Clay Whistles

Ocarina

The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind

instrument The body of the flute is an

enclosed space with four to twelve

finger holes and a mouth tube projecting

out from the body. It is often ceramic,

but many other materials, such as

plastic, wood, glass and metal may also

be used.

History of the Ocarina

The ocarina is a very old family of instruments, believed to date back some 12,000 years. Ocarina-type instruments have been of particular importance in Chinese and Mesoamerican cultures. – Chinese used the Ocarina for Song and Dance

– Europe used the Ocarina for the introductions of Judges to the Court

The word ocarina is derived from Italian meaning "little goose."

After featuring in the Nintendo Legend of Zelda games, the ocarina attracted a marked increase in interest, and a dramatic rise in sales.

Utilitarian vs. Decoration

Which one of these

can you use?

Which one of these

items sits on your

table for decoration?

Clay Whistle Examples

The Dragon Fly

The Fish

Clay Whistle Examples continued…

Family of Turtles

A Bird

Student made

Get Ideas

Sketch out Pottery Ideas

•All artists sketch out

ideas before starting

a new idea

•It speeds up making

the bowl because

clay dries very fast

four states of clay:

Plastic: clay that is soft, pliable and easy to work with.

Leather Hard: clay that has been allowed to dry slightly, making it stiffer and able to support its weight, but can still be worked on

and have parts attached.

Bone Dry: clay at its most fragile state, can not be worked on at this stage

Bisque: the first firing for the clay, removes all of the water, (both actual and chemical) and carbon, The fusing of the particles has begun, yet the clay is still porous to allow for glaze absorption. It can no longer be slaked down and recycled

How to Make a Clay Whistle

Start with two ball of plastic like clay

A bowl of water

A stylist tool

A paint brush

Make a Pinch Pot

This is a hand

building process

starting with a ball of

clay, inserting your

thumb and

"pinching" the clay

between your thumb

and fingers,

gradually expanding

and shaping the wall

into a bowl-like form.

Pinch a second Bowl

Make sure one bowl has a nib on the end

Finished Pinch Pots

Merge Pots

Put the two pots together

Make sure they fit or match in shape

and size

Slip and Score

– The method for joining pieces of clay where the two surfaces are scratched up and slip is added like a "glue" to create a strong, melded bond. It is an essential step in ceramic construction, because clay will stick to itself when wet, but when will fall apart after bisque when all the water is removed. Texturing the surface gives the clay some grip, almost like Velcro.

Score the Lip of Each Pinch Pot

Add Water or Slip to the Scored Lips

Put the two Pinch Pots Together

The Shape can be Altered by

Paddling and Molding

Making the Whistle Mechanism

You will need 2 sticks

Put the first stick in the nib horizontally all the way to the end of the body

First take the second

stick and make a

square incision between

the body and the nib

Second create a 45

degree angle on square

incision

Your whistle

should look

like this

Add Animal Features

Neck

Head

– Eyes

– Nose

– Mouth

– Ears

Tail, Fins, Beak

Legs and Feet

How do you want to decorate your

whistle?

Think About Design Quality

Texture

Add texture in the

Leather Hard drying stage of

clay.

Use tools to make texture

and designs

Sgraffito - This comes the Italian word meaning

"scratched through" and is done by incising or

cutting a design through a colored slip coating to

reveal the clay body.

Time to Dry to the Bone

Next it goes into the Kiln

Kiln

A furnace that use electricity,

gas or wood, but may also be

fired using coal, oil, manure

or even old tires.

Is used to Fire the clay till it

hardens to a stone like form.

Paint Yourself Silly

Glaze – A mix of chemicals and minerals when heated to a

really hot temperature melt together and form a glass like color

coating on the outside of clay objects.

Objectives

Objective #2:Students will learn to pinch, join, shape, design, glaze or paint a clay whistle. They will choose animal features using their own thumbnail sketch ideas.

Objective #3:Students will consider what importance music and animal have on our culture.

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Whistles.html