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 Fifteen






Alignment of the Mouthpiece

This is the most important aspect in the construction of an ocarina - aligning the narrow exit slot of the mouthpiece with the beveled edge (or lip) of the voicing opening. If not done correctly, the ocarina may not work well or not work at all.

In order to test the sound, the two ocarina body pieces must be joined again. I don't want to permanently join them yet, so they will be attached to each other temporarily with coils of moist clay.


(Click on pictures for a larger view)

tuning 1

Wet the outside edges of the two body parts with a finger tip, then seal with coils of moist clay. This helps the clay coils to adhere better. Leave no gaps; there must be no air leaks.

leveling the voicing

Check to see that the sides of the voicing opening are straight and level with each other. If not, lay the flat "blade" of tool #10 (or a slot stick) across the voicing opening, and press up from underneath.

voicing align

Lay the mouthpiece (with slot stick inside) into the opening cut for it. The slot stick should be centered in the voicing opening.

Check the fit around the mouthpiece. If the opening is too large (Figure 3), add coil(s) of clay to fill any large gaps (Figure 4).

tuning 4

Hold the mouthpiece in place with a coil of clay and look down inside it (the mouthpiece) toward the narrow exit slot. You should see the beveled edge (or point) of the lip. (Figure 5 and diagram A on the right) It will be defined by light showing in the top of the exit slot, and darkness on the bottom.
(Figure 6 and diagram B on the right) The mouthpiece is too high; the exit slot is above the point of the lip so no shadow line is seen.
(Figure 7 and diagram C on the right) show when the mouthpiece is tilted too low; all that is visible is the shadow below the lip.

tuning 4

Diagram showing mouthpiece-to-voicing lip alignment.


Next: Align Mouthpiece - 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


All rights reserved © JR or K Dunster, 2001-2005

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