Posted on May 26, 2018 June 20, 2018

In search of the perfect handpan

The handpan is a new melodic percussive instrument invented less than 20 years ago. It was invented in Bern, Switzerland and consists of 2 curved shells of steel, glued together and painstakingly tuned into a musical scale. Unlike the steel drum, the handpan is played by hand. Each note that is struck activates several overtones, giving handpans a mesmerising and rich sound.

Because the handpan is still rare, you can’t buy this instrument at your local music shop… You have to order a handpan directly from the maker. A quality handpan costs between £1,500 and £3,000. Due to the high cost of these drums I wanted to find one and personally check its quality so we flew to several places to check them out in South East Asia. After a month of searching I found THE ONE.

I met Thai, who we had been trading with for 11 years already, buying quality musical instruments made by his family. Thai had to spend 5 years studying and perfecting his drum. I went to check them out and see how they were made.

These drums take many man hours to produce. Everything is done by hand. There are no shortcuts that can be made when producing a drum of this quality. The most time consuming part is tuning the drum shell – finely tuning the steel shell by striking it gently with a steel hammer. This is done while measuring the frequency of each tap. Tap, tap, tap, for hours on end until each note gives off the perfect frequency. All in all it takes around 36 hours to tune one drum. That’s 4 hours per note for a 9 note drum! Patience is indeed a virtue.

Since the tuning of a Handpan is a very complex and complicated task, i will just point out the basics. You could write a book (and people have) on the specifics of tone colours and so on.

All the Tonefields are shaped elliptical. When the Tonefield/ the Dimples/ the Ding gets a beat by the player, the two axis of the field start swinging and a sound is born. Because of the different length of the 2 ellipse-axis this sound is created by two overlapping, harmonic but different frequencies. Advanced players are using this knowledge, to “filter” frequencies. You can ‘press’ one finger on one of the axis to prevents the swinging of this axis. In this way, you get out much more different sounds from just one Tonefield.

Once this mammoth task has been completed and each note is tuned correctly the drum moved on to the paint shop where it is coated in aluminium paint then baked in an industrial oven.

Now these amazing inventions are ready to play. Check the gallery below and the video of Thai cousin playing the finished article. These drums are available exclusively on Terrapin Trading. These are drum that truly make the grade. 5 years of study and graft have went into the project and it supports 30 jobs. We pay Fair Trade prices for these drums so you get a superb quality drum, made by the original method, thai and 30 workers get paid properly for their work. Each drum comes with a quality hand made case and playing diagram plus links to great videos on how to play, right from the start until you master this incredible instrument.

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Posted on November 14, 2017 March 7, 2018

ICELAND: Making the worlds 4th most expensive country affordable

My family and I recently travelled to Iceland for a 2 week break and for me to source our new products. It’s well known that Iceland is one of the most expensive places in the world to visit but is it possible to make it more affordable? The answer is yes. Follow some of the tips in this guide and you will save yourselves a lot of money. I’m not saying that Iceland will become a cheap experience – it won’t but it will allow those of you who can nearly afford it to afford it.

1. Book your flights early.

This old chestnut again! It’s true though. Wizzair and Easyjet offer amazingly cheap flights from Europe if you get in early and are flexible with dates. Use the flight comparison site skyscanner to save you going to each airline directly and save you time. Book an extra bag to take food with you. Iceland’s food prices in the supermarket are 2-3 times more expensive than in the UK. Nothing is cheaper so the extra bag with Easyjet is about £40 which allows you to pack about 15kg of food to cook. You will definitely save £40 buying it at home – especially if its alcohol. Alcohol is super expensive to buy over there. You can only buy alcohol over 3% ABV from the government ran Vinbodin store.

Vinbodin is the only place to buy alcohol outside of bars and restaurants

Bonus Supermarket is the cheapest in Iceland. There are very few and they don’t even open on Sundays (our last night was a Sunday). You can buy beers under 3% from the supermarkets but nothing else.

2. Get a kitchen

We used Airbnb to get ourselves a whole house and kitchen. Its comparable with hotel prices but with the bonus of more space and facilities. Almost all have Wi-Fi. This allows savings to be made easily. When you consider even a hotdog costs £7 you realise that eating out is going to kill your wallet. We cooked most of the time. We still had to buy food over and above what we carried in the extra bag (see (1)) but being able to buy from Supermarkets such as Bonus (The cheapest supermarket in Iceland) and Netto is way cheaper than eating in a restaurant.

3. Use the public bus/boat

It’s hard to find out about it on the net. Those Icelanders are keeping quiet about it but it’s possible to get to and from the airport by public bus and avoiding the overpriced flybus. Sure it doesn’t run quite as often and takes 10-15 minutes later but if it’s going to save you 20 bucks then it’s worth it. The official flybus is 2700ISK each way (approx. £20) whereas the public bus is only 750ISK. You can find the timetable here. If you want to go to Videy Island (Where Yoko Onos Peace Tower is) then don’t book a tour. Use the boat. It’s so much cheaper at 1000ISK. Check the timetable here. You can get over gratis on John Lennon’s birthday thanks to Yoko (9 October).

4. Use your legs

Reykjavik is a very compact city with most of the mains sites within a 2km square area. It’s not difficult to walk around and not need any transport within the city. The BSI bus terminal is also easily within walking distance of the centre. Only a 5 minute walk from the southern point of the lake.

We even walked out to the fabulous Grotta Lighthouse at the cities westernmost extreme and it only took about 40 minutes along the lovely coast. Make sure its low tide so you can actually reach the lighthouse which is on a little island on the peninsula. It’s well worth it by the way. Tide times can be found here. It’s a great free place to see the Northern Lights.

We bought some beuatiful lava bracelets, made from the local lava which can be purchased here.

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Posted on October 14, 2017 October 19, 2017

The Art of Block Printing in Sanganar & Jaipur, Rajesthan, India

Terrapin Trading is always keen to keep traditional crafts alive and so while on another Indian opus looking for new products I learned of the famous block printing traditions in Rajesthan.

Basing myself in the Pink City in Jaipur and explored its labyrinthine streets, heaving with talented craftsmen making everything from you can imagine. During my early morning runs (before the sun gets too high and the heat hits) I was sometimes accompanied by elephants and camels although more usually dogs.

Block printing is practised in the Jaipur area and it the technique of printing patterns onto fabric by means of a dye and a hand carved block of wood which is pressed onto the material. This art has been practised here for 300 years and despite huge competition from modern printing techniques it still endures.

Before going to the centre of the industry in Sanganer I wanted to learn more about the technique and its history so we took a visit to the excellent Anhoki Museum of Block Printing where you learn all about the fabrics, the patterns and what they mean to each area. Its an excellent resource and we even got to watch a craftsman making a block for printing and to try our hand at the printing itself. You are able to buy a tshirt or piece of blank material in the shop so you can have a go yourself. After the museum I had a relaxing chai in the museums shady garden cafe.

The Sanganeri printing technique developed between the 16th & 17th century. During colonial times it became one of the major export items for the East India Company, and its trademark was the original dye used for printing designs. Sanganer was a far less sanitised experience than the polished presentation of the museum. Real in-the-field production! I walked along a whole street of tiny little shops with craftsmen, chisel in hand, carving out blocks in the traditional way.

I was told that down by the river I could see the textiles produced by these blocks being washed and dried in the sun. I had to pay my way in to this area by means of a little baksheesh to the foreman of the little outdoor dyeing factory.

Here, men and women were up to their knees dying the printed fabrics and hanging them up on huge bamboo drying lines. This was a fascinating day. I had been asking all the people i met how to get a hold of some antique blocks that i could buy and finally i struck gold!

A man made a call to his brother in Jaipur and on my return to the pink city I was taken on a mystery tour on the back of a moto to the basement of a residential area east of the Pink City. I had been taken to a the store of a retired block printer and he was willing to sell me some of the beautiful blocks he had carved over the years. You can see these and maybe even buy one here.

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