Native American Tomtom Drum

Ever since I can remember I’ve loved “native american style art”. I dedicated a whole room for these types of decorations. Some things aren’t necessarily indian origin, but there all fun to make and look amazing! A fun project I have today is a miniature of a native american tomtom drum.

Supplies

plastic lids or wood rings
sinew or wax thread
leather scraps
leather hole punch
large needle
glue, scissors
beads and feathers
paints and brushes

Getting Started

First thing you need to do is cut out some circles and strips. Thin leather works best for this project because the pieces need to be stretched around the lids. Use the lid and a pencil and get 2 circles for each drum. The strips should the width of the lid.

Glue the strips around the edge so none of the lid is showing. Let these dry for a while so there secure. Take your circles and put them together and go around them with a hole punch, every centimeter or so. We also soaked them in water and stretched them in all directions as best we could, while the glue was still drying.

The circles will be anchored with a couple of knots before sewing because there’s stretching involved, and it can be a pain getting started. With a large needle and sinew, sew around the lid stretching the leather circles a bit over the edges so the lid is completely concealed. Just snip off the anchored stitches as you pass them.

Decorating

Now its starting to take shape of a drum and it time to dress it up with your decorations. You can paint it or leave it plain whatever you like. We decided to paint ours.

We also used braided sinew attached to the sides and added some wooden beads and feathers. Use a dab of glue on the end of the feather and secure with a bead. Now all we need are some mini drum sticks!