New Clay Extruder by Walnut Hollow

Happy day, I finally have a new clay extruder!     I've been wanting the one made by Makin's Clay because my old Kemper extruder is just too hard to use with my arthritic hands!     I went shopping at the local Michael's store for the Makin's extruder and found they no longer carry it, but they do have a new extruder from Walnut Hollow that has a crank handle.....even better than the twisty handle of the Makin's, I'm thinking!

This extruder comes in a nice little plastic storage case with  20 different disks.    I've read that the disks for the Makin's extruder will  fit this extruder also.    I also read somewhere that metal cake decorating tips will fit into extruder... but haven't tested that out myself!    If you go shopping for this at Michaels, don't forget to bring a half-price coupon!   (Ask me how to get coupons if you don't know.)     btw....There's not any information at WalnutHollow.com on this product as yet.

I just purchased my extruder this weekend, so can't tell you anything about long-term durability of product, but it seems well made with sturdy metal parts.  It's a good size and is fairly easy to hold onto when cranking.   Putting it into a vise would make it even easier!    Here's a short video demonstrating it's use with polymer clay.   Remember, most air dry clays work well with extruder also (except those very soft & sticky brands).  

Make This Piggy Bank with Air-Dry Clay

This tutorial will show you how to make a hollow shape by forming clay around a balloon.  This time will make the hollow sphere into a piggy bank.  

Any brand of air-dry clay that you can roll into a flat sheet is suitable for this project.   Some of the very soft marshmallow-like clays would not be a good choice because they're too sticky to roll into a sheet or to coil.   

This demo shows a terra cotta colored pig, but, of course, you can use any color clay you wish.   Use acrylic paints or other medium to tint your raw clay before shaping or paint the pig when cured.

Inflate a balloon to the desired size for the piglet knotting the end with adhesive tape.  Roll out a circle of clay large enough to cover balloon.   To get a uniform thickness to your clay when rolling, put 2 sticks on each side as a guide for roller.  Either paint stir sticks or large-size craft sticks would work, depending on desired thickness of clay (and size of balloon/pig).

Cover the balloon with the flat piece of clay adapting it to the shape of the balloon.  Pinch gussets along sides where needed (remove excess clay).   Lightly moisten seams to blend.

Add more clay if the balloon is not properly covered. Join all the pieces well and smooth the surface.  If you need to moisten to get clay to adhere to itself, be careful not to get clay TOO wet.

Form a thick coil of clay and cut 4 equal sizes for legs and feet.   Moisten ends and attach to body according to photo above.   Make sure your pig stands well on his own!

Shape the snout and ears with additional pieces of clay.   Moisten ends and attach to body,  blending edges for smooth transition into face.   Poke some nostrils into snout (careful don't poke balloon yet!).    Make a small coil for tail and attach to body.   Curl the tail !!  ;-)

To finish the piggy bank, make the money slot and burst the balloon.   This should probably be done after the clay is partially cured and firm to the touch.    Then add eyes, blush and other embellishments...such as child's name or some polka dots! 

If you have trouble with the tail or ears staying on, just adhere with white glue!

How to Make a Marionette Face

A short video from Emily DeCola  showing us her marionette faces, which she makes using a homemade air dry clay  (a mix of Celluclay, sawdust and other things).   Emily DeCola is a freelance designer, performer and director working all over the world with puppetry and masks on stage and in television and film. She has received a Jim Henson Foundation Grant.

Another method for sculpting head with CP

Guilherme Pires, in another video, shows us how he sculpts a head using cold porcelain.   This is a different method than shown last week by Rosangela Alencar (where a foam ball is used as armature).   These doll heads are a little smaller.

Spotlight on clay artist Guilherme Pires

Guilherme Pires is a clay artist from Brazil who creates the cutest clown figures and other clever characters.   Using homemade cold porcelain, wire, foam, simple tools and a lot of imagination, he comes up with some very unique art dolls he calls 'guibonecos'.  Some have very sweet faces, some are funny and some are quite strange.  LOL  Visit his blog at http://guibonecos.blogspot.com/.

In the 3 videos below, he shares with us how it's done.  Quite the production line he has going in these videos!  *sigh*  He accomplishes so much in one day!!

In the first video, he makes the clay and takes it into his modeling room where he creates a series of heads and models the arms, hands and big feet for his clowns.
In the second video, he assembles all the pieces with wire and foam and paints the adorable faces.   The last video shows his creative costuming, wigging and finishing.