How to Make a Drum

and why we should

Greetings my lovelies, a short missive this morning with some news about an upcoming workshop that I will be teaching in Portland. I haven’t been teaching much over winter mostly because I find myself more displaced than usual and less orientated into a community and I am very much a community person. I am still somewhat surprised that of all the drum orders I get only about 5% are from strangers or social media friends. I still think marketing is a magical beast that will always respond if I feed it while in denial that all it craves is just plain money. I will carry on giving cartwheels to the beast and wondering at the returns. Word of mouth is still the way things go it seems and will continue to go as deciding what is real is still far more reliable from something you can see and smell, even with the added sophistication of the digital age. But all this hi fangled tech is a good exercise in that we still seem to be able to Know what to do and how to do it, almost as if we had spent our childhoods on beaches and fields, in woods and hills being shown what is real and what is relevant. Oh our entangled messy lives and how we still manage to find ourselves on that one path of discovery.


So I am teaching 2 small drum making workshops in Portland in March on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th. I am teaching at my friends shop, the herb shoppe which is a wonderful feeling, to support her in her hard and yet wonderful work, while she supports me in mine.

We will be making beautiful 12” deer skin drums, great light and versatile drums to start your practice with. The class is 3 hours and costs $150 which includes all material fees as well as a devils club drum beater. There are a few spots left so if your interested sign up now - the class room is small, there is limited space for 5 people, which is good as it is an intimate business and I’m very much looking forward to making drums with you all.

Here is the why:

“Come together to create your own 12" deer skinned frame drum with Natasha Clarke. While learning how to assemble our drums we will also be together in ceremony to birth our drums and talk about how the drum is a vital tool in the art of healing and how drumming facilitates the gift of being healed.”

And here is the link to sign up to the 24th:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beginning-your-healing-journey-a-drum-making-class-tickets-524234949847

And here is the link to sign up to the 25th:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beginning-your-healing-journey-a-drum-making-class-tickets-531048750107?aff=erellivmlt

A recent deer skin frame drum made and painted for the northwest herbal conference where it was claimed by a beautiful stranger

Meanwhile since I’m sharing news my next meanderings at The herbal health forum will be all about the end of winter, the bladder and horsetail and how these are all extricably related.

Otherwise, life moves and I try to move with it having finally assembled the perfect cross country skiing set up out of a shamble of second hand not quite right equipment. It only took a couple of months of sorting but shall hopefully last a good long while so I can appreciate the late winter snow and all the trials nearby including the lovely Klickitat trail which runs through my land and where I would be so very happy to meet you! On this beautiful right of way.

lower portion of the 33 mile long Klickitat trail

blessings and love during these times of strange space weather and tricky constellations and the last lull of winter -

Love Natasha