Extruding

The Small Extruder

The small extruder is relatively straightforward, it takes about half a packet of clay which is bashed into a size that wil fit into the extruder. The appropriate base plate is fitted and then the handle inserted horizontally before being adjsuted to apply pressure and carefully force out the clay.

There are a variety of shaping discs which can be used. Other options are selecting to either slice or rip off the extruded clay to give different effects, the ripped look lends itself to a more organic project. Also, as the clay extrudes, it can be bend into different shapes, it doesn't have to be just straight. The extruder must be fully cleaned after use.

I decided to work on the round extrusions and particularly the ones that had been ripped off the extruder to creat a nice organically rough edge. I allowed them to become leather hard and then used a variety of implements to create a tree bark like effect.

The Big Extruder

The big extruder is a slightly more complicated affair. There are a number of larger plates which must be assembled before being attached to the bottom of the extruder which can be removed from the wall.

The big extruder created much larger extrusions and these Hexagons were produced. I chose to explore the method of a variety of sizes of hole removing tools. The hexagon on the right has an alternate regular pattern that is the same on two sets of three sides. The hexagon on the left is representing the make up of molecules in solid (at the bottom) moving through to liquid (in the middle) and ending in a gas (at the top)