In the heat of summer, what can cool you immensely is sitting in the air conditioning and playing a soothing musical instrument.

During the summer, I am often making instruments and getting ready for my Fall art and craft shows that I travel to.  Some of you have asked why I don’t have more flutes listed in my Etsy store and that’s because many instruments are spoken for and sold as they are being made — before they get listed in online spaces.

I have a low Dm Aromatic Cedar flute (photo on left) that has both heart wood (dark-colored wood) and sap wood (light-colored wood). There are several knots in this flute to give the wood a unique and beautiful character.  The knots have been stabilized so they will not crack and the flute — as with all of my flutes — are finished both inside and out.  The bird is cedar with an abalone full moon.  Listen to this flute below.

For those of you who want to know how the sound was recorded, it was on my Zoom H2 and with no alterations —  no reverb or echo or any other effects were added to the sound of the flute.

An instrument I have re-designed for 2017 is the tiny walnut 6-string kantele. While I have made 6-string sopranino kanteles previously, they’ve not been for sale.

I like that extra string (obviously one more than my 5-string kanteles) for giving the extra note range for more solo songs to be played. It means a few more variations if you like to play chords, also.  The first two kanteles of this walnut series are complete and they are sweet.

A walnut soundboard with a cherry ponsi (the part of the kantele that secures the strings) on a poplar frame makes for a great little portable kantele that’s not too heavy and not too light.

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