Artisan Shekeres - Help a cancer patient and friend

[slinginit]

Dear drum brethren:

Here are my latest shekere concepts that I would like to sell to fund the purchase of a pair of bongos - something basic but sturdy like LP Cosmic Percussion, Aspire, or Toca's Synergy.

The bongos are for a friend who has a stage-2, possibly stage-3 brain tumor which has disrupted the motor-skill region of his brain. As we await results of last month's chemo and radiation, he is in physical therapy recovering from a temporary paralysis of his left arm and hand. It occurred to him that playing the bongos could be a great activity for his physical recovery. However his bongos have a torn head and are generally falling apart. I told him that I'll try to fix them but they're beyond repair IMHO so I'm secretly opting to replace them with something better.

I have two new creations that I offer for $55 each, including shipping in the lower 48. I combine shipping and offer discounts for multiple orders.

Both gourds are between 12-13" tall; diameter is ~9"; circumference ~29" each.

Both were stained in "Colonial Maple" and polyurethaned. They each have 27 leads, 13 rows at 54 beads/row totalling 702 beads.

"Photosynthesis" (aka: "Lemon-Lime Fade"): clear; light gold; 2 yellows; 3 greens - concept represents the transformation of sunlight into the greenery among us.

"Tangerine Dream" (aka: "Creamsicle Fade"): clear, champaign, 3 oranges - concept presents a study from brighter golden champaign into rich oranges/tangerine colors below.


PM me if you have any questions. Thank you!!

[bobzline]

I was going to wait 'til next month, but under these circumstances please send me the Tangerine Dream if still available. Bill me through PayPal.Good luck to your friend.

[slinginit]

Thank you so much Bobzline!!! I do appreciate the return business. Also appreciate the concern for my friend. Tangerine Dream is yours and I'll move that forward.

Only one left in stock and I just added new pictures.

I will be assembling more shekeres with the recent arrival of new gourds.

[SpEd]

Hey slingin... I'll take the repeat biz que, & take the 2nd one. I'll paypal ya by tomorrow. It's for a friend who saw my recent purchase of your work. May your friend find healing from the gift of skins.

[rhythmrhyme]

Hey Bro - I've been eying your shekeres for a while.... sorry to hear about your friend. With people like you in his life he's going to do well!!!

do you have any other inventory you're looking to move? send me a PM, sure we can work something out!!

RR

[slinginit]

Hi SpEd!

Thank you so much for the kind thoughts and return purchase. We'll figure it out on paypal and I'll find a box in the meantime and ship ASAP. This one's about the same height as yours but the chamber is 1" larger. One inch may not sound like much, but over the surface of a spheroid it does make a differnce.

At any rate the money will be spent well. Richard goes to physical therapy 3x a week and a network of friends are chipping in to drive him to appointments (he can't drive for 6 mos.). PT addresses a lot of whole-body coordination issues that can occur with these kinds of tumors; anything outside of PT that can help is strongly encouraged. His current set of bongos is some no-name brand with brass tacks that hold the heads over the shell. The staves are starting to split at the bottom and as Richard is a big guy, they're undersized for his hands. Given all of their budget constraints, I'd hate to see him spend a dime trying to fix a lost cause.

Rhythmrhyme: Also, thank you for you thoughts and concerns about Richard. I don't have anything ready to go at this time; just a stack of gourds that need to be stained, polyurethaned, and skirted. I'll send you a PM and we can discuss the details. I have some ideas for new color concepts, developing previous concepts with different colors, or if you have an idea then we could work on that. My costs are directly related to the materials used - larger gourds cost more and use more beads, etc. In other words, custom designs do not cost any more than any other designs.

Cheers and thank you all!!!

[440ranch]

When you get to that point, I'll take one.
Honey colored stain, all black beads with one white bead in the center of every other grid.

Thanks

[slinginit]

I'll be in touch with the two forumites above soon. Saw Richard yesterday and we went to that festival. Got his bongos and they're not as dire as I remembered. There is a split in one that I think I can fix. One rawhide head is "shattered" from dry rot, but they have removable hardware, not thumbtacks as I originally thought. So, I'm looking for deals on synthetic Evans bongo heads in proper sizes.

Beyond bongos, Richard is a big guy and mentioned he'd like to move up to a larger drum. I asked if he had a choice, would he prefer a larger drum over bongos and he clearly said "yes". His hands are large and he feels he can get more movement/therapy from a larger surface. So, in good faith to the original post, I have used the shekere funds from above toward the purchase of a Toca Freestyle II djembe with a 12" head. It has a 12" synthetic head so it should be more durable for his needs. It should arrive this week; I thank you all for your support.

Cheers!

[slinginit]

Djembe arrived and distributed!! It looks and sounds great - makes me want one. Richard really digs it!! Thanks again for the support.

In the meantime, I'm working with a couple of you on some orders. I appreciate that as well.

[Ducati]

I am new to the site ... I am interested in buying a Shekeres . Do you have one available ?
Thanks,
Rob

[slinginit]

Hi Rob!

Sent you a PM. If you see this post, check your mailbox for details.

Thanks for your interest.

Cheers!