Cedar Flute

This is a Cedar Flute I have been working on (off and on) for some time now. I finally got the "Bird" carved and wood burned after several years of off and on work on the flute and bird,now all I have to do is Tune the flute.

I am including a close up picture of the "Bird" which is an Eagle.

Workshop Tour

Come with me on a tour of my Workshop. Here is where I do my Art and get my inspiration for creating in an undisturbed atmosphere.

I built this shop from scratch, as a former builder, this was a relative easy task for me and I covered the outside with Log Siding to match the Log Cabin we live in because it sits right next to the Cabin.

The Shop is well insulated and sheetrocked and has it's own 100 Amp service and plenty of outlets and is heated in winter and air conditioned in summer.

I will show you the layout of this somewhat crowded shop, as I would have loved to have a larger space but the 12x14 building was all I could afford to build at the time, so this amout of space had to do till I built a 8x10 storage building next to it to hold some of the equipment and tools that were in the Shop, thus freeing up more space to work in.

Following are some photographs of the inside of the shop;

Some of my stash of rough Opals from Australia that I cut and polish.

Scrimshaw on Plexiglas

This is a Scrimshaw Picture that I did a few years ago on Plexiglas.

Scrimshaw is an old Art that the Whalers used to do when they had down time and nothing else to do. They would use Bone, Ivory or Whales Teeth and after sanding it smooth,sometimes with shark skin as sandpaper wasn't readily available then, they would then draw on the Bone or Ivory and begin to carve in lines with a sharpened piece of metal or a knife and then fill in the carved lines with soot,lampblack, or India Ink if they had any. After it was dry they would then rub off the excess,leaving only the coloring in the carved lines.

To do Scrimshaw it takes Hundreds even thousands of carved in lines to make a picture, so this would consume a lot of time, as it does to this day.


This picture that I did is 12x14 on Plexiglas and is framed in wood. It took me over a week to do.

This looks like a pen and ink drawing but it is Scrimshaw and doing it on Plexiglas is much harder to do that on Bone,Teeth, or Ivory because Plexiglas is much harder and therefore takes a lot more pressure to carve in lines. On this one I used a sharpened piece of Carbon steel to do the carving of the lines.

Finished Buffalo Bone Gourd Rattle

I am posting photos of the finished Buffalo Bone Gourd Rattle.

A photograph of the whole rattle finished, a photo of a close up of the beading on the front part of the handle, a photo of a head on look at the rattle and finally a photo of the beading at the rear of the handle( note: the four zig-zag colored lines you see are the Apache colors for the Four Directions).

Another Update on Gourd rattle

Here are some more pictures showing the progress in the making a Gourd Rattle using a Buffalo Hump Bone as the handle.

The following pictures show the Gourd part of the rattle which will be inserted into the Bone handle, after the handle is beaded.

I beaded a portion of the Gourd for decoration and also drew on and then wood burned in my version of "The Four Directions" which I then colored with paint and sealed with Lacquer.

I also removed the pencil lines you see on the outer boarder of the Four Direction to simplify the design, as I remembered a saying that Elisabeth told me , it is called "Kiss" meaning "Keep it simple Stupid" a good saying to keep the Artist in reasonable check so as not to get too complicated in an effort to achieve perfection.

Note: I used 11/0 Delica glass seed beads on this Gourd Rattle.

Update on Buffalo bone Rattle

Here is the latest update on the making of a Gourd Rattle using the Buffalo (American Bison) Hump Bone for the handle.

I am including two pictures of the Bone Handle, in which I inlayed a diamond shaped piece of real Turquoise, into each side of the bone.

I also capped the end of the bone with a nice piece of Turquoise that I cut and polished.

Using Everything

Buffalo Hump Bones


The Traditional Native American way was to live as one with Nature and that all animals winged and four legged are our brothers.


A hunter would go out seeking an animal for food and would ask that animal for forgiveness for killing it, at the same time thanking it for it's gift of life to feed our bodies and clothe us and provide shelter. All of the animal was used, meat, bones, hide, hair, for either food or hides for clothing and shelter even the bones as tools or as something to be decorated.


With this way of living and respect and honor for our brother the Buffalo (American Bison) I use every part of the animal that I can and on this project I am using a Hump Bone (located directly behind the neck) consisting of the hump you see on a Buffalo.


I am including a picture of two Hump Bones, one of which I will use as a handle for a Gourd Rattle. I bleach the bone then sand it smooth and polish it till it shines like Ivory. I then cover a portion of the bone with leather to bead on, the rest I leave natural but polished.


I am also including a photograph of some of the Peyote Gourds that I grow, one of which I will choose to be the Gourd part of the Rattle. The upper part of the gourd is placed through the open hole in the Hump Bone and I will draw on and then wood burn on the Gourd my interpretation of the Four Directions which I will use leather dyes to color, or maybe a touch of paint.


In the photograph, I placed one of the bones facing you, there you can see the Spirit of the Buffalo, notice the eyes and even the ears and face?


I will post the progress of this project as it progresses until completion.








Peyote Gourds