Rain Stick

It's been a looong time since I wanted a rain stick. I didn't want to spend money buying one and I decided to make one by myself. Some weeks ago, walking on the street I saw a 1,5m cardboard tube! I ran towards it shouting: myyyy rain stick!!!! And here's what I made out of it.

It's an easy, cheap and interesting project to do, so I recommend you to make one!

Materials:

- Cardboard tube

- Nails

- Lentils (Or rice, beads, sand, etc)

- Acrylic paint

- Optional: decoration such as ribbons, feathers, etc

- Optional: Varnish

The sound of this instrument is due to the lentils (or whatever you use to fill it) falling through the nails that are inside the tube. So first of all you should hammer nails all around the tube. I hammered them into a spiral form. You must hammer the nails straight. I let 1,5 cm between nails. As you can see in the picture I used a ruler to mesure the distance.

Now you need something to close the tube. I cut two wood circles with a dremel but anything will work. I chose wood because it resonates increasing the sound (my father-in-law had the idea). I glued ONE of the cercles on the tube with white glue.

Time to experiment. You need something to trow inside the tube to make the rain stick sound. You can use lentils, rice, beads, sand, etc. It's up to you.

I tried with rice and lentils and I realized that lentils sound better. You should trow some spoon lentils into the tube. To determine the quantity, I started trowing lentils and trying the rain stick until the sound lasted enough (but don't fill the tube).

Glue the other circle to the other end of the tube to close it.

To prevent nails from falling around, I covered the tube with masking tape. It keeps the nails in place and it's easy to paint.

And now let your imagination soar! You must decorate the rain stick any way you want. I tried to make it as hippy as I could! It was the longest part but I love painting, so It wasn't a problem.

I used acrylic paint. Finally, I added some details as sea stones, ribbons and feathers. To protect it I applied a varnish layer on it.

And ta-daaaaa! I HAVE A RAIN STICK at last! And the best thing is that I made it by myself and I gave it a personal touch.

I've upload a video to let you hear the sound. Hope you enjoy it!