Patterned Rainsticks

Many traditional cultures believed the sound of falling rain made by rainsticks could produce a storm.  Some cultures used the dead stalks of a cactus and filled it with pebbles to make these instruments.  Thorns from the plant were pressed into the dead wood. It is the pebbles hitting against these thorns as they fall down the tube that create the rain-like sound.  A simple rainstick can be made by taking a cardboard tube and filling it with pebbles, shells, beans or seeds.  Nails inserted through the cardboard slow down and amplify the sound made as the materials fall through the tube, mimicking the sound of rain.

For this project I use leftover upholstery fabric tubes and a variety of fill materials. The students hammer nails around the tube from top to bottom and then fill the tubes with a mixture of beans, rice, corn and pebbles, experimenting until they get a sound they like.  After the tubes are filled the ends are plugged.  The cardboard tubes are then painted with a thin wash of brown paint to make them look like wood. Decorative dotted patterns can added using a stick dipped in paint. 

Learning concepts: line, patterning, exposure to art from other cultures