An extruder is a fantastic tool to use for creating in polymer clay. With it you can make perfectly even ropes of clay with any cross section shape that you have a disc for.
I love to use an extruder for making little tiny 1 mm snakes that I use for trim. So much faster than him trying to hand roll them all perfectly!
But what if any of your extruded shapes could have a hole running through the center? What kinds of things could you create then?
Just a few of the uses I thought of:
- Jewelry cord with stringing holes of any size you need
- Tube beads
- Bead cores
- Washers
- Flat beads of any disc shape, with a hole through the center
Don’t forget that you can cut your extrusions before OR after baking. Either way you’ll need to use a very sharp blade and be sure to extrude a little extra clay to account for the ends that need to be trimmed.
Tools & Materials:
- Clay Core Extruder Adapters:
- makes 1mm, 2mm & 3mm holes
- makes 3.5mm, 4mm & 4.5mm holes
- You can find both sets at PolyClayPlay
- Clay extruder, some possibilities:
- Walnut Hollow Clay Extruder with Easy Crank Handle
- Makin’s Clay Extruder (not my personal choice, but some clayers seem happy with it)
- Lucy Clay Czechtruder (pricey, but wonderful!)
- Clay blades
The pendant pictured in the cover photo was created by polymer clay artist Seana Bettencourt.
Enjoy the video and happy creating!
Watch the The Basics of Using a Clay Core Extruder Adapter with Polymer Clay-Friday Findings video at YouTube.
