Making Clay Whistles Like the Mayans

MAYAN OCARINAS

CENTRAL AMERICA

WHO ARE THE MAYAN?

PEOPLE OF THE MAIZE CORN

The Story of Creation: People of the Maize (Corn)

Poetry Reading in Q'anjobal Maya by Gaspar Pedro Gonzalez Roda

http://ancientmayanpottery.blogspot.com/2012/07/video.html

When the gods created the world,

They created it from four colors:

Red, black, white and yellow.

Man was made of maize.

In the east the red corn,

In the west the black corn,

In the north the white corn,

In the south the yellow corn.

The goddess ixchel grounded on her stone

Kernels of each color.

And as a result,

A single masa of humankind

In the four corners of the world

RESULTS OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE JUST A VERY SMALL , INCOMPLETE L IST OF MY FAVORITES

THE OCARINA WHISTLE

WHAT DO OCARINAS SOUND LIKE?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBWha9v1mN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzAPreYEHAM

• Mayan pottery and ocarina whistles were made with a low fire earthenware clay.

• They were painted with colored slip (watered down clay) that had different

colored pigments added to them.

• Their color palette was very limited and included white, black and shades of

orange, red and yellow.

• They also had a highly esteemed blue color that is referred to as “Mayan Blue”

“Mayan blue was created with extract from the

leaves of the indigo plant and a clay mineral

called palygorskite… We think that copal, the

sacred incense, may have been a third

ingredient. We're arguing that heat and perhaps

copal resin were the keys to fusing the indigo

extract and the clay mineral.”

– NBCnews.com – “Scientists figure out secret of Maya’s blue paint”

WHERE DO WE GET COLORS FROM?

INGREDIENT COLOR PERCENTAGE

Iron Oxide Rust 2.0%

Cobalt Oxide Blue 2.0%

Nickel Oxide Gray/Silver 2.0%

Manganese Dioxide Black 3.0%

Cobalt Oxide Dark Blue 1.5%

Copper Oxide Mid Green 3.0%

Yellow Ochre Ochre 4.5%

Iron Oxide Mid Tan 3.0%

Rutile Creamy Tan 6.0%

Iron Chromate Dark Gray 3.0%

Manganese Dioxide Purple Brown 6.0%

WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOU?

• Design and create an Ocarina whistle out of clay.

• Use englobe to paint/decorate your ocarina BEFORE it is fired.

• Your color palette is limited to: Black, white, red, yellow, blue, and green.

ANCIENT MAYA WARNING TO THE WORLD

The Three Stages of Mankind, So Far – Told by Mrs. Monks.

Ahem…