Bad news and a New occy!

So I've got terrible news!

The place I get my stuff fired is shutting down.
So I don't know what I'll do about firing my ocarinas....there's a few alternatives but they're all outdoor styles that involve fire.....I don't really have a yard or any decent space outdoors to do it.

So I'm really kind of bummed out about the situation....I'll probably keep making my ocarinas but I won't be able to finish them off:(

But on another note, Here's a pic of the second last one I made, it's out being fired right now along with my latest but those might be the last ones I get fired :(

Hi to my followers!

I just wanted to say Hi and thanks for keeping up with my page.
Although I'm not updating on here very often, when something interesting comes up in my ocarina travels I'll try to post it on here.
Even if it ends up on youtube, I still may mention it on here and try to give you at least something interesting to read!
Thanks Shawn and Luis!
Glad to see interest in my page and ocarinas!

Frustration...Blah

So I posted the video to youtube showing an interesting idea.
This came to me when considering how to fix/make use of an already broken home made ocarina.
This ocarina, I made last week was basically scrap because when making the ocarina you have a certian time limit because once the clay gets too dry, it limits what you can do with it.
After I made the initial shape, I halved it, hollowed it out and then had to leave.
By the time I got back the clay had already dried too much. I tried attaching the halves but within 20 minutes the seal had begun cracking.
The worst was at the tip, the rest wasn't too too bad and I think while trying to fix it, everything else ended up ok except at the tip.
The tip was bad enough to make in unworthy of spending any more time on it though.
That is, until the thought came to me!
I remembered seeing Karen Dunster's Tube Ocarina.
It's a tube shape with a mouthpiece attached and rather than individual fingering holes it has a large hole on 1 or both ends, I'm not sure. To play it you palm the hole/s and slightly uncovering the palm raises the pitch.

That gave me the idea to chop the end off my ocarina where the clay seal was crumbling.
It worked out pretty great, I spent a few hours carefully shaving out the inside of the hole and sanding the tip down more and more until I started to reach the higher notes. I was in the key of A and probably getting up around a B or a C. I was even considering putting in a thumbhole for the left hand to give it just a little more to play around with.

Unfortunately while I was sanding it up making it look pretty I ended up pressing to hard and busting it around the remaining seal.

So After all the work the first time and then all the excitement and careful tedious work the second time I end up with nothing....except I guess experience and a good idea.....
What a pain in the ass, I guess check out youtube to see an almost of what it could have been.
I put a temporary coil around the seam to just give a demo before I crushed it. There was no way to fix it...aside from glue....maybe I should'a just glued it!!! It wasn't THAT BAD!!!
Ahhhh crap.... I guess too late now!