How to Build a Clay Flute or Ocarina

Ocarinas can even be made from vegetables.

An ocarina, or clay flute, is usually made in a potato-like or a flattened oval shape. It has a mouthpiece and an angled hole that produces a whistling sound. It also has several other holes that can be covered and uncovered by the player's fingers to alter the tone of the whistling sound, thereby creating music. A basic ocarina has four front holes and one back hole.

Things You'll Need

• Ceramics clay
• Parchment paper
• Small, medium and large-diameter drinking straws
• Wooden skewer
• Small wooden craft stick
• Clay slip
• Loop-sculpting tool or paper clip twisted into a loop
• Knife
• Kiln

Instructions

1. Divide a large handful of clay in half. Flatten one half of the clay on parchment paper into an oval disk about as big as your palm, ¼ inch thick. Indent the clay disk with your thumb just to one side of the center so that the sides of the thumbprint slope downward from the elongated end toward the middle of the disk.

2. Punch a hole with a middle sized drinking straw inside the thumbprint closest to the center of the disk. This creates a hole at the bottom of the sloping sides.

3. Make a small slit on each elongated end of the disk with a wooden skewer. The slits should be about 1/8 inch long and go all the way through the disk. Both slits should be on a line with the hole you punched in the previous step.

4. Turn the disk over onto a new piece of parchment paper so that the thumbprint is on the bottom. Press a small wooden craft stick into the disk slightly so that one end covers half the hole and the other end covers the slit closest to the thumbprint.

5. Cover the craft stick with another piece of clay about as big as your thumb. Cover only the part of the stick that is pressed into the disk. Make sure the end of the clay covering the stick does not protrude past the side of the hole under the stick; you may have to use another craft stick to square off the end. You should be able to see the stick on both ends of this piece of clay.

6. Round the piece of clay into an arch shape and smooth the edges onto the disk. Make sure the end of the disk protrudes past the arched piece of clay, exposing the slit under the wooden stick. Remove the wooden craft stick from the disk by gently wiggling it as you pull it out, then set the disk aside.

7. Form the remainder of the clay into an oval-shaped mound on a piece of parchment paper. Peel it off the paper. It should have a flat, oval side about half the size of the oval disk you already created.

8. Use the wire tool or looped paperclip to hollow out the inside of the mound until the sides are about ½ inch thick. Smooth the inside of the hollowed-out mound with your fingers.

9. Make four holes equidistant from each other in the top of the oval, hollow mound with a wooden skewer. Widen two of the holes by punching them out with a large drinking straw. These two large holes should lie along a long side of the oval.

10. Widen a third hole with a small drinking straw. Make another hole with the wooden skewer halfway between the smallest hole and the large hole next to it and slightly outside the square formed by the four original holes. This last hole will be at the top of the ocarina.

11. Use the loop tool or paperclip to hollow out an arch in the side of the oval mound on the end opposite from where you made the fifth hole. Dab slip around the edge of the hollow mound and along the arch you just carved out.

12. Place the mound on the flat disk, fitting the carved arch over the arched piece of clay you applied to the flat disk. About half of the arched clay should stick out the end of the mound, and this forms the mouthpiece of the ocarina. Smooth on more slip around the seam to seal the mound to the flat disk.

13. Trim the disk even with the mound and arched clay with a knife. Smooth the edges with your fingers and make sure the seams are sealed, leaving the four top holes open, as well as the hole where the wooden craft stick was. Let the clay dry sufficiently then fire it in a kiln to finish the ocarina.

Tips & Warnings

• You can glaze or paint the ocarina any way you wish.

• Make holes or notches in the ocarina so it can be worn around your neck on a cord.

References

• YouTube: An Ocarina to Make in 10 Minutes
• Green Verdugo: How to Make a Clay Sweet Potato Ocarina
• Green Verdugo: Make a Clay Ocarina

Resources

• YouTube: Make an Ocarina