Extruding can be an interesting form of manipulating the clay to make interesting pieces. I decided to make an extruder from a caulking gun, short pieces of PVC pipe, and some PVC cleanout caps. I used a drill press to drill a hole in one of the caps, and I also had to modify the caulking gun in a couple of places to allow it to work for my needs.

After lining a couple of stainless steel mixing bowls with newspaper so that the clay doesn't stick, I rolled out a slab of clay and cut the two rounds to make the bottom. Then came the interesting part. I loaded the PVC pipe with clay, fitted it with the drilled die (endcap) and extruded a simple coil to be used to make the sides to the bowls. In most cases I scored and used water to wet the places where the coils joined with either the bottom rounds or other coils. I put the clay on the inside of the bowls so that when it shrinks, it will be less likely to separate or break. I've slowed down the drying process using towels, so it may take a while before these become dry enough to handle and bisque fire. Keeping my fingers crossed on the experiment, as I'd like to do a rather large one this way if these two smaller ones work out. This is not a fast process, as it took me about two hours to make them.

The pitcher was made a few days ago, and has been slowly equalizing the moisture content with the handle. I'm now in the process of drying the pitcher so that it will be ready to be bisque fired.

I recently received my order for a canopy to be used for setting up a booth at some art fairs this summer. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will get some good sales over the next few months. I'm looking forward to trying it out!!!