The secrets of ocarina making revealed!
Although ocarina making is simple in theory, there are numerous subtleties involved which general tutorials do not reveal. Like most new makers I battled with non sounding ocarinas, weak or absent high notes and complete disasters in surface finish. These difficulties almost lead me to give up.
Starting from scratch it can take months before you make an ocarina which looks good and plays strongly through its entire range. To give you a head start and save you from the tedium of avoidable mistakes, I have compiled my experiences into an E-Book, The Art Of Ocarina Making.
whether you want to make ocarinas as a curiosity or a serious endeavour, The Art Of Ocarina Making details everything you need to know to make your first successful ocarinas. Each step is described in plain English accompanied with over 300 detailed photographs and diagrams.
Inside you will find:
The basics:
- How ocarinas work
- Tools to use
- Getting started with clay work, what kind to buy
Making your first playing ocarina:
- Avoid common mistakes and quickly make your first playing ocarina
Manufacture methods:
- Working by hand
- Making and using aligned plaster molds
- Pros and cons clearly described for each techniques
The voicing:
- Functioning and creation of the windway, labium and sound hole
- How they inter-operate to create a strong sounding ocarina which plays through its entire range
The technicalities of tuning ocarinas:
- Choosing your ocarinas chamber tonic and breath curve
- Common problems to avoid
- Methods for tuning 10, 11, 12 and 4 hole ocarinas
- Dealing with weak high notes in 12 hole ocarinas
Finishing, firing and glazing your ocarinas:
- An introduction to the firing process
- Obtaining a smooth professional finish
- Glazing your ocarinas
Advanced topics:
- Tuning ocarinas to concert pitch
- Improving the tuning of cross-fingered accidentals
- Avoiding problem arias in your ocarina designs
The ocarina debugger:
- An outline of all common ocarina problems and solutions
- How to fix your non playing, squeaking and pitch jumping ocarinas
- Improving your ocarinas high notes
Fingering charts:
- Charts for European, Asian and inline style 10 hole ocarinas
- Charts for Taiwanese and Japanese style 12 hole ocarinas
- Charts for 4, 5 and 6 hole English pendent ocarinas
Kick start your ocarina making for just £13.99:
The book is in PDF format and is readable on any PDF supporting device including Windows/Mac/Linux, IOS, Android and Kindle 3+; A device with a large colour screen is preferable. The download link will be emailed to your PayPal email address.
Richard Hamlett
Robert Hickman has forever changed the online ocarina community with this book. We are a very small community and a good number of us eventually try our hand at making an ocarina at some point. Going forward, whenever anyone raises the question: "Hey, how does one go about learning to make an ocarina?", and you can search the online forums and see that this question gets asked frequently, the answer will now be: "Well, first you need to get Hickman's book. What? You don't have it yet? Go buy the book, because any questions you ask before reading The Art of Ocarina Making are a waste of time." Read full review ».
Lamae
I have made it through Chapter I :The Basics, and may I just say that already, this is the most splendid guide to ocarina construction that I have ever had the pleasure of reading! I love that not only are there detailed instructions written in clear easy-to-follow English, but there are pictures illustrating every step of the process!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I look forward to reading the rest!!!
Jade Everett
I highly recommend that anyone interested in making ocarinas buy this - it is very thorough without being intimidating or daunting. Really well-written and plenty of pictures to provide visual examples.
Geoffrey Tjakra
Thank you so much for being so generous. Really. The work is huge, the topics various, the book full of great pictures.
Hoffman Ocarinas
Ocarina making sometimes seems to be a kept secret and it shouldn't be so. So thanks again for your huge investment for the Oc community.
Tina Waite
WOW. I'm about 3/4ths the way through and have learned SO MUCH. Can not wait for the weekend to start so I can start applying this to the mold I've already made. Definitely, *definitely* worth buying!