Drums
Culture Camp
Building Baidarkas
Making Bentwood hats
Making Drums
Views of Cold Bay and environs
Stuffed critters
Drum Making
Drum making was taught by Mike Livingston. Drums were traditionally made with sea mammal stomachs stretched on a wooden hoop. For culture camp, students used ceconite, a synthetic material instead of sea mammal stomachs.
The drum starts with a wooden hoop, here being bent into shape by being clamped to a circular form after being steamed.
Students pose outside the school with their drum hoops. (photo, Mike Livingston)
At some point, the ceconite hid itself and Mike was forced to use surplus kayak skin to cover the drums. The kayak skin was much heavier than the ceconite and so could not just be glued to the rim but had to be laced.
Nick with his completed drum.
And for a drum recital video with sound click here. avi format, 2.8Mb.