Flute Decoration
The art of decorating a flute boils down to an individual’s personality. There is, indeed, no harm in keeping a flute basic, but adding decorations serves to make it beautiful and appealing. There are various ways of decorating flutes, depending on the type of material from which the flute is made (Wolf 33). For instance, wooden flutes can be decorated using paint because wood absorbs paint, whereas metallic flutes may not achieve the same outcome. After all, metal is not absorbent. In this case, we will decorate a wooden flute. The flute is a native American flute made from wood material.
Materials needed:
- A wooden flute
- Colored sharpies
- Glue or sellotape
- Students trace paper
- Piece of dry cloth
- Thread
- Ruler
- A design that means something in your life
Process
Here is the design that we are eventually going to imprint on the flute. It is a native American logo of a bear paw with a bear inside of it with a few contours to accentuate the design. In our case, we downloaded the logo online (Creative Commons license) and sketched it on a piece of paper. The sketch will then be pasted on the flute before being colored on the wooden flute.
Figure 1: Downloaded logo
Procedure
Step One: The first thing to do is to measure the circumference of the flute so that the tracing paper will wrap around it completely. It is vital to get the correct measurements to avoid the image overlapping onto itself once we start imprinting it on the flute. Figure 2 is our flute
Figure 2: Native American wooden flute
We can measure the circumference of the flute by wrapping a thread around it once and overlaying on a ruler. We make sure the length of the tracing paper with the logo is equal to that of the flute section where we want to draw the design.
Step two: this step entails getting the sketch onto the wood. There are several ways of doing this, but perhaps the easiest way is by wrapping the tracing paper with the logo tightly using glue/sellotape onto the flute and redrawing the design using a lead pencil. The lead will engrave the wood leaving an imprint that will serve as a carbon copy of the original design.
Figure 3: wrapping trace paper with the logo on the flute
If we complete this step correctly, we should end up with a setup that looks like the one shown below. Remember, we are only decorating a specific part of the flute, not the entire flute.
Figure 4: Design wrapped round flute
Step three: We then remove the tape and the tracing paper to check whether the image has been engraved well. If the previous step was done correctly, then we should end up with the result shown below.
Figure 5: An engraved image of the original design
We embolden the outline using the colored sharpies to make it visible. In our case, we redrew the outline using a black sharpie because the brown color of the flute contrasts well against the color black. We end up with the result shown below.
Figure 6: Image outlined using a black sharpie
Again, this is a matter of creativity – more creative people will most likely use other colors to bring out the outline, but in our case, the black color did the job perfectly well because of the contrast it creates against the brown background.
Step Four: after that, we fill the image with our selected color design. In this stage, an individual is free to play around with colors to get the desired result. In our case, we did not want to use many colors and therefore used black. We went with a simple but elegant design to bring out our personality. The art of decorating is all about personality. The result obtained is shown below.
Figure 7: Image filled with color
This decoration is intended to be permanent, and so it is critical to try as much possible to let the ink embed into the wood. For best results, we expose the flute to some form of heat to allow the decoration to embed into the wood before brushing. This exercise will make the color embed into the wood, thus increasing longevity. We finish off the decoration process by brushing the entire flute with a piece of dry cloth. This will give the flute and particularly the decorated section, a bright glossy outlook that increases the overall impact of the decoration. The decoration process is now complete.
My inspiration for decoration
My inspiration for this art design comes from my love for American Indian culture. Native American Indians are the indigenous tribe of the American continent and inhabited the land before Christopher Columbus discovered it. Growing up, I used to like watching American Indian films, mainly how they were portrayed as being wild, unpredictable, and fiercely loyal to their tribe. Therefore, it was only natural to look for a design that can reflect my love for American Indian culture. The bear is a revered animal in the native American culture, and it is a symbol of strength and determination – attributes that I believe also define who I am.
The flute is also one of the native American musical instruments that I am most fascinated about. It is a simple wind instrument that is reasonably easy to learn how to play. I learned to play the flute when I was twelve years old. My first flute was a black (hence the color choice in this tutorial) and was made from hard plastic. I still remember the smell when I unpacked it from the delivery box and how I later came to love it. It was a dull shiny black instrument with no decorations. Much later, I tried to make it beautiful by donning it with ribbons of different colors. This instance represents my first attempt at redecoration, and even though the ribbons would usually come off when I played the flute, the whole process ignited in my mind the beauty of decorating objects.
Color, sound, and emotions
Most importantly, my decoration is inspired by the somber melody produced by flutes. Generally, flutes produce hollow melancholic sounds, which can combine quite well with other musical instruments, but this largely depends on the nature of the music. I think the black color used in decorating the flute is also reflective of the caliber of sound the instrument produces, given that black is a color that usually connotes a variety of attributes such as elegance, power, mystery, sophistication. It is an exceedingly powerful color that elicits different effects on people – both negative and positive (Olesen). For this reason, the idea behind using it in measured quantities in the decoration was to balance its effects – we did not want to use too much of it since this would likely intimidate other people or appear to be too overpowering. Of course, color plays a vital role in controlling people’s emotions, which is why my decoration only focuses on a particular section of the flute. This sparing decoration also leaves some space for future decoration ideas.
For me, the black decoration on the bear paw design is wholly symbolic – the bear is a strong animal that symbolizes power and fierce courage (‘Bear Symbolism & Meaning | Spirit, Totem & Power Animal’). These are also the same attributes for which the American Indian natives are well known for over the world. Also, the fact that we have used black color—which is also symbolic of power and protection—shows the connection between the ideas that inform the entire decoration process. My decoration is, therefore, a story within a story and is symbolic in its entirety.
In decorating my flute as I did, I want to portray it as my totem object – something that represents my spirituality as well as my personality. I am calm and composed and generally live life on the safe edge. I am loyal and fiercely protective of the people I love (like the bear). For me, simplicity is the key to having a meaningful life, especially during these times when vanity is a significant part of many people’s lives. People chase for things that add little or no value to their lives, focusing on pleasing others, and attempting to create images of who they are not. The simple nature of the flute represents this aspect of simplicity.
In conclusion, the flute for me is more than a musical instrument – in its raw, unadorned nature, it represents values that I hold dear, such as simplicity and soberness. Once I decorate it, it becomes symbolical of many other qualities and attributes that reflect me as a person. By incorporating a montage of color, symbols, and design, my decorative process has converted my flute into a totem object that signifies much more than just the ability to produce sound. It symbolizes rational, value-based living, and testifies to my personality and character.
Works Cited
‘Bear Symbolism & Meaning | Spirit, Totem & Power Animal.’ What Is My Spirit Animal | Spirit, Totem, & Power Animals? whatismyspiritanimal.com, https://whatismyspiritanimal.com/spirit-totem-power-animal-meanings/mammals/bear-symbolism-meaning/. Accessed 13 May 2020.
Olesen, Jacob. ‘Color Meanings – All About Colors and Symbolism.’ Color-Meanings.Com, 2020. www.color-meanings.com, https://www.color-meanings.com/.
Wolf, Jan Michael. One Heart: Journey with the Native American Flute. 5th ed., Jan Michael Looking Wolf, 2019.