In the previous post, I did mention about glass didgeridoo and only now I had the opportunity to briefly explained how it is made. The didgeridoo is made from 40mm borosilicate ' Pyrex' glass tubing with the standard length of 1500mm. To bend the glass, a combination of oxygen and butane gas at a suitable pressure will produce a high temperature flame that will soften the glass. Glass could be bent when the glass soften. To produce a good bending and to maintain an even thickness of the inside wall, the flame and the glass should be controlled while shaping is being done. When too much heating on the glass, it will collapse and insufficient heating will create a bulge on the bent. This is not an easy thing to do and you will need years of practice to perfect the job. For that matter, glass didgeridoo is not cheap to produce.
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| Glass didgeridoos |
Glass didgeridoo sounds much better than PVC didgeridoo but much attention is needed in keeping it in one piece. Don't knock it on hard surface! Glass didgeridoo is not as versatile as other types of didgeridoos but it is good to add one as your didgeridoos collection.
To make the glass didgeridoo more attractive, I intend to wrap it with woven rattan or woven 'mengkuang' leaves (the leaves are normally made into floor mat as used in traditional Malay homes) with colorful motifs and designs. It will become a truly Malaysian didgeridoo.
By now you should have seen the didgeridoo made in Bali, Indonesia. It is made with beautiful and colorful motifs that represent the rich innovative ideas of Indonesian craftsmanship. Anyway, we still salute the didgeridoo made by the aborigines of the land down under.
After promoting didgeridoo 'Made in Malaysia' for the past few months, I'm surprised to know that there are many excellent didgeridoo players in Malaysia. They have been playing (busking, the better word) all over Malaysia and it is good to see that the music adopted from Australia is being accepted as a new wave of music by the Malaysians.
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| Fabricating glass didgeridoo using a lathe machine |
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| Shaping and bending glass didgeridoo |
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A friend trying out the
newly made wood didgeridoo |
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A lady trying hard to blow
the glass didgeridoo |
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| Grinding a wood didgeridoo |
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| Painting the didgeridoo |
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| Finishing done by my son |
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| A good start, a bamboo didgeridoo |
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