Tips And Tricks For Using Your Sculpey Clay Extruder

00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s Studio Tip, I’m gonna do

00:00:07 –> 00:00:11 an update on the Sculpey Clay Extruder.

00:00:11 –> 00:00:17 Now in a previous video, I unboxed the Sculpey Clay extruder and I used it and tried it out,

00:00:17 –> 00:00:23 I found it quite difficult to squeeze the clay out, so I thought I’d try to figure out

00:00:23 –> 00:00:28 some ways to make it a lot easier, ‘cause I know a lot of you already have this extruder,

00:00:28 –> 00:00:32 so I figured out some little tips and tricks that should help you, alright?

00:00:32 –> 00:00:38 Now I’m gonna use the same clay as I did the other demo in, and I’m gonna use the Sculpey

00:00:38 –> 00:00:44 Soufflé, which is a really nice clay, and I’m gonna make sure that it’s nice and soft,

00:00:44 –> 00:00:49 and I just wanted to make sure we’re doing a fair comparison to the other video, so you’re

00:00:49 –> 00:00:55 gonna really wanna make sure that the clay is super soft and warm, because pushing out

00:00:55 –> 00:00:58 cold hard clay is going to be a lot harder.

00:00:58 –> 00:01:06 Now another thing that… and I’ll also use the same little spaghetti die, I will show

00:01:06 –> 00:01:11 you a larger die to show you how much easier the larger ones are, but I will do the same

00:01:11 –> 00:01:17 one we did before, so that it’s fair to compare it, now I’ll screw that on to the end.

00:01:17 –> 00:01:25 Now one of the things that’s part of the problem is that there is quite a bit of space…I

00:01:25 –> 00:01:31 mean not huge amounts, but enough space between the end of this plunger and the hole…or

00:01:31 –> 00:01:39 the barrel size, that some of the clay will push up around the edges of the plunger and

00:01:39 –> 00:01:45 kinda get stuck in the barrel, so even just pushing the clay through makes it hard.

00:01:45 –> 00:01:46 So what we’re gonna do…

00:01:46 –> 00:01:53 I figured this out when I was cleaning out the extruder, I’m just gonna use some, these

00:01:53 –> 00:01:57 are like kitchen wipes, you could use baby wipes, something that has a lot of moisture

00:01:57 –> 00:02:04 to it, and the first thing I’m gonna do is put it on the end of my extruder and use it

00:02:04 –> 00:02:11 to push down inside the extruder, and lubricate the edges of the barrel there, so I’m pushing

00:02:11 –> 00:02:16 it right down to the very end and I’m just getting the inside all wet and slippery so

00:02:16 –> 00:02:20 that the clay can move through easier.

00:02:20 –> 00:02:26 I also only put in 2/3 of a barrel full of clay, and I’m just gonna make sure it’s nice

00:02:26 –> 00:02:33 and warm, we’re gonna pop that in there, now, when I was just explaining the clay coming

00:02:33 –> 00:02:41 up over the edge, I figured out if you leave the baby wipe or the kitchen wipe on the plunger,

00:02:41 –> 00:02:47 it fills up that gap around the barrel there and it keeps it from creeping up over the

00:02:47 –> 00:02:51 edge, and it makes it easier to push, believe or not.

00:02:51 –> 00:02:55 So it does make it a little bit easier to push, I can actually push some of it out,

00:02:55 –> 00:03:00 it’s still kinda hard to push out…I mean you have to be really, really strong, or push

00:03:00 –> 00:03:07 it against your desk or something to get it out, so I wanted to try the idea that a lot

00:03:07 –> 00:03:10 of people have for using a caulking gun.

00:03:10 –> 00:03:17 Now this caulking gun here is, you know, the regular kind you use for doing house repairs

00:03:17 –> 00:03:22 and stuff, you put the caulking tube in there and then you know, you go around the bathtub

00:03:22 –> 00:03:23 or whatever.

00:03:23 –> 00:03:30 But it has the nice space in here where you can put the gun part…I’ll just take this

00:03:30 –> 00:03:37 out first so you can see better, you can put the gun handles right in here, well this one…and

00:03:37 –> 00:03:42 I’ve seen the ones on Pinterest and things like that where they must have either a slightly

00:03:42 –> 00:03:48 larger one than I do, or they bent it or something…but I thought Doug might kill me if I try to bend

00:03:48 –> 00:03:56 his caulking gun, so…probably not dead kill me, but not be happy, so I thought…

00:03:56 –> 00:04:02 I mucked around in the studio to see if I could find something that would keep the piece

00:04:02 –> 00:04:06 from falling out, and I just happened to find this, this is actually a rubber ring…I mean

00:04:06 –> 00:04:12 not a rubber ring but a metal ring that has a little bit of a plastic coating on it, and

00:04:12 –> 00:04:19 it happens to fit in here, I can put the gun in here, and then it just keeps it from falling

00:04:19 –> 00:04:24 out, it just keeps it from…and I don’t have to have this handle going to the sides, so

00:04:24 –> 00:04:25 that works.

00:04:25 –> 00:04:30 If you were gonna do this a lot, you’d want something a lot more stable than that, and

00:04:30 –> 00:04:37 you can probably just cut a piece of wood or something else to fill that space or bend

00:04:37 –> 00:04:41 out the things, but this works okay.

00:04:41 –> 00:04:47 Now I’m gonna take this plunger and put it back in, and it still has the baby wipe, it’s

00:04:47 –> 00:04:57 all gonna be ugly, but that’s okay…just a sec here, I’ll push this back a bit, alright,

00:04:57 –> 00:05:04 here we go, put this in, we’ll get it out the way so you can see it better, now we’ve

00:05:04 –> 00:05:08 got this all in here and we’ve gotta push this up to the back.

00:05:08 –> 00:05:13 Now it’s a little slippery here ‘cause it’s metal against metal and they don’t fit perfectly,

00:05:13 –> 00:05:20 but if you start pushing on… or squeezing the handle on the gun, you can…it’ll start

00:05:20 –> 00:05:25 pushing it out, and in fact, it does it pretty well.

00:05:25 –> 00:05:32 It’s not the most beautiful setup ever, and it is a little on the hokey side, but man,

00:05:32 –> 00:05:41 could you make a lot of Soufflé hair with this little setup, so I thought I’d show you

00:05:41 –> 00:05:42 that.

00:05:42 –> 00:05:48 And quickly, before I move on, I’m gonna show you something similar using the larger disks

00:05:48 –> 00:05:54 here, just to show you that if it’s coming out of the larger disks it comes out a lot

00:05:54 –> 00:05:59 easier, alright, also with the baby wipes still being on there, it comes out perfectly

00:05:59 –> 00:06:01 clean, so you don’t have to clean it.

00:06:01 –> 00:06:11 Alright, so let’s just choose something larger and pop that disk in… the little popped

00:06:11 –> 00:06:19 out side, sits to the outside like that, screw it onto the end, this clay is all nice and

00:06:19 –> 00:06:25 soft, so we might as well throw that in there and we’ll see if we have enough strength,

00:06:25 –> 00:06:31 or if it’s easy enough to do it without the gun, it might be…oh, if this is nice and

00:06:31 –> 00:06:38 clean, first it’s easier, so I’m just gonna get it wet, pop this inside, so can you see

00:06:38 –> 00:06:40 that this is a little easier?

00:06:40 –> 00:06:45 Still not super easy, but if you have this machine, you might as well use it, okay, with

00:06:45 –> 00:06:52 my own hand strength, I can push out the larger die without too much of an issue, and I couldn’t

00:06:52 –> 00:06:59 push it out without the baby wipe there, it just was…the clay was grabbing in the barrel.

00:06:59 –> 00:07:04 And in that previous video, you might have even seen at the end there where I was just

00:07:04 –> 00:07:09 trying to pop out some extra clay and push the clay off with no disk and it was still

00:07:09 –> 00:07:11 having trouble pushing out.

00:07:11 –> 00:07:20 So I hope that was helpful for you, and if it was, do let us know if you liked this video.

00:07:20 –> 00:07:26 And if you have any tips or tricks that you’d like to share with us, do let us know about

00:07:26 –> 00:07:28 that, and I can maybe make a video on it.

00:07:28 –> 00:07:34 And if you’ve got things that you… special requests, if you’ve got ideas or problems

00:07:34 –> 00:07:40 that you’re having issues with, you never know, we may already have a video on it.

00:07:40 –> 00:07:45 Or when you leave a suggestion maybe I could make a video on it, so that you can get helped

00:07:45 –> 00:07:48 out in the future.Alright, so we’ll see you next time and bye for now.

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