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 Nine






Cutting the Voicing
"The Lip"

Now that the opening that will become the voicing has been made, the "lip" has to be cut. The "lip" is the beveled edge that the air stream must hit when it exits the mouthpiece/air way.



(Click on pictures for a larger view)

marking

Use the thin end of the slot stick (the end without the masking tape) to press a line in the cut edge. This mark is where the "point" of the lip will be.

voicing2

Use the fettling knife (tool #4) to cut the clay under the mark just made. Cut at an angle as shown in figures 3 (circled) and 4 (cutaway of the voicing from the side). Do not cut your ocarina apart this way! This was done for illustration purposes only.
The purple area shows the the angle of the knife in relation to the voicing's side wall. Figure 5 shows the cuts when viewed straight on (white arrows).

voicing3

The cuts, viewed from underneath.

udercutting the voicing

Place the thin end of the slot stick (without the tape) on the mark previously made with it. Hold at a slight angle and press firmly in the direction of the arrows. (Figures 6, 7) The slot stick will slice away most (but not all) of the clay that is under the mark (indicated in purple in figure 7).

To prevent the clay above the mark from being distorted, firmly hold the frosting knife (tool #10) against it. (Figure 6)


Next: Cutting the Voicing - 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



Search | Home | Pottery | Pottery and Ocarina Links | Creating Ocarinas & Pottery | Dunster Ocarinas | Other Ocarina Articles

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

Back to Top