Things you will need to making your drum: Spritzer bottle filled with water, frame, skin, lacings, old towel and a pair of scissors and painters tape.

Instructions:

1- Gather together everything you will need to make your drum in one place.

2- Make holes in your drum skin {See instructions below}

3- Soak your skin, lacings and inner circle for at least 3-5 hours.

4- Take your skin and one set of lacings, and pat off access water with a towel.

5- Lay the skin smooth side down on the towel and place the frame in the middle.

6- Now place the lacing circle in the middle of the frame and untie your lacings,

7- Cut both ends of your lacings into a point so they slide easier into the holes in your drum.

 Making holes in your skin

You may have noticed that all of the holes are in many drums come in sets of two, this is to give the drum extra stretch without tearing, two holes are stronger then one. 

If you skin does not have holes you will need to use make them yourself. This is pretty easy to you. You will need a hammer a nail, and a piece of wood that it is ok to poke through.

 

You will need to make sets of two holes together all around your skin like the image below. There is no set number of holes just try to space them evenly. like this . .       . .         . .         . . each set of holes approx 4-4.5/5" inches apart and approx 21 sets of holes.

Once this is done: 

Begin by poking one end of your lacing through one of the holes from the outside of the skin and then back inward through the other hole. 

Now tie a knot on the outside of the skin quite tightly. It is important not to have a knot on the inside of the skin as it will make the drum sound funny once it dries.

Now take your lacing and bring it up over the drum and inside the frame and lace it into the circle lacing that is sitting there. 

 first inside the first hole, and back through the second hole, and then back up into the hoop etc....

 

This is what it will begin to look like

 

 Try to keep the hoop centered while you lace it loosely, use your water spritzer bottle if the lacings or drum begins to get dry.

 

 This process may take a second set of lacings, so just tie a god knot into the first lacing with a second set and complete your work.

 

 Once you have gone all the way around like you see here, you will be ready to begin tightening your lacings.

 This is best done at a table where you can really see what you are doing or with a partner if possible. 

Find the beginning set of holes and start to pull the lacings a little tighter, not too much at first or it will make your inner circle off center. Slowly make your way around the drum pulling your lacings and making sure that your inner circle is staying in the center as much as possible.

This is the hardest part of making a drum, so be patient with yourself. Try not to pull too hard on the lacings, you do not want to break them, but if you do no need to worry, just tie the two pieces back together and continue on. Once they dry they will be as hard as rock.

Once you have gone around 2-3 times tightening and feel that everything is nice and tight and your circle is as centered as it is going to get you are finished.

Please note: your drum will still feel "loose-ish" this is ok, as it tightens quite a bit as it dries!

 Now that you are done:

Take some painters tape and go all around the outside of your drum so that the edges stay flat while they are drying. painters tape is important because it will not leave any sticky residue on your skin after you take it off--most other tapes will.

 

You will now need to make a handle  for your drum.

Take some of your extra lacings and tie one of them to the top of your inner circle and then back down the the other side and repeat this a few times, until you like the feel and size of it.

Once this is done you can loop around the do the two sides wrapping and looping in any way that you like. Once it is to your liking you can create a middle part by looping around and around in the center again testing it with your hand until it feels comfortable to hold.

You may decide that you eventually want to cover these with soft leather so it is even more comfortable for your hand to hold them.

      

 Allow your drum to dry for 24 hours sitting up or hanging on the wall before you play it.

 

 Making your beater:

Take your stick and wool and place the wool around the top portion of the stick, Like to use hot glue to get it on a bit. 

     

The cover the wool with your leather.

 

Now take the sinew provided inthe pouch and wind it around the leather until you feel like it is tight enough.

i also like to squeeze hot glue under the leather and around the edges so the top does not fly off during drumming!

It is now ready to decorate.