Bamboo Rainsticks - How to make them?

[Guest]

Please may I ask if there is any information available on a craft using bamboo poles. I have seen it and held it and heard the sounds it makes.
Grains of rice, and sand and other small items such as dried peas and beans are set inside. It is then turned around up and down slowly and "sounds like the rain".
I would appreciate any information....thank you so much.
Doreen

[kevinrl]

I think rainsticks were originally made from a tallish cactus, a section about 2- 3 feet long, the spines were pushed inside the dried-out section, and it was then filled with a handful of dried lentils or beans.
Just yesterday I made 6 rainsticks from sections of bamboo, some were B textilis and some were thin walled Schysastachym (spelling) brachycladum, but the species
is not a problem.
For the internal spines I used bamboo skewers, but one has to be careful that they don't touch the other side when pushed through the small hole that you drill in the culm wall. About 20 holes in a spiral pattern along the length of the bamboo.
A hole in the end to put the peas, I tried split peas, but they don't seem to have the weight to make a noise when they hit the skewers. And a cork in the end hole, and you have a rainstick.
I think if one could find a large diameter boo, with a long internode, and a thin wall, this would be the ideal. Say 3" x 24" x 1/4"thickness. The bamboo that I used was not large enough diameter.
I could post a pic, but it just looks like a piece of bamboo, as all of the bits are inside it.
K

[Music Maker]

For the internal spines I used bamboo skewers, but one has to be careful that they don't touch the other side when pushed through the small hole that you drill in the culm wall.

Why shouldn't they be touching the other side?

[Mark Meckes]

I'll guess that this makes them resonate sound better.

[motleyjust]

I think rainsticks were originally made from a tallish cactus, a section about 2- 3 feet long, the spines were pushed inside the dried-out section, and it was then filled with a handful of dried lentils or beans.
Just yesterday I made 6 rainsticks from sections of bamboo, some were B textilis and some were thin walled Schysastachym (spelling) brachycladum, but the species
is not a problem.
For the internal spines I used bamboo skewers, but one has to be careful that they don't touch the other side when pushed through the small hole that you drill in the culm wall. About 20 holes in a spiral pattern along the length of the bamboo.
A hole in the end to put the peas, I tried split peas, but they don't seem to have the weight to make a noise when they hit the skewers. And a cork in the end hole, and you have a rainstick.
I think if one could find a large diameter boo, with a long internode, and a thin wall, this would be the ideal. Say 3" x 24" x 1/4"thickness. The bamboo that I used was not large enough diameter.
I could post a pic, but it just looks like a piece of bamboo, as all of the bits are inside it.
K

The peas are too light for the skewers or from another angle, the skewers are probably too thick for the peas. Try wooden toothpicks or split the skewers so they are thinner, then they will vibrate easier.

[motleyjust]

Please may I ask if there is any information available on a craft using bamboo poles. I have seen it and held it and heard the sounds it makes.
Grains of rice, and sand and other small items such as dried peas and beans are set inside. It is then turned around up and down slowly and "sounds like the rain".
I would appreciate any information....thank you so much.
Doreen



http://www.ehow.com/how_15892_make-rain-stick.html
These are made with cardboard tubes and nails. Same principle, but you wouldn't want to hammer nails into bamboo because that would split it. Drill holes in the bamboo and glue in round wooden toothpicks.

[Iguanaman]

I've made them via PVC tubes, marbles and lead shot. The PVC is capped on one end and then filled with largish marbles. Then a lb or so of fine lead shot is added along with a tube of graphite for lubrication. The marbles fill the entire tube and once the other end cap is glued on the marbles don't move. The lead shot moves around the spaces between the marbles and makes a great (and long lasting) rain sound. Easy and cheap to make.

[jmbamboo]

I've tried different objects in the rainstick and found you can get a wide variety of sounds. Try popcorn, dried beans, elbow macaroni, small pebbles (pea gravel), whatever you can think of. I liked the dried beans best and they took longer to fall thru the tube, giving a longer effect.
Jim