Polymer Clay Tutorial | Super Easy Extruder Flower Cane [VIDEO]

Looks cool Cindy… I really have to invest in a decent extruder.

And by the way, did you mean a hexagonal disc? Because you show a hexagonal one in the video.

I am really looking forward to seeing this because I don't think I am making as much use of my extruder as I could. My only worry is that I don't think I have the rubber ring anymore! I, for one, am very grateful to both Nathalie, and especially, to Galina for allowing you to show us this technique.

I just cant wait, anything to do with making flower canes is a bonus for me thanks Cindy.

Cindy; Thank you for showing this technique to all of us. I want to thank Galina and Natalie for granting permission to you to post this technique.

I could not work in clay without my extruder so seeing how others are utilizing this tool is always a "good thing" (thank you Martha). I am looking forward to see the full video on this, thank you Cindy for being here for all of us.

I have to get a new extruder. I have the first one without the pin to turn the clay out. I don't care how soft my clay is I can't budge any of it through the discs. I just put it up an quit trying. I'm going to donate it to my guild that is if they will take it. I hope to find a new extruder at Hobby Lobby so I can use my 40% off coupon. Those coupons are a lifesaver for me. Many thanks to everyone who has made this video possible. It is going to be a blast of flowers and fun.
Many thanks Cindy, you just keep a plugging to give us the best with much success.
Extrudingly excited for Friday

Thanks for doing this video Cindy. I am really looking forward to correcting some of the problems I have had with Nathalie's technique using the adapter. Great big THANKS to both Nathalie and Galina as well for sharing this with the PC world.

@ Peggy

Is your extruder silver and has a handle attached to the plunger (no threaded handle)? I've heard of a way to "rig" a caulking gun to hold this other type of extruder (non makins type), I just can't seem to find where I found the instructions for it though.

Hi Cindy,

In the article above, Edie-E was wondering where to get a core adapter for a Makins extruder. I just purchased one from the Clay Factory here in Escondido. The Clay Factory is run by Marie Segal and she is a member of the San Diego Polymer Clay Guild that I am also in. I believe the adapters come in 3 sizes. Hope this helps.

Shelly

OMG- i can't believe this method! i have been mucking around doing it the old way and not having the variety of this fantastic technique. Thank you to all involved, but especially to you Cindy- your explanation is very clear and precise and you are extremely generous! karen lewis uses many of these little flowers to embellish her beautiful beads, but her way is very labour intensive-now i can embellish to my hearts content- many thanks again
cara

Just too cool! It's a smack on the side of the head thing ;-)

One thing I need to know – does anyone know what the actual size of the O ring is? I have to go and get some more and there are dozens of sizes and thicknesses at the hardware store, and because they're prepackaged it is hard for me to hold up the old one and match it. I'm also not sure that it hasn't stretched a bit from wear -

edie
off from night shift, going to take a nap then load up my extruder!

@Shelly Neal: Thanks, Shelly! I'm off to buy a set now ;-)

edie

Thank you Cindy, I've admired these easy canes but thought I needed some more equipment, I shall have a go this pm.

Anna – any chance of receiving the long awaited beads from the swap???

Cindy
Could you please help me? I bought a pasta machine that doen¨t have number of setting. I bought it becasuse I found it was very wide, so could do a wider mix of polymer clay. I bougth it before I knew how to work polymer clay. The thing is thatI would like to know. how many mm are setting 1, setting 2, setting 3 … and.so on.
Thank you

I've tried it before, could'nt wait for the video lol and I had problems, it kept crackeling like in the video when you stopped turning the handle… Gonna try it again now! :)

Well I just tried it again, and it worked perfectly this time! :)

Wow! What a time saver! Just when you think you saw it all! Can't wait to try it!!

I made some extruder canes today coverd some old beads and i love it, it was so easy i just wanted to go on and on making more, If makins made a very large exruder wow could we have fun lol. Thank you Cindy and also a big thank you to Galina for allowing you to show us how it was done.

Cindy

The first time I watched this extruder video my mouth was open the whole time and I think I actually drooled a little, LOL!

The second time, I wanted to be in a gallery of all of us here, standing, cheering, clapping, and screaming "you GO, girl."

Outstanding video, so easy to do and understand thanks to your expertise and teaching style. I cannot wait to try this!!!! Thank you so much!!

Special thanks and kudos for taking the time to credit all who started the process of this particular cane. Feel like I have a case of ADHD running from link to link to watch all the noted folks, and back to read the comments here, hee hee.

You do it better than anyone, and this is the best investment and site I have found in this medium. Cannot wait to see pics of what others here come up with as a result of this tut.

Blessings to you, sweet lady.

K, time for the third viewing…….."bye for now"!

Jocelyn

I purchased a Makin's Professional Ultimate Clay Extruder. It did not come with a rubber ring. How can I get one?

Might want to try the local hardware store for ring replacements on extruders. They usually have tons of different types and styles of "O Rings." Would definitely bring the extruder with you, and a description of the ring so they can help you get an exact match.

Best of luck.

Yeah! I've been gone all day so what a treat awaited me when I got home!
I'm going to try this tonight. Thank you so much for doing this video. I'm now standing beside Jocelyn, cheering and clapping along with everyone else, at least in my mind's eye:)

@Jocelyn: I found it! The extra rubber ring was 'hiding' under one of the disks. I had gone on the Makin's site and saw it – went to my workbench and found it. Thanks for the tip, though, I may need it if this one ever wears out.

This works great! I used Sculpey III since you said it should be soft. I then had to stick the canes in the freezer for a few minutes so they would not flatten when I cut them. I used black, orange and my own turquoise mix so that I could get a Southwestern look. It did just what I wanted it to. Your videos are absolutely super! Thanks much!

OH I am in LOVE ! I have read the other 2 blogs and mine never came out, you do indeed make everything so nice and clear, I know what I will be doing on Sunday ! Thanks Cindy !

Wow, Cindy! Thanks Galena!!! This is way cool!!! :)

Cindy E.

Hi Cindy – Well thanks for that very clear lesson on the Extruder flowers. As usual I did not have the ring to go into my Makins Extruder. Don't know if I ever had one.

Anyway, as necessity is the Mother of invention, and because I am always having to find ways of doing things, I found that a piece of Buna cord 4-1/4" long, wrapped around twice in place of the ring, worked for me. My circles might be a bit wonky compared to yours Cindy, but I'm happy til I get the right rubber ring. What do you think? Love E. MERRY XMAS from Australia XXXX

Hi all
I found some tap washers at our hardware store (Bunnings) for the Aus gals here.
You just cant buy one, but a selection of 10 diff size($2 60), and I got at least 6 out of 10 in the packet that are the right size that work, so I will be abe to extrude for ever,. My extrudxer flowers will go on all things. Am going to make some of the bead books with flower covers. think that will be nice.
love
E.

Thanks everyone for your great comments! So glad that you had fun with the technique and that the video helped you with any problems you may have had!

@Rosita: That is difficult since all pasta machines are different. My machine has 7 settings, with #1 being less than 1mm, #4 being a little more than 1mm, and #7 being a little more than 2mm. I am sorry but I can't measure the thicknesses better than that.

@carolyn: I am glad you found your rubber ring. Makin's site says you can just buy extras at the hardware store. Unfortunately they don't say the size. My measurements were 18mm OD (Outside Diameter) and 13mm ID (Inside Diameter). Hope that helps.

@Elizabeth: Very nice! Thanks so much for sending in your photos. Also thanks for letting people know about where you found the replacement O-rings. There are fair number of readers from Australia here, and I'm sure they will appreciate your input.

Thanks Cindy for all your great help.
XXX E.

Cindy,

I e-mailed Makin's about the O-ring size and received this answer:

OD= Approx 1.8cm
ID= Approx 1.3cm
Thickness= Approx 0.2cm

Move the decimal point 1 to the right for mm.

Hope this info helps.

MJ

Hi Cindy,

These are the beads I made with your flower cane technique and my Makin's Clay Extruder.

I love this idea, it's so much fun.

Thanks,

Bonnie

Thanks Cindy. A couple times I got a long string in the middle of the flower cane that came out of the extruder (because I didn't listen when you said don't use too much clay for this cane) and when I looked at it, it looked liked a teeny star so I sliced that and used it on the beads also. That's what the black spots with the white circles are on some of the beads. I didn't roll the cane pieces into the beads, I left them sitting on top for depth so you could see the white bead underneath. You were very accurate in your video about making sure the clay is conditioned really well.
Good thing I can keep replaying your videos, once is not enough to pick up all the things that you say that are so important.

@Ritzs:

You said "If makins made a very large exruder wow could we have fun lol."

I'm wondering if a cookie press would work? Hmmm…I have a cookie press that doesn't get used, I may try it, LOL.

Can't wait to hear how the cookie press works! I have one also that has just been taking up space in a kitchen drawer. At least I've been able to recycle my cookie cutters for clay!

Cindy, I have tired this one several time and each time my clay will stat splitting half way thru the extrusion… can anyone tell me why this is, I am using premo and thought I was conditioning it enough. Thanks !

I have to share….. I got my extruder in the mail on Monday and I have not put it down. I have blisters on my thumbs from working the wire that I use on my beads that I made. I love this stuff………….

@Brenda: You have some gorgeous pieces at your website! I am planning to order an extruder — where did you get yours? I've seen them several places, I'm just looking for the best deal…

@Phaedrakat: Good Morning, Thank you for the nice comment. I got my extruder at sunshinecrafts.com. The peaces that I have online are not made with the extruder. I will be updating soon. I was wondering do you anyof you have a vendor that sells your peaces, or do you do craft shows? I have had a couple of offers from some people. Where do you get tags?

@Brenda: I get tags from Fire Mountain Gems.

@Tina Adams

I find that sometimes it splits and sometimes it doesn't even when using one lump of conditioned clay that has been divided into two parts. I keep a constant movement on the handle of the extruder. Although it is a great shame to loose the extruded flower I did discover that the stripes inside the outer coating are beautiful and I made a lovely pendant with it. But if someone knows why this happens I too would love to hear it. I use Cernit.

The latest on my extruder saga (I've been looking around for the best price on a Makin's Ultimate.) I finally settled on ordering online from JoAnn's (using online 40% coupon.) I had it in my 'shopping cart' & was headed for checkout. Wouldn't you know, it's "unavailable" at this time (whatever that means.) Not backordered, but unavailable. So, I'm re-evaluating my choices. Sunshine crafts, recommended by Brenda, does have good prices. Fire Mountain Gems has a good price, too (if I order the gazillion things on my "wish list" at the same time.) But it's like the Gods have frowned upon me, not wanting me to extrude with ease… ;~o

@Phaedrakat: Are you here in Jax, Fl? I've been to every craft store you can imagine here and they have no professional tools here. Ha".. now Michaels had the little end pieces but no extruder. They told me that they would no longer be carrying the Makin product. What is so strange I've been their store many times and never saw the makins extruder. Don't get the tiny one that you push with your fingers it hurts.

Phaedrakat: you can order one from Dick Blick on the internet for $21.18 or check Amazon. Sometimes they have deals on there.

@Brenda, you can try to get it at FireMountainGem.com if you like. The more you the more you save. They have tier pricing. But, If you have a Hobby Lobby near you they also carry it. They have 40% coupons and take competitor's coupons, too.

@Catalina: I do have a Hobby Lobby but they didn't have it either. I ordered mine off line. thanks

@Brenda: No, I'm on the other coast (Riverside, CA.) We don't have Hobby Lobby's here.

@Bonnie: Cool, I'll check out Dick Blick, as well. That is looking like the best price at the moment.

They used to carry Makin's stuff at Michael's — looks like they're phasing it out. They carried the actual extruder at JoAnn's (online only) but the "unavailable" message I got must mean they're getting rid of it. I will check Amazon for the latest price (it was higher a few days ago, so I decided on JoAnn–go figure.) If Amazon is still high, I'll have to decide if I want to buy a bunch of stuff (from my online wishlist) to get the adjustable pricing at Fire Mtn. If that doesn't work out, I'll order from one of the suggestions from you two. I was hoping to get it locally (I hate paying for shipping,) but looks like this is the way its gotta be.

Thanks for your help, guys! There are lots of places to order things online, but you never know who's trustworthy. I feel alot safer ordering from a shop that has been recommended…

@Catalina: Sorry for the late post :) I have my extruder already. Every week I find myself adding to my collection.