INSIDE ‘COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 CHARLYNN TOEWS Bizarre crafts OME TIME ago, in Nova Scotia, my husband and I were invited to this other pilal’s place for dinner. be His wife and I were trying to find “some point of connection while the men talked about turbo props or line indocs or codfish Stocks or whatever. She asked me, “‘Do you crochet?’’ when 1 ad- mired something she had made. “No, no, I don't,” I said regretfully. “How about knitting?”’ “No, I, no, I never really, no,” I apologized again, Embroidery? No, well, once sort of. Sew? No, not really. Tole? Papier mache? No, no. T think then she cast aboul, wondering what on earth I might do. She had not yet hit upon read- ing, Which we would discuss later with some satisfaction. In the meantime, while I] was frantically scrambling around in my brain for something more positive and interesting to say, she asked, ‘Do you have any hobby?’’ And right at that moment | had been thinking about a creative craft I had completed just that day, as a matter of fact. You see, my sister had mailed me an intrigu- ing letter full of romance and conflict on the back side of a photocopy. The paper was icgal size, The photocopy was of my sister’s head. In profile, eyes squeezed shut tight and cov- ered with hang-nailed thumb and finger, she had laid her-head on the photocopier at work, closed the lid as much as possible, and pressed § 1/2 x 14 and 100%. Perhaps she had an accomplice. This activity was something the graphics department at ber work did for fun, I understand. She probably wrote the letter at work, too. Naturally, I was pleased as punch in that foggy and foreign land to receive a love letter instead of an electric bill, and was moved and entertained by the written part and amazed and charmed by the photocopy. So I framed it and put it up on the wall, You take four thin strips of balsa wood, two short and two long, or one board of balsa wood aud cut it appropriately if you already have an Xacto knife. You measure the wood to malch the photocopy of the head first, of course. Glue the wood directly onto the photocopy. Use white glue — it has held admirably for many years so far. To further dramatize the black-and-white, pores-and-all gritty realism of the piece, you may wish to draw a black line along the middle of each strip of wood. Use a ruler and a felt pen. Do this before you glue, or you may get a lumpy line like I did. _ Finally, attach wire or string to the back of the frame with something and hang it a an existing nail. But J felt [ didn’t know our dinner hostess well enough to explain this craft to her. And is it really a hobby? Whenever anyone asks me now if I have a hobby, though I can reply with all sincerity *‘Well, whenever my sister sends me a photocopy of her head, I frame it.” Here's another bizarre craft you may want to try at home. You will need: Wa smallish house with some unfortunate inte- rior views Mi drop cloth made out of canvas {get it at a paint store, not an art store) @an illegal (pre 1990 or so) crib, specifically the ladder-like frame that held up the mattress Mia pot of strong tea Bi pencil, ruler, paint, brushes, good music, nap- ping toddler, abitlty to ignore dirty dishes, etc, Now you are ready to make a screen that looks iike a fake book case to hid your washing machine from the living room. First, sweep the kitchen floor. Next, lay the canvas down on the floor and put the frame on top of it. Measure, sketch and paint the fake books on the canvas. Cut and trim the canvas to fit nicely and attach it to the back of the frame with staples. or thumblacks or little nails or screws, Note: if you paint the canvas with tea first to better match the colour of the wood frame, you must remeasure the canvas before you cut it Tea shrinks canvas, who knew? Finally, lean the Hghtweight yel sturdy fake book case against the washing machine, Voila! Inner ‘peace bas been achieved’ and those awkward silences at dinner parties vanquished, ina few easy sieps. Ry SALWA FARAH THE DEER hide stretched around the circular cedar frame resonates with the heartbeat of Mother earth. The ttaditional native drum symbolizes the circle of life — continual and in- ferconnected. Caroline Daniels — ex- plained this basic philoso- phy behind the drum to a group of people during a two-day dium making ses- sion. About a dozen peopie made their own pexsonal drums at the workshop held on August 27-28 at the First Nations Resource Centre at Clarence Michiel Elementary, The first step in the pro- cess is to make a circular cedar frame on which to stretch the hide. David Rattrac, principal administrator of the Stikine school district, made the frames, He was also the one who taught Daniels and Bar- bara Toye-Walsh the drum making technique. SECTION B CRIS LEYKAUF 638-7283 ing out a drum beat © PAUL CORCORAM adds the finishing touches on a deer hide drum. He was one of the participants in a drum making workshop lead by Caroline Daniels. “Next on our agenda is to ‘that the woodworking shop will probably be making the selves."’ Daniels explained frames that require a process make the frames our- but of steaming and bending the wood, The frame has to be smoothed out at the joint, must remain rough enough to grip the hide, The size of the frame as well as the tension that the skin is stretched determines the tone of the drum. “You have to do the ten- sion according to the weather — for wet weather you have to make it a little tighter to allow for stretch- ing,’ said Daniels. The type of skin used also determines the tone of the drum. They use deer hide _ from Alberta. “Skins of — different ‘. animals vary in thickness — personal dmms use deer hide and pow-wow drums use moose hide which is thicker.’’ : The skin is then held to- gether with sinew that crisscrosses the back of the drum’ like bicycle wheel spokes, The hardened and dried sinew .is first soaked until it has the consistency of a wet noodle, explained Dawn Martin, enthusiastic participant and principal of Uplands elementary. On the second day of the workshop participants decorated their drums by sketching or tracing their own choice of designs. Many chose traditional coastal native designs; some painted their own personal clan designs and some chose to combine traditions to reflect their personal beliefs. While acrylic paint was used, traditionally colours would have been derived from nature. ‘“Greens and browns are from lichens, reds from ber- ries and black from suet,’’ explained Daniels. The drum sticks were made from cherry wood and were lipped with hide, tied on with sinew. Some of the drums will be used in the school’s music department for both tradi- tional and contemporary les- sons, A gift beyond measure By CRIS LEYKAUF SMOOTHING HER hands over a slight bulge on her stomach, Kendra Rootham shows off the kidney her husband pave her. “Al first it was a big bulge, then the kidney snug- gles down and makes a litile bed,’’ she says. © She sticks her hand nearly a foot out from her stomach, shawing how big her right side was, after the transplant operation. “‘It’s like being half pregnant.’’ Now, three months later, the kidney is just a small bulge on her petite frame. Her husband David is a tali man, and his kidney was also large. Doctors had a hard time squeezing his kid- ney in, she says, laughing. It’s very rare for spouses to be able to donate kidneys to each other. Normally doctors find a match from a close blood relative. If it weren't for David's kidney, Kendra says she'd probably be dead by now. “It's such a wonderful thing my David did,’’ Having a living donor makes the liklihood of get- ling an operation much bet- ter. There are people who’ve been waiting over twa years for a kidney to be donated. And some die before the op- eration. “She was almost dancing down the hall with her IV poles.’’ — David on his wife Kendra, the day after her kidney operation. Kendra nearly didn’t make it to her operation, which took place June 2. ‘Just before the operation David said she looked ‘like a cadaver.’’ Her body was rejecting dialysis — the pro- cess by which machines are used for four to six hours a day to manually clean the blood. That’s the job the kidney would normally do. Kendra had more dif- ficulty than most kidney patients do, sittce her kidney faiture was due to a stroke which happened in Decem- ber, 1995. She was 39 at the time. Kendra nearly died after the stroke, and when she be- gan recovering she had lost her eyesight and was paralyzed on one side. Her kidneys also began to fail. | That June David went in for testing 10 sce if he'd be a good match for Kendra. “T just had a feeling I'd be a good match. | felt like it was going to happen that way.’ Tests came back positive . and Kendra’s condition started to improve. Her speech, memory and coor- dination — which failed be- cause of the stroke — all started to come back. ‘Kendra was so intent on recovering,’’ says David. “St was amazing to watch someone work thal hard.’’ But Kendra says she didn't do it for herself, she did it for David. “David was sa broken he couldn’t help me. I said [ couldn’t do this to him.’ That attitude made a tremendous difference in her recovery from the stroke, When she started therapy, Kendra found she. couldn’t walk forwards, only backwards. So she’d end up laking two steps, then would fall down. Her physiotherapists would nish forward to help her, she says, but she'd be on the floor laughing. It seemed hilarious to her to have to relearn something so simple a two-year-old could do it. Unfortunately the positive aititude wasn’t cnough In January this year Kendra’s - condition started to deteriorate. “She started ta go really quickly,” said David. At St. Panl’s hospital in Vancouver, they were told the earliest they could have the transplant operation would be August. But David feared Kendra wouln’t live that long. They were elated when they learned a time for the operation opened in June, It wasn’t until David was on a gumey in pre-op, that he started thinking about his tole in the operation. With kidney transplants, the operation for the donor is usually the more major of the two. In order to remove a kid- ney doctors must break apart ribs and enter the ab- dominal cavity. But when doctors put a- kidney in someone, - they don't need to go in as far. Instead they leave the cxist- ing kidneys alone, and just hook up the new one. The day after her surgery Kendra came to visit David, who was recovering down the hall in another wing. “She was alitiost dancing ~ down the hall with her LV KENDRA AND DAVID Rootham share more than a marriage --- now they also share a set of Kidneys, David gave her one of his kidneys when hers both failed after a stroke, Having a living donor made a big difference — Kendra probably would have died had she been on a transplant waiting list. If you'd like to be an organ donor, make sure you let your family know your wishes. poles,’’ says David. ~ Just twelve hours after the operalion Kendra’s’ blood toxins were dowi-lo nornial levels.. They “had reached nearly critical levels prior to the operation. © ““T bad no idea Pd have s0 much energy: and health, ” she says. ‘David and Kendra had to stay in Vancolver fora few months following the opcra- lion, so doctors could watch their progress, They’ just came back. to Terrare two wecks ago. |. Now they sit in the living room. of a fawihouse. they purchased last year. It still : looks like ‘someone _ just . moved in’ there are no piclures onthe wall yet. ’ David ‘didn't want. to put any pictures up without Kendra’s okay, and she was too ill to offer an opinion. Between the trips down to Vancouver for doctors ap- pointments, and the three mouths they lived there in the summer, they've barely lived in the townhouse. The help of family and friends during a crisis like this is very important, David emphasizes. - “Financially and emo- tlonally, it’s tough to do it yourself,” he says. Families tend to. try and struggle “through a crisis like this by themselves, atid he thinks that’s the wrong cholce. “You may not realize it, but. there’s so many good people ont there,”” David and. Kendra are very grateful for the caring help they received from the medical community, partic- wlarly in Terrace. Help which went beyond what their jobs required. *You don’t have to feel isolated,”' says David. He goes back to work at Alcan this week, but the recovery process is still ongoing for Kendra, Her eyesight is ertatic, and that affects her balance and how well she walks, “I think I feel so well, but then 1 can’t cross the strect on my own,”” she says. So she’s relied heavily on David. He in tum bas relished the time spent with Kendra, and says the opera- tion made their. close rela- tionship even more intense.