Lovely, Lowly, Clover

When I first read the description of the new Ballad harp from Musicmakers, I was a little dismayed. It featured a lighter tension and closer spacing of the strings. I thought, 'How irritating.'  Also, I had already made two harps and what did I need with another?  That was in the spring.

    Over the summer, I joined the Bright Knowledge Harp Circle and began the wonderful adventure of a deeper dive into playing the harp. I realized there were all kinds of possibilities for improving my playing and clarifying my expression. Also, I had experienced several more months of living with a raging pandemic and, well, rage in general. It occurred to me that having a lighter, more sensitive touch might be good in today's world--we could use a little more yin to balance the yang being thrown about. So, when there was a deal I couldn't refuse, I ordered the DIY Ballad Kit from Musicmakers. It arrived a couple of days later.

     I knew what I would name my new harp long before she arrived unassembled: Clover. That is not a surprise to those of you who know me. I love clover and learned from Carly-the-Dog to spot 4-leafs. My dream lakeside studio was called Clover Slope. But, clover, the plant, does not need my endorsement. This humble little plant is a wonder! Of course it is charming above ground, with a sweet scent when abundantly in bloom and the leaves, whether in 3s, 4s or more are so pleasing in their simple way. Below ground, clover is quite industrious, fixing nitrogen in the soil so that it is accessible to vegetation. And, generally, clover comes to us as a grace. I included two four leafs on the soundboard to proclaim Clover's identity. 

       Working on Clover, I remembered the challenges and delights of building an instrument. I highly recommend Musicmakers kits. I built my first harp with no previous woodworking experience. Clover is my fifth instrument and so I knew more, but I forget things in between and always learn something new with each project. This time, I learned about orbital sanders--they save a lot of time! Still, building a harp is quite a yang exercise. There is a lot of brute force and endurance involved. I was looking forward to practicing some yin-action!

      After all the glueing, drilling and sanding (lots of sanding!) it was time to address my favorite part of the project: Clover's coat of color. I decided on a clover pink and since I couldn't find what I was looking for and I didn't want anything too heavy that would affect the sound, I created my own custom color with acrylic paints I already have on hand. I diluted the paint, so that it was a stain and I brushed it on and rubbed off the extra. It turned out to be even more beautiful than I expected as the wood shown through as gold. The effect was kind of a rose-gold.

     After the stain and multiple topcoat applications, it was time to install all the hardware (a very yang activity) and finally, the strings were attached (lots of strings attached in this world). It took me almost 4 weeks to build. I wanted to take my time because, surely this will be my last harp project (family members hope). 

     After all the strings were attached, and as I began the process of tuning, I created a song in praise of clover to be the first thing I would play on Clover.  Here is a snippet of that tune...

I played my clover creation on Clover for a couple of Zoom groups and everyone had clover stories: you can suck the nectar out of blooms on the large purple clover, horses get clover-slobber when they've been in a patch. Clover truly strikes a chord when we consider how the simpler things in life can nourish us so well (hopefully without clover-slobber...)