On Sunday we participated in the Mummers Festival's Ugly Stick Workshop with Elizabeth's parents!
Ugly Stick Selfie
First of all, an Ugly Stick is an instrument, traditionally used in kitchen parties or when mummering in rural Newfoundland. It is made up of a broom handle with bottle caps and tin cans attached to it, and a boot on the bottom. It is usually creatively decorated and is played by hitting the ugly stick with a drumstick.
The reason that there was an Ugly Stick Workshop is because of the ongoing Mummers Festival in St. John's. Next Saturday we're planning to attend the Mummers Parade, and the Ugly Sticks we created will be part of our costumes.
The reason that there was an Ugly Stick Workshop is because of the ongoing Mummers Festival in St. John's. Next Saturday we're planning to attend the Mummers Parade, and the Ugly Sticks we created will be part of our costumes.
The first step was to collect all of the required items - 60 bottlecaps, 48 felt tins, 12 screws, 1 square of wood, 1 can, and 1 broom stick.
Then we used a large nail and hammer to puncture holes in all of the bottle caps. 12 of the holes have to be smaller, so that when you put them on the screws, they hold the other bottle caps in place.
Then we stacked 5 bottle caps on each screw, starting with the bottle cap with the smaller hole. In between each bottle cap we added a felt tin.
Then we used a screwdriver to screw the screws into place. Luckily, there were already some holes started for us, so we knew where to place the screws. These screws with the bottle caps are one of the main sources of noise for an ugly stick.
After that, we screwed a tin can to the top of the broomstick and a boot (sneaker) to the bottom. We were also given a wooden stick with notches in it to use to "play" the Ugly Stick... Then it was time to decorate!
They provided electrical tape in various colours, pom-poms, plastic bottle caps, wool, scraps of fabric etc. We had a lot of fun decorating our Ugly Sticks.
They provided electrical tape in various colours, pom-poms, plastic bottle caps, wool, scraps of fabric etc. We had a lot of fun decorating our Ugly Sticks.
The cool thing about the Ugly Stick project was that everyone there had the same decorating materials at their disposal (unless they brought something of their own), but no two Ugly Sticks were the same!
Here are some more pictures of the Ugly Stick-making process, and some pictures of the final products:
