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

By: Cindy Lietz@Makin's Professional Extruder

Cindy Lietz@Makin's Professional Extruder — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:16:47 +0000

@Deborah E.: I am so sorry Deborah, looks like I missed this one. The best thing to avoid damaging the threads on your extruder is to make sure that the clay is very soft and well conditioned before putting into the barrel. Also never 'force' the clay. If you have to use excessive pressure to get the clay out, the clay is too hard. You should be able to squeeze the clay out fairly easily, no matter what size the die is. @Cheryl B: That doesn't sound too good about your extuder! I haven't actually tried the Walnut Hollow Extruder yet, so I can't give you much advice there. I do know you shouldn't have to be replacing the o-ring every couple of times. I have never changed my Makin's Extruder o-rings yet and I've had it for a few years now. Thank you for saying that about about my tutorials. It makes me very happy to know you are getting good value for your time and money. :-)

By: Cheryl B

Cheryl B — Fri, 20 May 2011 23:01:09 +0000

I have a Walnut Hollow extruder. I don’t know if all extruders are about the same but I have to change the o-ring every couple times I extrude otherwise I get scoring in the tube. Is this normal? Does the Makin extruder do the same thing? I went to get some new o-rings and although they look right they are too big – I’m assuming that the extruder o-rings are imperial and as I live in Australia we have metric. I don’t mind buying another brand extruder if I’m going to get better results.

On another note, I joined your group about 6 weeks ago and I have learnt so much in that short time. I feel like I am getting my money’s worth as I get something out of every tutorial.

By: Deborah E.

Deborah E. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:13:03 +0000

I wanted to thank everybody for their input regarding my extruder problems. I have taken it apart and don’t see that anything is bent or that there is clay on any of the parts. I think the problem is that the threads have been damaged by the force of extruding the clay with the 1 mm adapter in place. I wonder if there is some way to prevent this from happening.

By: Cindy Lietz@Textured Polymer Clay Pendants

Cindy Lietz@Textured Polymer Clay Pendants — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:43:57 +0000

@Deborah: The things that can make it difficult to extrude can be … too hard of clay, sticky o-ring on plunger (clean and lubricate with WD40), misaligned plunger as Ken suggested or damaged threads on screw in handle. Check these things, it might be something simple to fix.

By: Ken H

Ken H — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:59:28 +0000

@Deborah Erstling

Just a shot in the dark, since it seems the extruder was working before, could the plunger be somehow misaligned in the extruder tube, I’m assuming that when you clean it you remove the plunger all the way out. It may or may not be the problem but it’s a thought. Good luck on this.

By: Deborah Erstling

Deborah Erstling — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:48:32 +0000

@Cindy: Yes, I have made the flower canes in the past and now there is so much resistance to turning the handle the clay just won’t extrude. Also, I am not using the O ring, just the extruder adapter and hexagonal disk, but I was wondering if any of this resistance had to do with needing to replace the O ring that is on the extruder, but that was just a guess. Thanks for writing back, I appreciate it.

By: Jocelyn

Jocelyn — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:01:52 +0000

Googled Makins Extruder and found this site which has a stainless steel version and more adapters and disks than I’ve seen anywhere else.

clayfactory.net/makins/makinsprotools.htm

No rubber gaskets though. Want to try a few different thicknesses of gasket to see what happens (if anything, lol).

By: Brenda

Brenda — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:25:21 +0000

@Kat: That is what I thought. The disc has a knot(metal piece) in the middle right? I purchased some of those a while back. So we don’t use the O-ring with that? I thought we did. I’ll check out Nats site. Thanks Your a Doll ;)

By: Bonnie Kreger

Bonnie Kreger — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:17:49 +0000

Hey Kat, I did a blog post on May 4th about these beads. When the clay splits, I lay it flat and cut it sideways so it comes off in tiny circles and I lay them on a raw bead that I’ve already made, it really turns out nice depending on the colors. Some I made with Studio Clay so they were kind of muted. Keeping your finger on the opening of the barrell in the beginning while you are extruding makes a big difference and so does not stopping while you are turning. Cindy explained that in her video and it really makes a difference. So using small quantities of clay makes it easier. The other thing that really makes a difference is having well conditioned clay. I find that Premo works the best because it is softer.

By: Bette L

Bette L — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:07:45 +0000

Hi everyone,
I have had the splittting problem also. It was because I was using the 7 hole disk and a too large hexagonal disk. I changed to the smallest hexagonal disk and it was fine after the usual funny extrusion of the first couple of inches. I found this out by accident when trying to show someone else how to do the technique. I have not tried it with the small hexagonal and and any of the other multi holed disks.

What is everyone else using for this technique? Do other combinations work?

The core adaptors have only 4 holes, so the flowers will be different and have a hole in the center instead of a solid center. Nice for a tube bead though.