STATION ONE: HIDES

Flesh one fresh deer skin. Students are encouraged to wear or borrow boots for this part of your project. Rain coats and pants are available or you can use the plastic aprons to keep your clothes dry. Please use only one pair of gloves a day. When all the meat and fat are scraped off the hide, put the hide in a plastic big and refreeze it. Throw the scraps away.

STATION TWO: HAIR

Take the hair off of a skin. Wash the skin in soapy water and then put it in a bucket of mild bleach water to soak for a while before it is used.

STATION THREE: BRAIDING

Cut strips of dry rawhide about 1/4 inch wide, any length over one foot, the longer the better. Cut a small hole in each and put it in water to soak. Braid three strands of wet rawhide strips, long enough to span the wood frame four times.

STATION FOUR: DRUM

Cut out a small circle of wet rawhide four fingers wider than the wooden drum frame. Using the hole punch or a small knife cut holes around the skin 1/4 inch from the edge and two fingers apart. Place the drum head hair side down on the table. Pull up loops of waxed string through each hole, about four fingers long.

Place the wood frame, round side down, on the drum head. Thread a strip of heave rawhide through each loop of waxed string trying not to twist the loops. Tie the ends. Form an X with the braided strip and form a handle in the center. Pull the braided handle as tight as you can, making a ball at the center. Begin to tighten the waxed string loops gently all the way around the drum, giving the skin a chance to dry around edges and get stronger. Then tighten the face of the drum, gently, pulling each loop tighter as you go around two or three times. Feel the face of the drum to find loose spots and tighten it more on those sides. Let it dry slowly over night and then tighten the handle again before tightening the loops one last time.

STATION FIVE:DRUMSTICKS

Cut a Devil Club stick 11 inches long. Sand it smooth and bevel one end. Sew the leather pieces 2/3 around. Wrap one end of the stick with foam rubber then slide the leather bag over the foam rubber. Squeeze it together as you sew the rest of the way around. Glue the bottom edge of the bag and wrap it with waxed string. Add deer toe rattles on the other end.

SUPPLIES:

bleach, dish soap, sand paper, waxed simulated sinew, rubber gloves, deer hides, devil club sticks, leather cutouts, foam rubber, leather needles, glue, 10 or 12 inch drum frames, scissors, hole punches, plastic work mats, fleshing boards, scraping tools, ulus, knives, boots, rain coats and pants, aprons, gloves, Tlinget music or language tapes.