroom enhancements of the final stack returned the warmth of the blossom centers to what I could see, and enhanced the sense of depth by last stage tonal tweaking.