Sacred Stones: Behind the Scenes of this Special Collection

As we introduce this special collection this week, we also wanted to show you some of the behind the scenes.

This vision has been held in mind for some time as we have been considering the source of our stones. We knew that, while we do what we can to only buy from sustainable sources, we cannot account for all of the stones and know little about the distant lands that they come from as well the peoples who hold them and that land dear. 

Are aim would be to be only using stones from the British Isles in our drums in the near future so that these Drums may become tools for people to connect with the Energies and Spirit of the land. Many people have also been 

Here is a glimpse of  behind the scenes of the process to birth these Drums

Birthing the Drums

As with all of our drums, they are birthed in ceremony, from the preparation of the materials, the tightening of the lacing, and the finishing of the handle. With these drums, each run with our prayer and vision for these drums, to help in our collection re-connection with the spirit and magic of this land, and that they become strong guides and allies for their future keepers.

Here are some photos of the drums being brought into being.

Honouring the animal and the tree and the stone

Each hide smudged with ceremonial herbs before the drumhead and lacing are cut

Birthed with prayer and ceremony to welcome the spirit of the drum

Tumbling the stones

As most of the tumbling of exotic stones is done overseas, many of the crystals and stones sourced from this land are in their raw form. This was the case for the Scottish amethyst stones which we tumbled in our very own Heron Drums workshop here in Kent.

Living in Kent, we walk on chalk downland all the time, stepping over flint regularly. We decided to gather the flint used for this collection ourselves and found some within the the root network of an old oak tree that had fallen, revealing stones and pebbles that it had been clinging onto these roots for centuries. 

We have been tumbling these stones since late 2021, with them rolling in grit for weeks to give a smooth and polished finish, ready to be bound into the handle of the drum. 

Here are some photos of our in-house rock tumbling.

Gathering the Flint from tree roots

The Trispiral Handle

We work with a number of Drum handles at Heron Drums, but for this collection it seemed fitting to bind the stones in a Trispiral handle style in honour of the triple spiral symbol that connects back to the ancient Celtic cultures. This is one of our original handle styles that we began in 2014, and it has always been popular among our bespoke Drum orders.

Here are some photos of the handles of these drums.

Weaving the Trispiral Handle