Tracy, The Drum I made for Dana I made the shell of the drum from what 4" by 1/8 veneer maple, I used big compass to draw a circle for the size of the drum i wanted on a used Table so I could place 1/2 pegs spaced at 1". I then steamed the veneer maple so as to bend around the pegs making sure I had enough veneer to make a shell that would be at least 3/8" thick or close. After I steamedmed and and bend the veneer around the the jig (Clamping Every inch or so) This gets tricky,let the shell dry. After it was dry I applied glue to the shell and re-clamped it to the jig. After the shell was dry I removed it from the jig and sanded the edges flush at the joints, inside and out of the frame,then I Used some hickory bark I removed from of a stave I got from Ryano and Glued the to the shell(only just enough to encircle the maple. Next I sanded flush on a flat surface the shell so the the drum head would resonate right. I beveled the edges of the drum shell kinda like a crooked "V" More thick at the Outer edge of the shell. thats pretty much it for the Shell, that's the hard part.
personally I think it would be better to purchase a drum shell for Bodran type drum
Next is the the application of the skin, is a lot less a pain.
I cut about 100 feet of deer raw hide from a dry skin about 3/8 wide for the lacing, trying to keep the thickness the same, that harder to do if cutting lacing from the outer side of a skin, its better to have a skin just for lacing so one can cut the lacing from the inside out to the edge of the skin.
I soaked the cut lacing in in luke warm water for a couple hours then stretched it 20' intervals on 2 pegs seperated trees work good if its dry out.
let the lacing dry to reform itsself then re-soak when almost ready to attach the drum head.
Next cut the drum head 2 inches bigger than the shell,if the shell is 18 make the skin 20 inches unless you want the skin to stretch completely around the shell(this way ya can't see the shell. Next is to punch holes for the lacing. I do that in threes like a triangle on the drum head then 1/2 way between those holes another three and so on an so on until the holes are space about an inch apart. Just a few moments while I find the photos
lacing the head on is pretty much hit and miss the head has to be even all around the circle. there are many differen ways to lace a drum, the way I did it with Dana's drum shown in the Pic. I threaded a shorter lace through tthe holes in the head so as to hold the skin on the shell then ,I laced as is. Don't pull the lacing to tight or the drum will be to high pitch when dry, thats tricky, just tite enough to hold the head in place. Here some photos of the Dana Drum, Hope this helps not confuse.
Here is a you tube link for different ways of drum making.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Drum+making&search_type=&aq=fhere is a photo of the way I did for Dana's drum.
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