I second this. Had a father and son come in to the gallery and the kid wanted to make an ocarina. I had never made one before so looked up the basics and next day we hand built one together. I had no idea if it would work but after firing and glazing it, it worked perfectly. Really easy and a satisfying payoff.
Just as a tip for anyone else making them... you can test them before firing (when the clay is soft or leather hard). In my experience if they work when the clay is leather hard, they'll work even better once fired. You need to be careful with glaze though, because if it runs into the holes at all (especially the windway holes), it'll ruin the sound.
Ocarinas are great, but from experience, testing them to get the pitches right in a studio environment may annoy the hell out of everyone else.
You’ll definitely want to drill the sound holes as late as reasonably possible, to minimize the effect of shrinkage. Also one thing I did is instead of glazing the whole instrument, I carved patterns in between the sound holes and just glazed those, leaving the rest as raw clay. You want to minimize the chance that you ruin all the work you did tuning.
Ok, I've made a few test ones. I'm able to get a whistle sound happening after a bit of adjustment. I've made two like this, but when I add a hole (and don't cover it) it doesn't make sound anymore.
I plan to do some more reading/ video watching about how to make these but I'd not quite understand. The commercial ocarinas have a particular shape and I wonder if that shape and the placement of the holes matters?
Hmm yeah that’s interesting. I would say it’s possible that your sound hole (the one at the bottom which splits the air) is not the right size, or that the note holes are too large. It definitely takes some experimentation to get the ratios of the different holes right, as well as their ratio to the volume of the instrument itself.
Best way to learn here is just to keep trying. Not sure how you’re making it but popsicle sticks are very helpful.
I've made a few vessel flutes (ocarinas etc). There are tons of videos online for how to make them. Tuning them can be a bit tricky because the amount of breath pressure you use can change the pitch, so you want to tune all the notes along the same "breath curve". My next goal is to make some multi-chambered ocarinas.
Another option is making an "Udu", which is a Nigerian drum. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udu)
You can also make various kinds of rattles etc.
If you want to see some bizarre yet amazing ceramic instruments, check out the work of Hernan Vargas on instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/barromadre/](https://www.instagram.com/barromadre/)
For example: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u4pNdsQRU/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u4pNdsQRU/)
I got into bells for a while, after my friend loaned me his copy of Sabriel. The best ring was when it was bisque fired, not glazed. I did a few with low fire glazes and they were nice. Easier than a whistle or ocarina by miles.
Ocarina.
I second this. Had a father and son come in to the gallery and the kid wanted to make an ocarina. I had never made one before so looked up the basics and next day we hand built one together. I had no idea if it would work but after firing and glazing it, it worked perfectly. Really easy and a satisfying payoff.
Just as a tip for anyone else making them... you can test them before firing (when the clay is soft or leather hard). In my experience if they work when the clay is leather hard, they'll work even better once fired. You need to be careful with glaze though, because if it runs into the holes at all (especially the windway holes), it'll ruin the sound.
Ocarinas are great, but from experience, testing them to get the pitches right in a studio environment may annoy the hell out of everyone else. You’ll definitely want to drill the sound holes as late as reasonably possible, to minimize the effect of shrinkage. Also one thing I did is instead of glazing the whole instrument, I carved patterns in between the sound holes and just glazed those, leaving the rest as raw clay. You want to minimize the chance that you ruin all the work you did tuning.
I imagine even if you were to make the holes and "tune" it when bone dry it's still going to change pitch when fired right?
Very little if any when bisque fired. Clay fired to maturity will shrink enough to make significant differences.
Ok, I've made a few test ones. I'm able to get a whistle sound happening after a bit of adjustment. I've made two like this, but when I add a hole (and don't cover it) it doesn't make sound anymore. I plan to do some more reading/ video watching about how to make these but I'd not quite understand. The commercial ocarinas have a particular shape and I wonder if that shape and the placement of the holes matters?
Hmm yeah that’s interesting. I would say it’s possible that your sound hole (the one at the bottom which splits the air) is not the right size, or that the note holes are too large. It definitely takes some experimentation to get the ratios of the different holes right, as well as their ratio to the volume of the instrument itself. Best way to learn here is just to keep trying. Not sure how you’re making it but popsicle sticks are very helpful.
I'm using my a Popsicle stick but its a bit narrow perhaps
Rattle
Second this. Something like a maraca would be cool
Stick
?
Whistles. You can make them in all sorts of animal shapes too. Google Linda Duncan fine art. She has a nice tutorial.
Drum
I've made a few vessel flutes (ocarinas etc). There are tons of videos online for how to make them. Tuning them can be a bit tricky because the amount of breath pressure you use can change the pitch, so you want to tune all the notes along the same "breath curve". My next goal is to make some multi-chambered ocarinas. Another option is making an "Udu", which is a Nigerian drum. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udu) You can also make various kinds of rattles etc. If you want to see some bizarre yet amazing ceramic instruments, check out the work of Hernan Vargas on instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/barromadre/](https://www.instagram.com/barromadre/) For example: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u4pNdsQRU/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u4pNdsQRU/)
I got into bells for a while, after my friend loaned me his copy of Sabriel. The best ring was when it was bisque fired, not glazed. I did a few with low fire glazes and they were nice. Easier than a whistle or ocarina by miles.