Posts Tagged ‘ocarina’

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Ocarina Making Satisfaction


2012
02.15

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Posted in Ceramic Musical Instruments, Construction Techniques, MugPhlute Chronicles | Comments Off on Ocarina Making Satisfaction

Sculptural OcarinaIt has been a while since I took a day to construct a sculptural ocarina. For those who have not been following along, my sculptural ocarinas are fully functional, single octave ceramic musical instruments plus there is a significantly different, sculptural look to each of them. My earlier face-sculptured ocarinas did not have the detailed facial features of this piece.  For several months I have been studying portrait sculpture and facial anatomy to get a better understanding of how to form facial emotions with some degree of believability.  Even though the face on this ocarina is caricature-like, I would like to believe that the direction is toward believability.

One commenter on my Flickr account noted that this instrument looks either Mayan or Aztec.  That is intentional and may be more evident if I can master the making of custom decals…but that is a post for another day.

Ocarinas with this much ornamentation (approximately 9 separate pieces assembled) brings with it a greater risk that cracking or breakage may happen in the firing process.  The majority of these pieces survive.  Some do not function as well after firing as a ceramic musical instrument due to warpage in the airway and tone-producing fipple area…all the more reason to at least have a surviving sculptural piece that can make a great conversation piece.

I have been asked on several occasions, “Why are these pieces so expensive?”  The total time to form, carve, assemble, tune, fire, glaze, and re-glaze several times can be upward of 20-30 hours. Factor in the cost of materials and energy and what may look like a toy become something of a serious investment.  For me personally, the “AH-HA” moment when a new friend hears the flute-like sound for the first time and inevitably smiles one of those happy, raised-eyebrow smiles makes it all worthwhile.

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Sculpture in Music?


2011
02.28

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Posted in Artist's Thoughts, Ceramic Musical Instruments | 2 Comments »

Ocarina - Clay Musical InstrumentDeb and I have both laughed at the influence that “Davey Jones” from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest may have had on this particular piece.  I had mentioned something about the remarkable make-up job and the animation of Davey’s tentacles while watching the movie just recently.  I can accept that there may have been a seed planted, but I’d really like to think that this particular clay musical instrument, an ocarina, is an exploration of sculpture.

So many traditional brass instruments are remarkable works of functional, sculptural art and for the most part are admired only as a delivery system for music, and not as works of art that stand on their own merit.  Flutes and tone sculptures from numerous ancient civilizations are highly decorated, well formed works of art that are celebrated in museums across the globe.  Somewhere along the industrial revolution time line, we lost the celebration of the artist-craftsman-instrument-maker and the products of their hands. This Oca-regal is simply an effort to add attention to the sculptural qualities of a simple, ceramic flute.  This is a variation on a theme from my previous projects, but I am thinking this direction may have some merit for instruments that are intentionally made to be displayed rather than locked up in an instrument case.

Comments Off on Clay Ocarina – “Escape” Series

Clay Ocarina – “Escape” Series


2011
01.30

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Clay Ocarina - Ceramic Musical InstrumentWhile I am patiently waiting for all of the new Udu’s to dry, I have ventured back to a familiar friend for a new series of ocarinas.  Changes in the way that I construct and assemble the airway tubes made things much more predictable for extending the tonal range of these pinch pot construction ceramic musical instruments.  New to this series is the addition of facial features embossed on the front surface of the ocarina.  These gnome-like faces are figuratively escaping the bonds of the clay but do not reveal themselves in complete detail.  They are a metaphor for the music that also escapes the hollow body of the instrument, reaching the human ear only when someone (musician) is there to force the music to leave.

This limited series is hand built from a small batch of recycled stoneware that I have been hoarding for over a year.  During that period, the aging process produced a very plastic and workable clay perfect for pinch pot construction.  So far, there are 5 of these ocarinas completed and ready for firing.  Ocarina Detail - Sculptural FaceEach has been designed for display as a wall-hung sculpture and each one is a fully functional single octave+ flute that employs typical penny whistle or song flute fingering.  Construction generally takes about 3-4 hours for each, excluding time needed between construction and carving phases to allow the clay partial drying.

With a little luck and a happy reduction firing schedule, the Escape Series will make it into the gallery in about three weeks.

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New Ocarinas and a MugPhlute


2010
11.21

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Posted in Ceramic Musical Instruments, Glazing and Firing | Comments Off on New Ocarinas and a MugPhlute

Ocarinas & MugPhluteThe last batch of glaze tests included a few pinch pot ocarinas and a MugPhlute.  The natural look of the reduction fired stoneware with minimal glaze accents seems to work well. The pieces in this image are all high-fired stoneware with red iron oxide  brushed into the textured and stamped features.  The glaze is St. John’s Black, applied with a brush.  The Bailey gas kiln, loaded with these clay instruments as well as student projects from this semester, was fired to cone 10.

This semester’s wheel-throwing course pulled me away from making the usual quantity of ceramic musical instruments, but it has also opened new avenues to explore.  Having a respectable palette of stamping, texturing, and glazing combinations will make future project planning easier and, hopefully, more predictable.

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Working in the Woods


2010
09.06

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Pinch Pot OcainaFirst of all, parked in a paved space with a motor coach at a state park filled with amenities is hardly the woods. And secondly, doing what I do with clay while sitting beside a campfire is so far removed from work that I should be ashamed for typing in the title of this post. OK. I’m over it, but Manipulating Clay in the Comfort of Resort Living is not the sort of title that gets anyone’s attention, right?

The Labor Day weekend has been glorious and restful and fun.  I pulled out a ball of clay last evening just because it was a different stoneware than I have been using for the last year. Sure, I knew that ultimately it would become an flute or an ocarina, but I began the project with just the slightest idea of what I wanted and more in tune with what the clay was telling me it was capable of doing.  The result is a piece that is a bit eclectic and full of discovery and exploration.  The clay is a high fire stoneware and I am not terribly concerned about the survival of the musical parts if the piece actually turns out to be something worthy of decoration.  That is quite a paradigm shift for me…so I’ll rationalize my title as something that the woods is doing that is working.

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Four Hole Ocarina Magic


2010
07.16

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I am not sure why I decided to do this. It may be simply the challenge to make an ocarina that plays a full octave with only four finger holes. Perhaps it is the frustration of carving out 8 to 12 holes and constantly fighting the airway in order to achieve a reasonable tone. Regardless, John Taylor’s English system for a 4 hole ocarina is the challenge I made for myself while taking some time off from the craziness of the office:

It will be a while before I am confident that I can play using this system. The permutations and combinations of fingering is quite an adjustment from what I learned as a second grader playing a song flute in one of dad’s music classes. There are a few tricks and tips that I need to pry from some of my ocarina building friends, but I am thrilled to better understand the magic of how 4 finger holes in a simple clay instrument can produce a full octave scale.