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This Celtic harp was a pet project of mine that took a great deal of time to finish, but was well worth the effort in the end. I purchased an unfinished, 22 in. Celtic lap harp from “Stoney End Folk Harps”
Standing 30 inches high, 17 inches deep, and 10 inches wide, it weighs 7 pounds. After spending weeks researching Celtic artwork I created a custom set of designs for the harp (as seen in the above pictures.) I hand sanded the instrument, drew on the designs and wood burned them, sprayed on the layers of lacquer installed the hardware and strung it myself. The process of work itself took about 3 weeks I believe (not counting research time) but the end result was well worth it.
In Celtic lore, the swan was a symbol of pure love, innocence and purity. Swans figure largely in the sad tale, “The Children of Lir” where four beloved children are turned into swans by their jealous step mother, Aoife. However, they were so pure and kind that her dark magic failed to turn them into ugly creatures. Instead, they became beautiful swans and their inner beauty still shone through clearly. The children also kept their voices, and their singing was so sweet that it soothed the sick and brought happiness to their people for three hundred years.
A lot of thought and planning went into this harp, and I chose the theme of swans due to that story as well as the fact that some relatively new research has actually found there to be soothing and healing qualities in music - especially from harps. It only seemed right to decorate it with symbols of peace, love, purity and healing.
