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The Clay Hole University · Project Guides

Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and DrumsPrintable pottery guide

The whole instrument, in the order you make it: the voicing that makes the note, a first whistle, the ocarina built on it, and what the kiln does to the pitch.

$10.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 30 printable pages
  • 10 video picks
  • 7-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any printer
  • The lesson stays free
The printable, at a glance

What is the Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums printable guide?

It is the making of a clay instrument on paper: how the voicing turns a ribbon of air into a note, a first whistle in nine steps, the ocarina built from it, why finger holes can go where your fingers land, how to tune something the kiln is about to shrink, the udu, and the drying, glazing and firing rules that keep the windway clear. Built to be printed, ticked off at the bench and kept beside the wheel.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 30printable pages, US Letter
  • 7quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 10hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 18glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For the piece that has to make a sound

The ear is a strict teacher

Nearly everything you make in clay is judged by looking at it. An instrument is judged by ear, and the ear is unforgiving in a useful way. A whistle sounds or it does not, and the difference between the two is a fraction of a millimeter at one small edge.

That edge belongs to the voicing, which is the only hard part of any wind instrument. The chamber, the finger holes, the flute tube and the drum are all things a potter already knows how to make. The guide gives the voicing its own drawing and its own first build, so the first thing you make is a plain whistle and the second is an ocarina.

The rest is what happens around it. Tuning a note the kiln is about to move, drying without the mouthpiece cracking off, glazing without shutting the windway, and the four things to check, in order, when nothing comes out. Each one sits next to the step that needs it.

Look inside

Real pages, for a bench with a tuner on it

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark.

  • Page 3 of the “Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before you touch clay: what you will learn, what to have on the bench, what is worth knowing, the pitfalls, and what a working instrument looks like.
  • Page 6 of the “Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” printable guide: the voicing, which is the only hard part, shown with the sample watermark
    The voicing, which is the only hard partThe cutaway drawing with its six numbered parts beside it, so you are not scrolling between a picture and its labels with clay on your hands.
  • Page 10 of the “Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” printable guide: videos on the wind instruments, shown with the sample watermark
    Videos on the wind instrumentsA code beside each film, so you can watch a whistle being voiced on your phone and keep your hands on the page. None of the makers is one of us.
  • Page 24 of the “Ceramic Instruments: Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” printable guide: every instrument, and how it sounded, shown with the sample watermark
    Every instrument, and how it soundedA log to write in: how you made it, the holes, the note wet, the note fired and what to change. The second one starts from what you heard.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

You will be holding the piece, not the phone

A clay instrument is made in small careful moves, with the work in one hand and a needle in the other. Paper suits that.

  • The drawing sits beside its key

    The six parts of the voicing are drawn once and numbered, and the notes for each part sit next to the picture instead of a scroll away.

  • It holds still

    A page stays where you left it while you score a seam and slip it with both hands. It does not time out, and it does not need slip wiped off the screen.

  • A place to write what you heard

    The log has a column for the note wet and a column for the note fired. The gap between the two is the thing to learn, and it is easier to learn from numbers you wrote down than from memory.

  • One page for the bench

    The bench page has the voicing in order, what sets the pitch of each instrument, what to check when nothing sounds, and what to do before anything goes in the kiln. It pins up beside the wheel.

How this one is built

Rebuilt for paper, not printed from a web page

Every guide in the series is set from scratch for print. Here is what that meant for this one.

  • A wrong reason, corrected

    The lesson explained why a closed form needs a hole by talking about trapped air. Our own myths lesson shows it is water turning to steam that does the damage. The rule stays and the reason is now the true one, in the guide and in the free lesson.

  • Grinding fired clay, done wet

    Where the lesson offered a file on bisque, the guide says a small diamond bit dipped in water, in safety glasses and an N95 or better, and never dry. Dry work on fired clay puts silica in the air.

  • A finish the kiln undoes

    A burnished shine does not survive the cone five and a half firing, so the guide no longer tells you to polish a drum that is headed for the glaze kiln.

  • Firing costs that add up

    The guide says a kiln cookie goes under every piece, glazed or bare, and that several small pieces on one cookie are charged as one, which matters when you make three whistles in a sitting.

  • A quiz that explains itself

    Seven questions, and an answer key that gives the reason behind every answer rather than only the letter.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a video moves, we repoint the address and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Ocarinas, Whistles, Flutes and Drums” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

An instrument is the exception, and I love that about it.

Either the air finds the edge or it does not, and the difference between the two is small enough that a needle and a steady hand can fix it while the clay is still soft.

Make a few. Keep the ones that sound worst, too.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

Build a little pottery library

Every printable guide in The Clay Hole University series takes one free lesson and rebuilds it for paper, with workbook pages, a glossary and a quiz with a worked answer key. Each one keeps its number for good, so a guide you buy today is the same guide in the same place next year.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

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Sits next to

Three lessons that pick up where this one leaves off

Each one is free to read online, and the codes in the guide take you straight there.

Questions

Good to know

How is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is not going anywhere. The guide is that teaching rebuilt for paper: a learning dashboard at the front, the voicing drawn beside its key, a log to write in, a bench page, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Do I need a wheel?
No. A whistle and an ocarina start as two pinched bowls, a flute is a slab wrapped round a dowel, and an udu can be thrown, coiled or built from two slumped halves. A wheel is a quick way to a round body, and the guide says where it helps.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Advanced, and not because any one part is a new hand skill. The work is fine and the fault is hard to see: an edge cut to a fraction of a millimeter, and a note that only exists if that edge is right. That is why the guide starts you on a plain whistle.
Do I need to be able to play an instrument?
No, and most people who make these cannot. You need to hear whether a note is clear or fuzzy, which is a much lower bar than playing. A free tuner app on your phone will read the pitch for you.
What do I need besides clay?
A needle tool, a flat stick with a sanded bevel, a hole cutter for a drum, a countersink bit for finger holes, a tuner app, loose plastic for drying, and a small diamond bit with water and safety glasses for the last adjustment after firing. The guide lists all of it on the dashboard.
Does the guide cover drums with a skin?
It tells you honestly what one asks of you. The clay part is the easy half. The hide, the adhesive and the mounting are a separate craft with their own learning curve, and the guide says so, then shows you the udu, which needs no skin at all.
Will the kiln change the sound?
Yes. The piece shrinks and the pitch goes up, usually by a semitone or two, and the notes stay in tune with each other. The guide shows how to tune while the clay is wet and what to leave alone once it is fired.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is set for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Does it print in black and white?
Yes. It is designed to stay readable in grayscale, and the dashboard, the cheat sheet, the bench page and the voicing drawing were checked that way on purpose.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes, and most people do. The bench page and the log are the two worth having by the wheel. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and leave the rest on a screen.
Can I read it on a screen instead?
Yes. It is an ordinary PDF and it reads fine on a tablet or a phone. The workbook pages are the ones that want paper, because you write on them.
How does delivery work?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page right after checkout, so you can have it printed and beside the wheel the same evening.
What happens if the guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page. When we correct or improve one, the new edition replaces the old one in the shop, and we can send the updated link to anybody who already bought it.
Can I share it?
It is licensed for your own use. Print as many copies for yourself as you like, on as many of your own devices as you like. Please do not pass the file on, upload it or use it with a class or a group without asking us first.

Voice the whistle first, and the rest is patience

Cut the windway straight, set the edge level and sharp, and keep every drop of glaze out of that corner of the piece. Do those three and the rest is a chamber you already know how to make. Skip any of them and no amount of skill at the wheel will save it, which is why this one is worth reading before you cut into the clay rather than after.

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