clay guns

Got another question--guns, extruders, etc.--yay or nay? I've seen
Sugarcraft's, Sculpey's and PCE's, along with caulking guns to help things
along. I've got one (don't know if it's a Kemper or a Sculpey--think some of
the disks snapped in half when I used it) and never found much use for it
since my initial trial of it years ago. But I keep seeing all these
assortments of disks, along with mention of using them for caning, so I've
apparently missed the boat on this one. What do you all use them for (if at
all), and which do you find to be the best? Is the basic disk assortment all
you need, or do the add'l assortments come in handy?

Thanks,
TheDormouse

I use a kemper gun with the caulking gun adapter. For what I need, it's
fine.

I've heard RAVE reviews of the makins professional extruder.

I saw the polymerclay express extruder in action and it kicks butt, but
it also does large extrusions.

quilted in clay sells disks that fit a number of extruders and can be
used for quilt cane construction.

http://www.simplydarling.com/ sells disk sets that can be adapted to
many extruders.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the extusions!


Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:

Got another question--guns, extruders, etc.--yay or nay? I've seen
Sugarcraft's, Sculpey's and PCE's, along with caulking guns to help things
along. I've got one (don't know if it's a Kemper or a Sculpey--think some of
the disks snapped in half when I used it) and never found much use for it
since my initial trial of it years ago. But I keep seeing all these
assortments of disks, along with mention of using them for caning, so I've
apparently missed the boat on this one. What do you all use them for (if at
all), and which do you find to be the best? Is the basic disk assortment all
you need, or do the add'l assortments come in handy?

Thanks,
TheDormouse

Are you talking about the 'EZ Squeeze'? I've seen all manner of caulking
gun adaptors, but this is the first time I've seen one actually manufactured
for use w/ clay guns (took them HOW many years to get the message???). What
do you use your clay gun for, primarily? On the Quilted in Clay site, I saw
them following a template for a quilt cane, but I've never seen templates
like that before. Is that a just something they use when deciding on what
they want their final piece to look like, or do such things exist in the
rest of the world?

Makins extruder--since it isn't made for a polymer clay, can it
stand up to polymer? I've never worked w/ their air dry clay, so I don't
know anything about its properties to compare.

And from what you say about the PCE gun answers a question I was going
to ask about the disks being interchangeable amongst them all--apparently
not, in PCE's case. The one thing I can't figure out is how to get a
Sugarcraft gun w/out sending out to England. PCE says they have one on their
site, but if you follow the link there's nothing vaguely resembling a
Sugarcraft gun on the page--maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, or else
I'm just getting old.

TheDormouse

I use a kemper gun with the caulking gun adapter. For what I need, it's
fine.

I've heard RAVE reviews of the makins professional extruder.

I saw the polymerclay express extruder in action and it kicks butt, but
it also does large extrusions.

quilted in clay sells disks that fit a number of extruders and can be
used for quilt cane construction.

http://www.simplydarling.com/ sells disk sets that can be adapted to
many extruders.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the extusions!


Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check
out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:

Got another question--guns, extruders, etc.--yay or nay? I've seen
Sugarcraft's, Sculpey's and PCE's, along with caulking guns to help
things
along. I've got one (don't know if it's a Kemper or a Sculpey--think some
of
the disks snapped in half when I used it) and never found much use for it
since my initial trial of it years ago. But I keep seeing all these
assortments of disks, along with mention of using them for caning, so
I've
apparently missed the boat on this one. What do you all use them for (if
at
all), and which do you find to be the best? Is the basic disk assortment
all
you need, or do the add'l assortments come in handy?

Thanks,
TheDormouse

Replies inline

Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:

Are you talking about the 'EZ Squeeze'? I've seen all manner of caulking
gun adaptors, but this is the first time I've seen one actually manufactured
for use w/ clay guns (took them HOW many years to get the message???). What
do you use your clay gun for, primarily? On the Quilted in Clay site, I saw
them following a template for a quilt cane, but I've never seen templates
like that before. Is that a just something they use when deciding on what
they want their final piece to look like, or do such things exist in the
rest of the world?



I don't use the ez-sqeeze. I have the simple clay gun adapter thing that
I got in a Nan Roche class - it's a short length of pvc pipe with an
o-ring inside to hold the barrell of the gun, a washer to fit over the
gun to stop it from falling out of the caulking gun and a furniture leg
pad thingy to pad out the pusher part of the caulking gun.

http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/cy.../clayguns.html

Makins extruder--since it isn't made for a polymer clay, can it
stand up to polymer? I've never worked w/ their air dry clay, so I don't
know anything about its properties to compare.



Only the metal professional model extruder will work with polymer, not
the plastic one.

And from what you say about the PCE gun answers a question I was going
to ask about the disks being interchangeable amongst them all--apparently
not, in PCE's case. The one thing I can't figure out is how to get a
Sugarcraft gun w/out sending out to England. PCE says they have one on their
site, but if you follow the link there's nothing vaguely resembling a
Sugarcraft gun on the page--maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, or else
I'm just getting old.




I think Simply Darling carries the sugarcraft gun. When PCE came out
with their own, I think they stopped selling all but theirs and the
small kemper gun.

TheDormouse



I use a kemper gun with the caulking gun adapter. For what I need, it's
fine.

I've heard RAVE reviews of the makins professional extruder.

I saw the polymerclay express extruder in action and it kicks butt, but
it also does large extrusions.

quilted in clay sells disks that fit a number of extruders and can be
used for quilt cane construction.

http://www.simplydarling.com/ sells disk sets that can be adapted to
many extruders.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the extusions!


Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check


out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:



Got another question--guns, extruders, etc.--yay or nay? I've seen
Sugarcraft's, Sculpey's and PCE's, along with caulking guns to help


things


along. I've got one (don't know if it's a Kemper or a Sculpey--think some


of


the disks snapped in half when I used it) and never found much use for it
since my initial trial of it years ago. But I keep seeing all these
assortments of disks, along with mention of using them for caning, so


I've


apparently missed the boat on this one. What do you all use them for (if


at


all), and which do you find to be the best? Is the basic disk assortment


all


you need, or do the add'l assortments come in handy?

Thanks,
TheDormouse

Thanks for the replies, Barbara, but that leaves me with still more
questions! How can you tell if your clay gun is a Kemper or a Sculpey? The
'EZ Squeeze' is only supposed to work on a Kemper gun (or is that only
propaganda?). There aren't any markings on my gun, but I read that Sculpey's
disks are sturdier than other's disks, but I don't know if that's a new
thing or not. I don't know how many of mine I've broken.
You didn't answer my earlier question the template I saw on 'Quilted
in Clay.' Do you know of any URL's with other patterns/templates for canes
that primarily use clay guns in their design? I've done some searching and
have had no luck.
The asst'd literature says to use 'soft' clay in the guns. Do they mean
any softer than conditioned clay? I know Cernit gets awfully soft once
conditioned, but I'd never use for caning. Is conditioned Premo sufficiently
soft without snapping a disk in half while trying to extrude? Does the PCE
extruder require equally soft clay like the others? (btw, when you said it
made large extrusions, just how large did you mean??)

Thanks for all your help,
TheDormouse


"Barbara Forbes-Lyons" wrote in message
...
Replies inline

Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check
out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:

Are you talking about the 'EZ Squeeze'? I've seen all manner of
caulking
gun adaptors, but this is the first time I've seen one actually
manufactured
for use w/ clay guns (took them HOW many years to get the message???).
What
do you use your clay gun for, primarily? On the Quilted in Clay site, I
saw
them following a template for a quilt cane, but I've never seen templates
like that before. Is that a just something they use when deciding on what
they want their final piece to look like, or do such things exist in the
rest of the world?



I don't use the ez-sqeeze. I have the simple clay gun adapter thing that
I got in a Nan Roche class - it's a short length of pvc pipe with an
o-ring inside to hold the barrell of the gun, a washer to fit over the
gun to stop it from falling out of the caulking gun and a furniture leg
pad thingy to pad out the pusher part of the caulking gun.

http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/cy.../clayguns.html

Makins extruder--since it isn't made for a polymer clay, can it
stand up to polymer? I've never worked w/ their air dry clay, so I don't
know anything about its properties to compare.



Only the metal professional model extruder will work with polymer, not
the plastic one.

And from what you say about the PCE gun answers a question I was
going
to ask about the disks being interchangeable amongst them all--apparently
not, in PCE's case. The one thing I can't figure out is how to get a
Sugarcraft gun w/out sending out to England. PCE says they have one on
their
site, but if you follow the link there's nothing vaguely resembling a
Sugarcraft gun on the page--maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, or
else
I'm just getting old.




I think Simply Darling carries the sugarcraft gun. When PCE came out
with their own, I think they stopped selling all but theirs and the
small kemper gun.

TheDormouse



I use a kemper gun with the caulking gun adapter. For what I need, it's
fine.

I've heard RAVE reviews of the makins professional extruder.

I saw the polymerclay express extruder in action and it kicks butt, but
it also does large extrusions.

quilted in clay sells disks that fit a number of extruders and can be
used for quilt cane construction.

http://www.simplydarling.com/ sells disk sets that can be adapted to
many extruders.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the extusions!


Barbara
Beader and Polymer Clay Evangelist

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave
Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps?
Check


out http://www.lyonshost.com.



TheDormouse wrote:



Got another question--guns, extruders, etc.--yay or nay? I've
seen
Sugarcraft's, Sculpey's and PCE's, along with caulking guns to help


things


along. I've got one (don't know if it's a Kemper or a Sculpey--think
some


of


the disks snapped in half when I used it) and never found much use for
it
since my initial trial of it years ago. But I keep seeing all these
assortments of disks, along with mention of using them for caning, so


I've


apparently missed the boat on this one. What do you all use them for
(if


at


all), and which do you find to be the best? Is the basic disk
assortment


all


you need, or do the add'l assortments come in handy?

Thanks,
TheDormouse

TheDormouse wrote:

Thanks for the replies, Barbara, but that leaves me with still more
questions! How can you tell if your clay gun is a Kemper or a Sculpey? The
'EZ Squeeze' is only supposed to work on a Kemper gun (or is that only
propaganda?). There aren't any markings on my gun, but I read that Sculpey's
disks are sturdier than other's disks, but I don't know if that's a new
thing or not. I don't know how many of mine I've broken.



I honestly don't know which is better. From what I've seen the Sculpey
and Kemper guns are almost identical. I don't even know which one I
have, lol.

You didn't answer my earlier question the template I saw on 'Quilted
in Clay.' Do you know of any URL's with other patterns/templates for canes
that primarily use clay guns in their design? I've done some searching and
have had no luck.



I don't know of any other sites like that, but here's the deal - it's
pretty easy to design your own, for example.. Look at a simple flower,
like a daisy. Break it down into its component parts - teardrop shaped
petals and a round center. Then extend that shape out in 3 dimensions.
If you have an extrusion disk that makes teardrops, you can make several
extrusions of that shape. Make a round extrusion for the center then
just pack background color clay into the empty spaces. If you look on
the clay info sites (like glass attic, etc.) you can find many cane
recipes and a good many of them can be adapted to use extruded shapes.
You just need to *think* about the components that make up the entire
design and work with the basic geometric shapes. I hope that makes sense?

The asst'd literature says to use 'soft' clay in the guns. Do they mean
any softer than conditioned clay? I know Cernit gets awfully soft once
conditioned, but I'd never use for caning. Is conditioned Premo sufficiently
soft without snapping a disk in half while trying to extrude? Does the PCE
extruder require equally soft clay like the others? (btw, when you said it
made large extrusions, just how large did you mean??)



No, regularly conditioned clay is just fine. As far as the size of the
extrusions on the PCE gun, some of them are like 1/2" or more across.
They also sell an adapter for the gun so you can extrude smaller size
shapes. If you look on the site, you'll see some info sheets you can
download that give you all the information:
http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/equip.html. You can do about a pound
of clay at a time with the PCE extruder and the 'action' on it is very
smooth. Rob let me try it out at ClayQuest last November.