I imagine every on on this site has heard the famous Resikan Flute. If you have ever seen a picture of it, you’ve seen the really cool looking woven decoration around the the body of the whistle between the top finger hole and the window. Have any of you ever decorated a whistle like this? I think it would look great on a couple of my Shaws, but I’m not really good at that sort of thing. Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.
you can see a picture of the Resikan flute here:
If you can find somone that can cross-stitch on a very light-weight cross stitch fabric that might work. Or you can try your hand at braiding a wide ‘friendship bracelet’ - lots of info about this at any craft store. If you use all the same color of floss, that’s a $2-3 project maybe a buck more, I don’t know what a tassell goes for.
I’m not sure of the best way to get it to stay on the whistle. Perhaps a tiny dab of hot glue. Hot glue is easy to remove from anything metal.
I’m sure you’ll come up with other ideas along the way.
Hey Jammino, if you are good with your hands, check at your local library for a book on sailor’s knotwork. I once ran across an ‘encyclopedia’ of sailor’s knotwork that included various forms of ‘whipping’ in which the cord was wrapped around an object in a very similar fashion to the flute.
There are some very interesting chinese knots used as decoration too, tho’ I can’t recall exactly where I saw them.
Okay, I just have to say that I had never heard of the Resikan Flute. I was looking at the picture. Like is this some really old Irish whistle, why are they calling it a flute, what a strange box it is in, etc. So finally I went to the rest of the website. Got it!
I don’t think there’s really any weaving involved (it’s hard to see in the
small pictures, though). I think you can get the same effect by buying
a tassel on a long chord (from a craft store, or tasseldepot.com) and
wrapping the cord several times around the whistle, tying it off, and
letting the rest dangle.
It’s also on the Chiff and Fipple website, under “Mysteries of the Whistle”
Being a fan of Star Trek AND a Scoutmaster , I have actually taken a piece of twine and whipped my whistle. I took it off because the twine was too thick and made the whistle a little hard to handle, but I have been thinking about doing it again with something thinner, maybe in a thin leather or silk twine. If you do the whipping right, you don’t need anything to hold the whipping on the whistle. It would take a minute or two to do and would cost only the price of the twine. Furthermore, it would be completely and easily removable.
I used to widdle a black woolen string around the footpiece of my recorders when playing at medieval markets with my ex-band. But I can’t really imagine to wind something around my whistle. Surface is too smooth and the tuning slide has to be moveable.
Tip: if you want whipping to stay tight, use unwaxed untreated cord or floss made of a natural fiber. Raw hemp is nice. Get it nice and moist, do your whipping, and let it dry tight. Heavy silk floss is nice, too.
For different whipping styles, try sites on sailors’ ropework (as mentioned), fishing rod construction, and ancient swords. Sword grips (and sometimes pommels) can get very ornate. Have fun!
I found a booklet of celtic design stickers by Dover Press and put one on a Copeland low d. It’s circular, about 2" wide, the colors in it match the brass, so it’s not obtrusive. I think it looks cool. There’s nothing in the pack that would wrap nicely around a soprano, however.
Tony
, I have actually taken a piece of twine and whipped my whistle. I took it off because the twine was too thick and made the whistle a little hard to handle, but I have been thinking about doing it again with something thinner, maybe in a thin leather or silk twine. If you do the whipping right, you don’t need anything to hold the whipping on the whistle. It would take a minute or two to do and would cost only the price of the twine. Furthermore, it would be completely and easily removable.
