Portia “Po” Chapman in her Kingston Art Studio, documenting the intersection visual arts research, nature-focused colour-blocking, and professional project execution.
Drum December Archive
Join Po on her step-by-step journey of making a deer over white oak frame drum.
This is a new 2026 addition that will take a deep dive into Po’s world of inter-disciplinary, storytelling art. Po pioneers the contemporary manifestations of visual storytelling illustration art by merging sculpture, installation, murals & drums with traditional print and digital mediums.
Po trims the white oak to the desired drum frame size at her Kingston Art Studio
Kingston Artist, Portia “Po” Chapman trims the white oak drum frame to size at her studio.
On day 8, my trusty assistant compressed the dry bent oak to the size that I wanted for the finished drum to become. As he held it in place, I marked the board with a pencil. Day 9, also marks the mid stage of drum frame creation.
Once we cut off the white oak at yesterday’s pencil markings, we will see the drum frame coming into its drum shape for the first time. I have a smaller trim miter saw, but I prefer using my 12″ chop saw with a trimming tooth blade installed. The larger blade alleviates the fiddliness of cutting the large hoop with a small blade.
Oh, and this trim will remove the breakage that we found on day 6. Phew!
Come back tomorrow, Day 10, when we move on to our next stage of drum frame creation: gluing and dry-bending. The next couple days are going to be exciting; we are on the homeward stretch now.
Come back tomorrow for Day 10 – when we apply the glue. There are 4 types of glue that we can use, I will explain the options on Day 10.
New to the blog? Read more about Po and her art here.
On Day 8 of Drum December, Po’s assistant compresses the bent oak while Po marks the board where she will cut it on Day 9.
Thank you for watching along as we engage on this drum making adventure. This is the first time that I have made a white oak drum frame and as you can see, it has been an adventure.
On Day 8 of Drum December, my assistant and I prepare the steam-bent white oak which is to be cut off in order to create my preferred drum diameter. The reason I mark the wood this way is because the best sounding drums have the least glue. So by marking it with both ends overlapping, I can judge how large the completed joint will become. I aim for a 2″ drum frame joint when the drum is complete.
For more information about Love Art by Po drumssee here.
The Art of Compression Without Snapping the Frame
The process of compression without snapping the frame is exceptionally nuanced and requires much attention. This is the reason why I prefer dry-bending the final bend. The stunning personality of every piece of milled and bent timbre is felt as the compression reaches its limit. I have tried mechanical bending methods but those methods remove the connection with the fibres, and this process needs to be gentle and understanding.
Hugging Drums is Like Hugging Trees
Just because a tree is cut down and made into lumber, it never stops being a tree. I grew up listening to trees. For 18 years of my life, they sheltered me, comforted me, and taught me ancient lessons of beauty and strength. I met my ancestors as they stooped down, inviting me to sing as their branches drummed a beat for me to follow. In my second year of my BFA, the apple tree, that I used to climb as a child, died and began falling to the ground. In a way, I felt to blame for its loss of health.
You see, I left it in the field when I went away to University. So for my first large sculpture installation, I gave it back its voice by sculpting it back to its life giving form – even with birds nests and robin eggs. I could once agin hear it whisper. In the spring, when I returned to the field, the apple tree, at the very top, was growing leaves reaching to the sky. Today, as I make frame drums, it is my way of giving back to the trees – to hear their voices sing again. For me, I feel blessed to be a drum maker. It is a calling. It is LIFE! When shaping drum frames, I hug them just like I hug trees still able to stand. Every drum frame is realized out of love and respect. To read more about Indigenous relationships with trees, follow this link. But please come back.
Gentleness Guided the Bend
For the compression, you will notice in the video, my assistant has rested the white oak on his lap. By doing so, he makes full contact with both sides of the new drum frame shape. He can feel the oak tighten and relax. He makes it look so easy after many years of woodworking, but this critical step truly requires inner stillness. After all, I learned to hug trees because of him. As he bends it, he can hear the oak say when it has coiled enough. Just as it reaches its chosen limit, I can sense it too.
This white oak, has required understanding more than the other hardwoods. But, when it reached its bend limit, instead of screaming out, it gave a relaxed sigh of relief, like it said: “Finally back home.”
Marking the Board
Due to the length of the video, it is unclear where I marked the piece. In this case, I marked it in two locations. Often, I do one continuous mark across both edges. Again, this is not a science. I wish that I could give a clear instruction, but it really is again about… Knowing the right spot(s).
When I set out to write this post about this seemingly simple bend and mark, it was not my intention to share the spiritual, soulful relationship of bending drum frames. I guess, the ancestors thought that it was a good time to remind us that drum frames and drums are just as much part of this life as they were as trees. Please know that when you buy (adopt) one of the drums that I make, your drum has been nurtured into existence with care.
Come back tomorrow for Day 9 – the painful moment of cutting the frame to size.
[…] To solve this, I developed a proprietary dry-bending technique. The wood is pre-bent and shaped before the glue is ever applied. You can see the foundation of this technique in my previous posts: Day 5, Day 7, and Day 8. […]
The Bendy Test — Po checks the flexibility of her sun-steamed hardwood before shaping it into a drum frame.
Today, Po reveals the next step in her innovative sun-steaming process — the moment when three days of sunlight, water, and patient preparation finally transform kiln-dried hardwood into a material that is ready to bend.
Testing the Wood After Three Days of Sun-Steaming
Today marks the moment when Po checks the results of the full three-day sun-steaming cycle. In yesterday’s post, we watched her begin this method by sliding the hardwood into the long ridged tube and filling it with water to let the sun do the work. By this morning, the fibres within the wood had warmed, expanded, and begun to relax. Now it was time to see whether the wood had softened enough to become flexible — or whether it needed more time in the sun.
After pouring out the steaming water, Po slid the hardwood out of the tube and laid it gently on the grass. The board emerges from the tube hot, ridged, and stiff — the opposite of what you might expect from a piece of wood that will soon become a circular drum frame. But this is where Po’s ingenuity comes in.
Still too hot to handle with bare hands, Po begins a technique she discovered through experimentation: walking on the wood. Wearing proper shoes, she carefully steps along the length of the board, back and forth, allowing her weight to massage the fibres into motion. The grass protects the surface from dents and provides the perfect soft foundation for the wood to ease into its new flexibility.
For about five minutes, she continues this rhythmic movement — a sculptor’s touch expressed through her feet rather than her hands. And then comes the test.
With one foot still grounding the board, Po gently lifts the opposite end.
In today’s video, you can see the moment the wood answers.
It bends — cleanly, smoothly, willingly.
This once rigid hardwood is now supple enough to be shaped into the elegant circular frame of a drum. What seemed impossible only days before becomes possible through Po’s blend of patience, innovation, and the natural power of the sun.
Tomorrow, Po will continue the transformation as she prepares the wood for its first bends toward the circle it is destined to become.
Drum December unfolds one authentic, beautiful step at a time.
[…] how beautiful the Drum December drum turned out. This where we started with Drum December. You can learn exactly how we crafted this instrument by visiting the previous 20 days of the […]
Po has Drawn on Shape and String Holes and is Ready to Cut the Rawhide
In order to cut the shape, I first draw on the pattern. In order to do this, I lay the drum frame on the soaked rawhide and draw the shape with an HB pencil that is not very sharp. The size that I draw on is usually about 2-1/2″ larger all the way around the frame. So for a 14″D frame, I draw on a 19″D shape that is the same shape of the frame. After I do this, I mark the string pleating holes, to be punched out later. This can be a very frustrating step, so I create a paper template and fold the paper to assure that the pleat holes are perfectly symmetrical. I will be posting another how-to concerning this step, but basically the two holes close together are for the pleat and the wider space is where the hide will lay flat against the frame when dry. The number one thing to remember is, the pleats must be evenly spaced and even in number, such as 8, 12, 16 pleats and so on. Keep the string holes about 3/4″ from the edge, all the way around. Premium drums have 16+ pleats. But to begin, I would only use 8 or 12 pleats.
Step 2: Cutting the Rawhide
Po Cutting Soaked Rawhide to be Stretched Over the Drum Frame
Cutting rawhide is fairly easy to do if the hide is thin. In this step-by-step guide, I am using opaque elk because this drum head will be painted. Elk and deer are from the same family. Deer is typically the more thin of the two. I will be posting another guide concerning the different rawhides, but for now a rule of thumb is: 14″D and smaller drums use deer or elk. In the photo at the top of this post, I am stringing a 14″ D drum with a coiled white cedar frame that I have painted. In order to cut thin elk, I find that using kitchen sheers or fabric scissors does a good job.
Step 3: Punching the String Holes
Po Punching Hole in Rawhide for Stringing the Frame Drum
This step is quite simple, once you have the hole spacing figured out. After I mark on the dots for stringing the drum skin pleats, I use a leather hole punch. There are two hole punches that are readily available to purchase at craft and building supplies stores, they are: ones that work like scissors (as in the photo above), and punches that resemble awls that you hammer through the rawhide. The former is usually strong enough for deer and elk, but the latter may need to be used when punching moose and bison. Punching holes through rawhide is not like punching holes through note paper. Rawhide is fibrous, almost stringy. When it is soaked, it becomes thick and rubbery too. In other words, every hole punches differently from each other.
Step 4: Situating the Drum Frame
Po Placing Drum Frame in Centre of Cut Rawhide
Before stringing, I check to make sure that everything fits and is evenly spaced. I place the finished drum frame in the centre of the cut and punched rawhide. To assure that it fits the way I want it to fit, I use a ruler and measure the distances between the frame and the edge. All the way around, there should be the same amount of rawhide outside the drum frame.
Step 5: Measuring out the Sinew
Po Stringing Through First Punched Hole After Measuring Out Sinew String/Lace
I use synthetic sinew for stringing. Some people call the sinew, “string,” and other people call it, “lace.” There are 4 types of string/lace, that are commonly used, they are: sinew (from a deer’s Achilles Tendon), synthetic sinew (buy by the spool), rawhide (thin strips that are cut from the perimeter of a soaked piece of rawhide), and rope for large moose, double headed, pow-wow drums. Measuring out the sinew is a tricky, nerve wrecking procedure. The length you need, needs to be one continuous strip. I measure about 5′ of string for every 1″ of drum frame diameter. So for a 14″D drum, I measure out 70′ of sinew. For a 24″ drum, I measure out 120′ of sinew. Also, just to be safe, I measure out another 20′ of sinew. I ran short once. I never want that to happen again. So now I wheel off extra! “Better safe than sorry,” as they say. This is the number 1 reason I use synthetic sinew. It is the best choice to use 120′ of continuous string.
Step 6: Stringing the Drum
While Stringing the Drum, Po Measures the Edges to Assure that the Drum Frame has Remained in Place
To string a drum, I pull one end of the string through one hole and then through the hole on the exact opposite side. Please note, I pull the entire strand through both holes, leaving about 2′ hanging outside the first hole. Then I continue to do the same, all the way around the drum, crossing the strings through the centre. In the image immediately above, notice that the string passes through the frame-side of the pleats (the two closest hole pairs). This allows for an attractive, elegant pleating of the hide. So when stringing, pass your needle through the outside of the hide, across the inside, and then through the inside to the outside. You’ll catch on. The practical reason I do this is due to physics. By pleating through two holes, rather than one, creates a stronger hold while applying less pulling on the individual holes. If you use one hole, you stand a pretty good chance that the rawhide will rip through. Believe me when I say: “YOU DO NOT WANT THAT!” Please note that I am creating a video to illustrate this more clearly and will be posting in the near future.
Step 7: Creating the Strung Spokes
After Stringing, Po Creates Spokes to Hang Onto While Drumming
Before I begin with this step, take a look at how the pleats look after the rawhide has been stretched and strung. By stringing through the frame side of the pleats, a uniform pleating is created and the pulled holes are firm and uniform. If you want to make a premium drum, you will need to master this step with this method of drum stringing. Now onto the spokes. From what I can tell, in various traditions, the spokes are formed by wrapping cord, sinew, or deer hide. Locally, they are formed and wrapped using split deer hide. I prefer using the continuous synthetic sinew because it is strong and I prefer the appearance. So what I do is, I wrap the sinew around multiple pleat (forming) strings. As you can see in the photo, I am wrapping 10 strings (5 pleats’ worth) together. I wrap them as far up as I want to achieve the desired tightness of hide. When I reach the furthest point desired, I weave the sinew through the individual strings 3 or 4 times. This creates a basket weave appearance. I do this to anchor the spoke so that it won’t slide out of place. When the weaving is complete, I wind the sinew back down the spoke. Once the centre knot of the strings is reached, I wrap the centre knot a few times and pull it tightly. Then I proceed to create another spoke. Once all 4 spokes have been created, I knot off the string behind the main centre knot. At this point, the drum is complete. I then sit the drum in a dryish (50% humidity) location with good ventilation above and below the drum. In just a few days the drum is ready to be drummed.
How to Stretch and String a Rawhide Hand Drum: Kingston Artist Portia Po Chapman’s Method
Po Stringing Her 24 Inch Elk Rawhide Drum Entitled: “Nature in Me.”
Link to: Phase 1 of Drum Making is Making the Drum Frame Link to: Phase 3 – Painting the Drum Face Link to: Painted Drums Page
Phase 2 of Drum Making is Working with Rawhide: Soaking, Stretching, Stringing
In order to make a drum, there are 3 basic stages of working with the rawhide: Soaking, Stretching and Stringing. Although these stages can be rushed, to achieve a premium drum that sings beautifully, it takes a lot of time, care and love. Hence, from receiving the rawhide to completing a playable tuned instrument, it takes about 1 month, sometimes longer. In my studio, I do all of the steps below. Please note that I do employ a shop hand to help detangle sinew when I am stringing large drums, like the one in the above image, because a 24 inch diameter drum requires a 100+ feet long continuous strand of sinew .
Phase 2 of Drum Making: Working with Raw Hide
Purchase sustainable rawhide that supports Indigenous communities across Canada.
Build relationship with the hide.
Humidity condition hide in the hide room.
Po waits for the hide to “speak” to her – it may sound strange but the hide will choose to make a drum or a drum will not be made. Working with rawhide requires patience and a lot of love.
Once the hide is ready to make a drum and make its voice once-again heard, Po introduces the hide to the frame options – this is a beautifully mystical step in Po’s drum making process whereby a holistic, earthy bond is made between wood, rawhide and drum maker.
With the marriage of drum frame and drum skin, Po designs a drum skin template with the number and placement of stringing pleats marked.
The rawhide is rough cut to match the shape of the template.
The rawhide is cleaned, scrubbed, pealed , rubbed and polished.
Sometimes the rawhide requires a sunshine bath or controlled UV bath.
Using a galvanized wash tub, Po soaks the rawhide for 24-48 hours in a rain water bath as the rawhide is kept submerged using special quartz and/or citrine rocks that she found while diving in her childhood lake.
Once the rawhide has become thick and pliable, it is removed from the water and rubbed with a soft terry towel. It is then cut to the shape of the pre-designed template.
String holes are punched (Po’s premium drums have between 16 and 30 pleats).
Of synthetic and waxed sinew, Po measures out about 5 feet per pleat – yes 80+ feet.
The frame is laid onto the underside of the rawhide and Po begins the lacing process.
As you can see in the above photo, generally, Po strings the drums by putting the string through two holes (to make pleat) on one side of the drum and then does the same on the exact opposite side of the drum. Po uses more decorative / ornate stringing patterns when stringing Po’s non-circular hand-bent drums.
Using a darning needle to string a drum, it takes Po between 2 hours and 8 hours of hand stitching, winding and wrapping the sinew as she pulls the rawhide into place. It can be tricky, when stringing large drums, because the hide begins to dry and become stiff within 30 minutes of being removed from the water. Aligning the timing of stitching and drying is possibly the most difficult thing for a drum maker must grow accustomed.
At this step, Po has found that the hide wins the tugging process. No matter how even the rawhide edge is originally made by Po, the rawhide will pull it to where it wants – resulting in a less uniform rawhide edge around the frame. Synthetic skin head drums do not present this challenge.
It is also worth noting that each animal and species’ rawhide pulls differently – and the spinal ridge pulls differently from the belly region. This takes a long time to get used to. In the case of working with rawhide as a textile, Po has had to relax and work with the rawhide, rather than demanding that it behave as she may want it to.
The drum is placed on the drum drying racks and is dried in a 50% humidity controlled space.
Once the drum is dry, it is taken out into the sunlight and drummed.
Po sings, chants and drums the new drum as they both rejoice. It is a seemingly miraculous happening.
Sometimes the general pitch of the drum is determined by drumming it beside a well tuned 1950’s Heinzman piano.
You cannot get use to the moment when the rawhide seems to come back to life and express its own voice and connection with the drummer.
The drum’s pulse throbs upon the breeze.
The ethers rejoice and the heart smiles with an air of wellness.
The central sinew knot at the back of the drum is then waxed. To try the drums, Po has people use nitrile gloves. When the drum is paid for and drummer is ready, the drummer’s glove is removed. At that time, the drummer & drum imprint. Their bond is marked by the drummer’s hand print pressed into the beeswax.
The drum is then cared for and sung with in the humidity controlled studio until it is to have a painted face (if it is ever painted – some drums refuse to be painted while other drums seek to be painted).
Another phenomenon then occurs – the drum picks the drummer at exactly the same time as when the drummer picks the drum. The moment of bonding is nothing short of magical.
Premium drums made by Po are very, very special – and premium special drums cannot be rushed.
I exhibit and sell the drums I make. Please contact me to purchase a completed drum or to discuss a custom hand drum made just for you. Drums range from $200-$2000.
I look forward to fitting you with your drum, Po
Po Standing with Drum Booth At the Gather in the County – Modern Textile Market – Picton, ON June 15, 2024
A Process of Art Planning Creation by Portia Po Chapman Kingston Artist
We all have our own method and strategy to create our art pieces. For me, I start with 2 things: 1/ An idea notebook that I enter flashes of visions, ideas, concepts, and sketches of possible cool things to do in the future. I also include inspiration quotes and sometimes reflections about my experiences. I keep sheets of paper on my bedside table to record dreams too. When one idea doesn’t float at one point, it may in the future. The following image was eventually painted in 2022 as a mural for Queen’s University’s Kingston Hall Reflection Room but I first created it in 2018 for my 3rd year BFAH class and it was rejected by the professor because the prof said that, “It looks like something you’d paint in your garage.” The thing is, it was the beginnings of my current art style and landed me several commissions when I finally finished it outside the course. “My Creation” mural took 4 years before it was commissioned and mounted. It began with a simple sketch and grew for years. The mural was created because the ASUS executive adored the original digital image and had been awaiting the chance to have it painted. This is often how commissions work. The organic growth and development of art concepts can take many turns until it reaches its destination. I still find the journey amazing.
“My Creation” Published as Cover Image (the cover is more intense the photo is faded) 2019
“My Creation” Digital Journal Cover Proposal 2018
“My Creation” Began as a Sketch and Then I Painted a Trial Image Which was Rejected by My Prof 2018
2/ The second thing I do for art creation is take photos or have photos of me in the environment. I like to catch a moment – the nuances of life that happen in a moment in time. The following digital image is a current idea that I am working on as I consider the painting medium and final expression. The piece is entitled, “My Drum and Me.”
“My Drum and Me” Digital Draft for Painting Planning 2023
“My Drum and Me” Stone Lithograph Art Print 2018
“My Drum and Me” Hand Drawing Lithographic Stone 2018
“My Drum and Me” Original Photo A Family Member Took this Photo When I Was Drumming Outside 2017
Again as one can see, a beautiful moment in time captured by a photo and/or inspiration notes and drawings can lead to some really beautiful art pieces in the future. If anything, their journey materializes as life takes its own twists and turns. An art concept never gets old, it simply waits for its time to shine, but as it waits, the inspiration weaves itself through one’s career and the creation of other pieces. Art is not created in a vacuum – it lives and breathes through us as artists and art enthusiasts. Art is alive, even as it awaits its birth.
Portia Po Chapman’s “Drumming Sounds of Colour” Exhibition is More Than Inspired by Nature
“Drumming Sounds of Colour” exhibition is being displayed by the Parrott Art Gallery in Belleville Ontario. The collection features 15 hand drums that Po made and hand painted. It is the first drum exhibit of its kind. In a recent press release ( Intelligencer local paper ) it is written: “…an exhibition by local artist and drum maker Portia “Po” Chapman, called “Drumming Sounds of Colour” located in our corridor cabinets. This painted hand drum exhibit and sale, displays fifteen drums. Most of the drums feature elk raw hide stretched over white cedar forms and are painted in colourful acrylics with designs inspired by nature…” Although it is true that the imagery is “inspired by nature,” it is truly inspired by Po’s experiences growing up with Nature. The 15 piece collection is inspired by Po’s personal relationship with Creation as she grew up in the woods west of Tweed, Ontario. Accompanying the drums are 6 poetic verses that Po and her family wrote together. They tell Po’s story – the story depicted in both the painted images and the size progression of the drums. As such, the exhibit delves into the life and mind of a girl, reclaiming her Indigenous heritage, growing into womanhood as she is guided by Creation. It is a story of the preservation of innocence as revealed in Nature. The simplistic images, in Po’s characteristic style, are of creatures in relationship with each other and the human experience of that relationship. In this case, creatures seen and unseen. The exhibition also includes 3 drums focusing on virtues: “Love” features a mother and child beneath the watchful , loving protection of a Bald Eagle; “Knowledge” features two people sharing stories around a sacred fire beneath the wing of a Ravine knowledge keeper; “Truth” features two people standing on Turtle Island as Creator lifts the turtle above the turbulent sea. The poetry features a telling of the drumming pulse of Creation and how it awakens us when we notice it throbbing through our individual and collective pulse. Here is an example:
The drum exhibit is an amazing feat, as it is the first of its kind, at least locally. As a mixed media visual story teller, Po created the exhibit with two things in mind, to share the beauty of her Creation experience and to inspire viewers to tell their stories and share what they see. The exhibit is an amazing experience to take time and to take in. The exhibition runs until December 1, 2023. If you would like one of the drums for your personal collection, some of them are available for purchase. You can contact gallery staff and they will assist you.
Behind our favourite paintings exist an unseen construction that without, much of the art world would remain rolled up and stuffed under artists’ beds.
Transportable paintings need mounting materials.
How tight to stretch a canvas varries in options almost as the number of artists who use them. I still like to use a dollar store stretched canvas and water stained, a warted canvas board in a pinch. Us artists just have to create. Even an old bed sheet held down on the grass with rocks will satisfy our needs at times.
I grew up in a home adorned by ongoing art projects. As children, our drawings on the walls were never punished. My parents didn’t even pick up a bottle of cleaning spray. My parents would be so proud. You’d think a scribble I did on the foyer wall was their new Mona Lisa.
I was always welcome, no matter how young, to sit in on adult oriented art events and courses. One time, my dad gave the participants each a cup of black paint, a brush and led them to an inner foyer of our home. I walked proudly with my cup and brush. When we all entered the room, he instructed about 8 of us, “Paint.” The class was aghast at the instruction. Confusion as to what and where was accompanied by a laughter and a dash of delirium. What surface should we paint? When everyone just stood there shoulder to shoulder in an oblong egg shaped formation, he took my cup and brush and painting a long swath across the wall. “Here, now paint! Let the spirit of creativity move you.” You see, he had been planning this exercise for months without telling anyone. The walls were stuccoed and sealed with an opaque, non-script grey. I hated those grey walls. After that night of painting, a really special energy adorned that space. It was impossible to enter his studio without walking through it. That night, as a community of creators, we created a creation that greeted hundreds of people. Behind that collective art piece was a prepared framing of what would be a very special welcoming space. After a few years, it hit me, “ahh, now I know why he built that space in the shape it was – smacked in the centre of our artsy home. He wanted everyone to see our art.
I remember when I was about 7 years old when we took off the kitchen cupboard doors. We had very little, if any, money. The cupboards remained without doors for years. Our family has been unwilling to sell them, even though the offers for these impromptu paintings on cupboard doors still have the hinges mounted or hanging off them. One time, we didn’t even have paint. So we rigged up a medium and surface to hold that medium. The painting is a bit of plaster, a dash of purple house paint and all kinds of different spices and sugars for colour and texture. As a family, we did what we had to do. Even when it felt like the world was closing in on us, we found some way to keep creating. I spent hours upon hours searching for the right rock or tree bark to paint or use in a construction. From a young age, I learned that the proper frame, stretcher, surface, or background could be found for any art creation.
After about 2 years off of creating full-time due to education and teaching pursuits, I had to get back at it. I just had to. I considered a few options but I needed to build. I needed to get my hands dusty and covered with filler and paint. As I was going through my artistic idea journal, I was drawn back to drums and exterior wood and paper sign board. As amazing as it sounds, as soon as I found my place in my art-space of mind, commission requests came to greet me and my new drum collection found its voice.
In the following pictures, I have included some snapshots of my frame and stretcher work for these new art pieces. I am having the time my life. So much fun and so fulfilling to prepare the pieces to be painted.
Portia Po Chapman Making a Canvas Stretcher for Her “My Creation” Mural: Sanding Stretcher
Portia Po Chapman Making a Canvas Stretcher for Her “My Creation” Mural: Filling HolesPortia Po Chapman Sanding a White Cedar Drum Frame
Portia Po Chapman Reveals New Hand Drum Materials – Thanks Bill Worb Furs!
For my new collection of hand painted hand drums, I have been called to use sacred white cedartreewood and elkrawhide. My supplier for these materials is Bill Worb Furs from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I hope this gives an idea of the size of the drums and the raw materials being used. The drum frames are 14″ in diameter.
Love Art by Po 
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