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I began by cutting three roughly symmetrical, "bulb-shaped" pieces from dry rawhide; two deer, one cow. The pieces were then soaked until pliable and soft enough to sew by hand, using beeswax-coated nylon thread and #8 or #10 glover's needle.
I first sew two of the pieces, up one side, nearly to the top. The smooth "hair side" is on the inside and rougher "flesh side" out, so that the piece is sewn inside-out.
I then sew the third piece onto the second, taking the stitches up to the same height as first side; then do the same to connect first and third piece.
NB: Note that a short segment of the last "side" is left unstitched, so that the resulting "neck" of the rattle head can be sewn onto whatever handle is chosen for the piece.
A small segment of rawhide is roughly cut to fill the space created at the "top" of the "bulb", soaked and then sewn into place (with different colour thread), while excess rawhide is trimmed off.
I used a plain screwdriver, with a wide, blunt handle, to turn the -still soggy- rattle head rightside out.
The rattle head is then filled with sand and left to dry.
With this piece, I made two minor mistakes: The long blunt wooden spoon handle that I was using to pack the sand into the head "punched through" on a weak part of the seam. The sand was released from the hand too soon and there was some movement in the skin as it finished drying. Both; errors in patience.
The "neck" of the rattle is soaked, then stretched over the antler to check fit. It is removed and filled with beads, then placed back and the unfinished side sewn shut. When it was dry, I soaked the area of stitching that had been punched through and added more stitches to close the gap. Not perfect, but better than glueing something over the hole.
Piece shown, before display at Kenora Farmer's Market
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