Flute making

At the end of this week some kids that finished all of their work got to make Koauau (the maori name for a flute).

First we had to cut our cube of clay in half with a string. We had to smack into a ball. Then we had to use a clay tool to cut the ball in half. It was very tricky using our thumbs and fingers to curve it like a bowl. The method was pinching the clay.


Then we had to use a special tool to put lines on the lip of the bowl. People call it criss cross. After that we had to use a toothbrush and some water to make the clay stick together. We had to do that on both halfs of the clay.

After that we had to stick the clay together and put our initials on the it. Then we had to wrap it up in plastic bags and tape it up because if we let it out without wrapping it up it would of dried out with the heat.

The next day we had to make a hole for the mouth. We used a special tool for it . The tool was sharp. I was blowing in the Koauau . We made three other holes as well. We had to rub it with the spoon (it was called burnishing) to make it shiny.

Stay tuned and read my next post. We are going to carve it.