How to Make a Sweet Potato Ocarina out of clay, instructions on how to make a ceramic 10 finger hole ocarina... Ocarinas - clay whistle flutes, sweet potato. Ceramic musical instruments.

Ocarinas by K. Dunster

How to Make a Clay Sweet Potato Ocarina

Page Twelve






The Finger Holes

This next step is marking and cutting the finger holes.

One of the most frequent complaints of beginning whistle and ocarina makers is that they lose the sound when finger holes are added. Probable causes of this problem range from 1) the voicing being cut too large, 2) the finger holes being located too close to the voicing, 3) and/or improper alignment of the mouthpiece to the lip of the voicing. To minimize this problem, I attach the mouthpiece temporarily first, then position and cut the finger holes. I am able to test the sound with all the finger holes uncovered, and if the sound is unsatisfactory, I can "fiddle" with the alignment and the voicing size until I get a clear sound. Then the mouthpiece may be attached permanently. If the ocarina will play with all the finger holes uncovered first, it will also play when they are covered. If the lowest note (the note when all the finger holes are covered) is faint or over blown easily, that is simple to remedy. Slide the mouthpiece back from the beveled edge to increase the size of the voicing a tiny bit. The lowest note will sound stronger. Further instructions for adjusting the voicing size are shown on page 17.

(Click on pictures for a larger view)

finger holes1

Use pieces of moist clay to temporarily join the top and bottom pieces of the ocarina body.
finger holes2t

With a coil of clay, attach the mouthpiece. There is no need the smooth the coil since it will be removed after the finger hole positions are marked.

finger holes3

Hold the ocarina in a comfortable playing position. Pretend to blow into the mouthpiece. Let your fingers rest on the ocarina as naturally as possible without strain.
finger holes4l2

With fingers and thumb in position, trace around them using tool #6. Repeat for other hand. There should be 8 finger outlines on the top, and 2 thumb outlines on the bottom of the ocarina (on either side of the voicing). The thumb holes should be located as far from the voicing as is comfortable to help prevent weak high notes.

thumbs back

Thumb holes marked on back.

Next: Cutting the Finger Holes - continued >>



Introduction and Tools 1 | Forming the Body 2 3 | Making the Mouthpiece 4 5 6 | Position Mouthpiece-Cut Voicing 7 8 9 10 11 | Finger Holes 12 13 14 | Align Mouthpiece 15 16 | Adjust Voicing Size 17 | Attach Mouthpiece 18 19 | Tuning 20 | Assembling the Body 21 22 | Tidying up the Ocarina-Finishing 23 24 25 26 27 | Plaster Ocarina Mold | Clay Ocarina Mold | Make an Ocarina using a Clay Mold | Make an Ocarina Without a Mold | Glaze a Ceramic Ocarina | Glaze a Dragon Ocarina



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