Unboxing And Review – Sculpey Clay Extruder Tool
Video #666: You’ll need super human strength to use this tool… but if you already own one, tune in next week for helpful tips.
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IN THIS POST: — sculpey clay extruder — extruder — extrude — extruding — unboxing — review — polyform — lucy clay tools — makins — walnut hollow — neverknead — tools — plunger — extruder dies — walnut hollow vise — sculpey souffle — soft clay — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
In today’s PcT Product Demo, I’m going to unbox the Sculpey Clay Extruder.
Now you may have seen some previous videos on other extruders that I have done a review on… Like the Lucy Clay CzeXtruder, Makins Extruder and the Walnut Hollow Extruder… but I haven’t tried the Sculpey Clay Extruder yet, so I thought I would check it out and see how it works.
This extruder has been around for quite some time I don’t know if this is a newer design or not, but I can see that it is in the new packaging.
I opened the box and tried it out using some Sculpey Souffle clay, which is a fairly soft clay that has a smooth texture.
The design is a little smaller than the other extruders I have used.
You push the clay with your thumb on the plunger, rather than using a threaded plunger.
Comes with 19 small disks or dies.
I did read on the back of the packaging, that it should be filled only 2/3 full, which is supposed to make it easier to push out the clay.
I also read that they suggest you bake your extruder in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes to harden the clay stuck in the barrel. This is supposed to make it easier to clean.
I found later that pushing a baby wipe through the barrel using the plunger worked really well, so I wouldn’t bother baking it.
I demonstrate how to use this tool.
Pros of the Sculpey Clay Extruder are: Inexpensive; Readily available; Sturdy design; Comes with lots of dies.
Cons of the Sculpey Clay Extruder are: Very difficult to push clay though (I couldn’t do it more than an inch or so, using the medium-sized spaghetti die); The barrel is very small, so you have to re-fill it often; Clay gets stuck in the barrel; Only works with super soft clay (even my soft Souffle clay was too difficult to extrude); Dies only fit this particular extruder, so they are not interchangeable with other extruder tool brands.
There are people who have used various “cheater” devices with this extruder… such as a caulking gun… wooden levers… vises and other such things to assist in helping to extrude the clay.
I found this extruder to be too difficult to use in comparison to all the other extruders I have tested so far. And therefore, it is not a product that I can recommend. If you already have this extruder, I will do a follow-up video to show you some tips that will make it easier to use… so stay tuned for that.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s PcT Product Demo, I’m going
00:00:08 –> 00:00:13 to unbox a Sculpey Clay Extruder.
00:00:13 –> 00:00:19 Now you may have seen previous videos on other extruders that I have a done a review on,
00:00:19 –> 00:00:28 like the Lucy Clay Czextruder and the Makin’s extruder and the Walnut Hollow Extruder, in
00:00:28 –> 00:00:31 fact that video is together.
00:00:31 –> 00:00:38 But I haven’t tried the Clay Extruder yet and this one has been around for quite some
00:00:38 –> 00:00:45 time, I don’t know if this is a newer design, I can see that it’s in the newer packaging,
00:00:45 –> 00:00:51 so I wanted to check it out and see how it works, so we’ll just open this box up.
00:00:51 –> 00:00:59 It’s a little bit smaller and it is a different style of extruder, it is a plunger style rather
00:00:59 –> 00:01:06 than…or like a push style, you push with your thumb rather than crank up threads, it
00:01:06 –> 00:01:15 has quite a few disks or dies, this is a 22 piece, so I don’t know if there’s… how they
00:01:15 –> 00:01:24 count the pieces, so it’s gonna be at least 20 dies by the looks of it, ‘cause they
00:01:24 –> 00:01:29 may include this as one piece or when you take it apart maybe a couple more pieces…I’d
00:01:29 –> 00:01:31 have to count it.
00:01:31 –> 00:01:38 Alright, so here’s the extruder here, now I did look on the back and it has a couple
00:01:38 –> 00:01:43 of pointers, it says not to be filled more than 2/3 full, and that’s so that you would
00:01:43 –> 00:01:51 have more ability to press on it, and then it also talks about baking to clean it out…I’ll
00:01:51 –> 00:01:54 explain that in a minute.
00:01:54 –> 00:02:03 Alright, so there’s an end here, it screws off and it’s got a plunger, now this one doesn’t
00:02:03 –> 00:02:07 have a rubber ring on it or anything, so I’m guessing some clay will probably sneak up
00:02:07 –> 00:02:16 around the edges, but we’ll take a look at that in a second, and then the dies are here,
00:02:16 –> 00:02:23 and you can put the die in…now see how it’s kinda raised up here in the center…it’s
00:02:23 –> 00:02:28 kinda got a bump, from what I was reading on the back, you’re supposed to put that face
00:02:28 –> 00:02:34 down… like into the thing, so that the bump kinda comes out there.
00:02:34 –> 00:02:41 So then you’re gonna screw that onto the end, and then we’ll put some clay in, now I was
00:02:41 –> 00:02:49 gonna use some Sculpey Soufflé which is a nice, smooth kinda softer clay, I quite like
00:02:49 –> 00:02:57 Sculpey Soufflé, it’s got a neat texture to it, probably because this is a press one,
00:02:57 –> 00:03:02 I’ll want to condition this a little bit, so I’ll just put it in the NEVERknead here,
00:03:02 –> 00:03:07 so I can do that quickly…soften that up.
00:03:07 –> 00:03:17 Soufflé has kind of a like a Suede type texture to it, it’s almost matte, but I would say
00:03:17 –> 00:03:26 it’s about the same, maybe slightly softer than Premo! but in that range.
00:03:26 –> 00:03:34 And it said only 2/3, so I better not put too much in here, and we’ll just make a little
00:03:34 –> 00:03:40 snake and push that in…and try this out, now I’ve heard that it is kinda hard to press
00:03:40 –> 00:03:44 through, but we’ll find that out in a second here.
00:03:44 –> 00:03:50 Alright, so this is how it’s done, it has a little kinda spot there, and we’ll just
00:03:50 –> 00:04:00 squeeze it out and see how it does, yeah, it’s a little bit hard to push out, we’ll
00:04:00 –> 00:04:11 just push it on the table then, now that is quite hard to push out actually, maybe I could’ve
00:04:11 –> 00:04:15 softened up the clay…now this is…I did choose one with quite a lot of little tiny
00:04:15 –> 00:04:19 holes to see how that would be.
00:04:19 –> 00:04:31 Now, I’ve heard of people making little devices to press on it, I’ve heard of people using
00:04:31 –> 00:04:34 their vise, so I could try that…I did put this up to the side here, ‘cause I wanted
00:04:34 –> 00:04:45 to see if I needed it or not, we could open this up…this is a Walnut Hollow vise that
00:04:45 –> 00:04:52 I got at Michaels a long time ago, I’ll just loosen this up a bit, now the one thing
00:04:52 –> 00:05:02 about these extruders is they’re available lots of places, and they’re not very expensive…let’s
00:05:02 –> 00:05:05 see here, this one is kinda broken.
00:05:05 –> 00:05:13 Alright, so maybe I can put it in here, I’ll take out a little bit of clay…oh, what I’ll
00:05:13 –> 00:05:18 do is I’ll take a little bit of clay out so that the extruder is pushed in a little
00:05:18 –> 00:05:27 bit further, that is a little tricky, I’m wondering if maybe putting a little bit of
00:05:27 –> 00:05:34 a…putting a little bit of lubricant or something along the side might be good, I’ll have
00:05:34 –> 00:05:39 to play with it some more in the future and see if there are some good tricks for making
00:05:39 –> 00:05:45 this easier, but it is definitely harder than the other extruders I’ve used.
00:05:45 –> 00:05:54 Alright, let’s try one more…now if we try putting it in here, you might be able
00:05:54 –> 00:06:02 to use the pressure of the vise to squeeze it out a lot easier, so let’s try that.
00:06:02 –> 00:06:09 I’ll move this so that you can see it better, alright, so I’ll put the handle down in
00:06:09 –> 00:06:22 there, put that there and see if we can make this work…it’s harder than I thought it
00:06:22 –> 00:06:23 would be.
00:06:23 –> 00:06:32 So, I’m having trouble getting it to keep from popping out, so, I don’t know, I’m
00:06:32 –> 00:06:42 not sure why… this is still…I mean it’s possible to do this, it is really hard, any
00:06:42 –> 00:06:51 of you guys with hands that are not very strong then this could be quite tricky for you.
00:06:51 –> 00:06:58 But it is available out there, it does look like it’s really strong, and it doesn’t
00:06:58 –> 00:07:02 look like it would break very easily, that’s for sure.
00:07:02 –> 00:07:09 And as far as cleaning it out, one of their suggestions that they said on the back there
00:07:09 –> 00:07:17 is to… if there’s any residue in the inside, and see how there seems to be quite a bit
00:07:17 –> 00:07:24 in the barrel there, can you see that Doug?
00:07:24 –> 00:07:30 Okay, there seems to be some…quite a bit that’s stuck on the sides, their suggestion
00:07:30 –> 00:07:37 is to pop it in…pop it…okay, I’ll get the rest of the clay out and you’ll see,
00:07:37 –> 00:07:43 yeah a fair amount sticks in the sides there, now they suggest that you pop this into the
00:07:43 –> 00:07:52 oven for about 15 minutes or so at the same temperature…what do they say, 250F and then
00:07:52 –> 00:07:55 you can pop that clay out.
00:07:55 –> 00:08:07 I was thinking you could also use a baby wipe or something, put on the end, and use this
00:08:07 –> 00:08:13 thing here, that might work to clean it out, which would be easier than cleaning it with
00:08:13 –> 00:08:22 a…or in the oven, yeah, that works pretty good, so you could do that, seems to be enough
00:08:22 –> 00:08:24 room, you could do that quite easily.
00:08:24 –> 00:08:34 So I just wanted to try this because I knew it was out there and available to you guys,
00:08:34 –> 00:08:40 and it’s not as expensive as the other ones, but I do see that it is trickier.
00:08:40 –> 00:08:45 There are some people that have come up with… like I said, little…they put them in caulking
00:08:45 –> 00:08:54 guns and lots of different things, but for me, I’ve got my other extruders that are really
00:08:54 –> 00:08:57 easy for me to use, so I’ll probably use those.
00:08:57 –> 00:09:04 Alright, so I hope this was helpful for you, if you liked this video, do let us know.
00:09:04 –> 00:09:11 And if you’ve got any products you’d like me to test, if you’ve got suggestions, let
00:09:11 –> 00:09:14 me know about that in the comment section.
00:09:14 –> 00:09:20 And we’ve done a ton of videos, so there’s a pretty good chance that we may have already
00:09:20 –> 00:09:24 done a video that will help you answer your questions, so you make sure to check through
00:09:24 –> 00:09:26 them and see what’s there.
00:09:26 –> 00:09:31 And if you can’t find anything, leave a suggestion… or like a request, and we’ll see if we can
00:09:31 –> 00:09:33 make a video in the future.
00:09:33 –> 00:09:36 Alright, we’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Review Lucy Clay CzeXtruder XXL HD
- Related Video: Makins vs. Walnut Hollow Polymer Clay Extruders
- Related Video: Sculpey Souffle Polymer Clay Product Review
- Related Video: How To Clean Your Polymer Clay Extruder
- Related Video: Polymer Clay Extruder Disk Storage And Organization
- Amazon: Polymer Clay Extruders **
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Cindy
That was the first extruded I bought when I started doing PC …. It was so hard to use that it has been sitting in my draw for over 3 years.. I replaced it with the Walnut Hollwo extruded which I use with therir vise.. No. Comparison .. Sculpey ‘s extruder is not worth buying..
I bought my Wallnut hollow one with a 50% off coupon .. The extra cost is worth it …glad that I bought the Sculpey one with a coupon so I am into out a lot of $$ .
I almost thought this was like one of those April Fool’s Day joke videos.
God Bless you Cindy for staying so positive and cheerful throughout the video. You are trying to show clayers all the options for extruders. . There may be people who buy this as an inexpensive alternative. My advise is…DON’T DO IT !!! Save your money and your hands for the Makins Extruder.
Anna
I think I would rather put the clay in my mouth and extrude it through my teeth. (;
Thank you, Lena. Your comment made me laugh so much I had tears in my eyes!
I have to say this is the worst and hardest to use.
I bought this as my first tool, and when I was unable to get the clay
Through it I thought I was doing something wrong.
I even tried putting clay softener in the clay to help extrude the clay.
I watched your video on the Walnut hollow extruder
And I have been so much happier since.
I agree with Bev, you would think that Sculpey would do a re-call on these difficult to use extruders and offer people a gift card for everyone sent back to them.
Then they could melt them all down to make a better model. I eventually used it for play-dough with my grandchildren to test their strength. That was years ago and think it went into a deep dark corner of my shed.
I also used to stand it in boiling hot water to heat up and this helped a little. Until I bought the Walnut hollow I never made anything needing to be extruded. Be good to watch Cindy’s tips on this antique..cheers xx…
Hi! I used one of those plunger type extruders for a couple of years, and discovered that if i put two chairs close together, and hung the extruder between them by its handles, I could step on the plunger and make the clay go through with no pain in my hands. Of course, it makes more sense to use a Makins or Walnut Hollow extruder, and skip the acrobatics! :)
Thanks, Cindy, for all these very useful videos!
Malena
Love you sense of humor MALENA
I purchased a Sculpey extruder years ago because I thought it would be a good tool and it wasn’t very expensive. I could NOT press the clay out of the extruder. My late husband eventually built a wooden bellows that worked well, but I had to put it on the floor and step on it to get the clay out of the barrel. What a pain. I also was frustrated with the fact that the clay stuck to the inside of the barrel. I read a suggestion by Diane Black of Glass Attic. She suggested to wrap a small square of copy paper (the length of the clay) around the clay, before putting it into the barrel. That worked well for keeping the barrel clean, but there was still the problem of getting the clay OUT of the barrel.
Needless to say, when I found the Makins Extruder — Sculpey’s damnable extruder went into the garbage. I can’t understand why a label like Sculpey — that is associated with polymer clay — would even put out a product like the plunger extruder. It is nearly impossible to use.
Thanks Cindy for showing that antique. It made my hands hurt just watching you. Sculpey must still be selling a lot of those in order to justify keeping them on the market. You would think by now they could come up with a much better version. I still have mine and the disks are just a tad too small for the other extruders out there so unless I can give mine away, it will probably stay in it’s drawer until I die. LOL! BTW, the did come out with a winner with the Souffle. Love that stuff.
Dixie
We all seem to have the same place for the Sculpey Extruder…. way back in the dark corners of our draw..we should all send Sculpey a letter offering yo send our back to them so the can recycli them into something Useful????????????????
Natalie, that is a terrific idea and I would be the first one to offer mine and send it back. In fact if everyone who has one wants to participate, they can send theirs to me and I will ship them all back! Wouldn’t that be a statement made!
I still own and love the oldy.
I have a pusher and it’s perfect for that clay gun.
I also have been given many other types of that format.
Some more flimsy then my first one but I do still like them.
I use them when I give courses . Not afraid of loosing them either. Nobody want’s them without my pusher.
Thank you so much for your research. This has been my extruder for the last 10 years which is the reason I am so excited to be upgrading to czextruder. All of my frustrations in one video. We use the table push method around here which works well for the little hands.
Thanks for another good review, Cindy. If this was the only extruder on the market I don’t think I would ever want extrude. That is hard work! With my little kid sized hands I could not reach far enough to plunge it let alone having the hand strength to do so. Hopefully there are things to be done to make it easier to use so we look forward to seeing your next video on the subject.
Bless you Cindy for that demo. My hands screamed in empathetic pain while you were trying to extrude. When it was the only model on the market, we had to deal with the challenges to get the product, but, fortunately many new devices have come along.
The dies look like due to the bumped edge that they might not be usable in the other extruders?
Back in the day, my Dad made me the foot pump, which did help.
Look forward to seeing what techniques you come up with to make it easier in the next video.