While communal firing is great to get started with making ocarinas, its now proving to be a huge bottle neck in my development process. As my arrangements only offer one firing a week, it takes a minimum of a month between making an ocarina to having it fully glazed. This makes my progress painfully slow.
You can help me raise money for my own kiln by buying a copy of The Art Of Ocarina Making - the most comprehensive makers resource to date. 100% of your purchase price goes towards my kiln fund, so I can make more ocarinas.
The book details what it takes to make high quality ocarinas, written in plain English and with more than 300 accompanying images and diagrams. The entire process is covered from start to finish, from the basics of clay work to firing and glazing. I have taken care to highlight all of the common problem areas and detail why as well as how, to help you succeed faster.
You can show your support by buying your copy of The Art Of Ocarina Making: https://ocarinamaking.com/page/roberts_kiln_project
Richard Hamlett
You have forever changed the online ocarina community with this book. We are a very small community and many of us eventually try our hand at making at some point. Whenever anyone raises the question: "Hey, how does one go about learning to make an ocarina?", and you can search TON and see that this question gets asked almost as much as "Hey, what ocarina should I buy as my first one?", 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 question you ask before reading 'The Art of Ocarina Making' is a waste of time".
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 <em>every step</em> of the process!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I look forward to reading the rest!!!
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!