Ocarinas United

Rogers1977 wrote:Hmm. Maybe I should keep a spray bottle handy. Usually when I'm making an ocarina, the clay begins to crack while I'm making the voice hole and finger holes. I remember see some site about this Paperclay. It's supposed to be really high quality and dry slowly. It can even be dried in an oven at 250 degrees for a half hour if you're in a rush.

Paperclay is regular ceramic clay with about 20-25% paper pulp mixed in. Here is a recipe: Link An easy to use paper is toilet paper If you only make a small amount, you can dry out the sloppy mix on a thick layer of newspaper placed on a porous surface (a concrete driveway works well) when the clay dries enough so it isn't too sticky to handle, it will easily peel off the newspaper.

I believe they sell Paperclay in all Michael's stores, so I'll check there.

But surely there's gotta be a reason why makers of the clay ocarina stick to proper clay that is fired in the oven, than air-dried or paper clay

from what ive seen of the air drying clay.
it seems that the normal clay is a lot easier to work with and there are not as many time constraints as you have to worry about the clay drying with air dry clay.

I'm sure the quality is better. But air dry clay is for the people who can't afford a kiln.

I say go for it. Just make sure you "do your homework" first. It's hard to make a triple, and if you mess up it will look like this:



anyway, go for it. just make sure you use the kind of clay that becomes reusable when you wet it (when it's not completely dry, of course).

kissing wrote:Here is a photograph of Icaros Triple ocarina. This was the first triple ocarina ever made (The Italians were the first to make a double ocarina. So the Japanese added another chamber to make the triple).



This is the one that Osawa uses in his Czardas video:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=wilmHR3DiQo[/youtube]

This is the first time that I actually see a close-up photo of an Icaros ocarina. Do you happen to know if they have a website or any other form of contact?

Thanks!

Yeah, those Icaros are nice. They look a little weird. And in that picture it looks like it's wood (judging from the chips around the holes) but it's got to be clay. Like how the Maparams kind of look like plastic, but they're clay. It's been a while since I've been here. Lots of drumline stuff. This is a little off topic, but our drumline won first place at WGI World Championships with a score of 97.2 (a new record for Scholastic A class). Only our second year out too.

kissing wrote:But surely there's gotta be a reason why makers of the clay ocarina stick to proper clay that is fired in the oven, than air-dried or paper clay

Paper clay is fired. All the fiber in it makes it less susceptible to cracking.

I didn't know doubles and triples had multiple soundholes....does thi mean thy can produce 2/3 separate notes at once?

If you blow through all three mouthpieces you could play a different note on every chamber I guess ^^

Paper clay IS sold at michaels, for anyone who's been too lazy to check. It's the least expensive clay they have in fact. Somewhere about 10lbs per $12.

The airdryclay is much harder to work with (forgot who was mantioning that) I've been using it lately and honestly, you have less than a minute (after removing it from the package) to for the basic shape before it gets tough, then you can do some work and some smoothing but anything else and you need moisture.


Lastly, Rogers you were asking about clay that doesn't dry out fast, having a spray bottle is a decent idea, but also be sure to keep plastic bags around - grocery bags are perfect!! Just wrap up anything you want to keep moist. No need to add water usually. If it's pretty airtight it'll last 3-5 days in warm weather!!

Hope that helps!

Pandaman wrote:If you blow through all three mouthpieces you could play a different note on every chamber I guess ^^

Thats a chord... =P

Ok this may be a bit random (new here) and I just wanted to say that a possible way to make a triple or double ocarina is by take a 3 or 2 different molds all differing in sizes by plenty, like for a double just take another one 1/3 the size or 1/2 the size, if its a triple try and make them all 1/3 smaller then the next starting from the largest one. But try and thin out the molds as much as you can. Afterward take the molds and take the right side of the mold and slant it off so its only the bare edge about an .75 inches to .5 inches in length, then afterward you connects them without allowing the chambers to close. Then you just have to do all the details such as the holes, then to make it more compact take something to roll over the 2nd (and third if triple) to thin it out without closing it up, then there.... just add the mouth piece and you're good to go.... I think... and hope so

make a triple as you say its like 3 12 hole mashed together and if u dont have one buy a tuner it should be really helpful