Little Budding Artist: Extruder Fun

Extruder Fun!

What is an extruder?

An extruder is a tool that passes clay through a tube to form coils, which are used for handles on mugs, teapots, jugs and for applied decorating. There are different types that can be hand-held, attached to a wall or table.

Types Of Extruders

One of my favorite extruders is Play-Doh's Fun factory.

In my opinion every kid should have one because they are just so fun to squeeze! The Play-Doh slides through the dies super easy! It comes with interchangeable dies for a variety of coils.

Hand-held Extruders

These are great for modeling clays and doughs to mold and create fun shapes. Ideal for early learners. They are perfect for little hands to develop their fine motor skills.

Of course the easiest extruder to find is probably already in your kitchen drawer - the good old garlic press. I have two that I use all the time. One for white clay and one for brown clay.

These are great for creating hair on sculptures of people,

a horse or lion's mane,

and bird nests.

Fun Fact - The hamburger that you get from the butcher is meat that goes through a form of an extruder called a meat grinder.

Dies

Extruders use dies which are metal disks with spaces cut out to extrude different shaped coils. An extruder propels the clay through the die to create the desired shape.

Dies come in a variety of shapes and sizes like these:

This style is available in My Shop at: Clay Extruder For Kids

Extruder Guns

These work just like a cookie press, only they use clay instead of cookie dough. A bit hard to squeeze, but it can create some thicker extrusions compared to the smaller hand held ones.

Wall Extruders

The mother of all extruders looks like one of these.

This style is used by professional potters. Dies can be custom made to extrude original coil forms for handles on pottery or to build creative sculptures.